For tsunami science within Oceania, the vast Central and Western Pacific (CEWEP) is an anomalous region because of the scarcity of historical tsunami observations and the complete absence of dated palaeotsunami evidence. This paper therefore records the first dated high-magnitude palaeotsunami event within the CEWEP region. A combination of both geological data and oral history is provided for a palaeotsunami that struck remote Makin island, northernmost of the Gilbert Islands in Kiribati, toward the end of the 16th century. A previously undocumented oral tradition of giant waves is well known to the people of Makin. Narration of this legend by the Wiin te Maneaba, traditional storyteller on Makin, provided important details supporting a tsunami hypothesis. The legend preserves credible information surrounding the giant-wave origin of Rebua and Tokia, two prominent subaerial megaclasts of blade and block geometry that were transported 80–130 m shorewards from the reef-edge source and deposited in sideways and inverted orientations. From available hydrodynamic flow transport equations, minimum flow velocities of 7.3–16.3 m s⁻¹ were generated, depending on whether the reefblocks were rotated or lifted onto the reef platform. The youngest U-Th age-dates for fossil corals retrieved from the reefblocks give a maximum age for the palaeotsunami of circa AD 1576. Several far-field Pacific Rim and regional possibilities exist for tsunamigenesis. These include subduction-zone seismicity and catastrophic volcanic eruption, both of which have been linked to earlier (late 15th century) palaeotsunami events recorded elsewhere in the Pacific Islands. However, the available evidence here suggests that the ~AD 1576 Makin palaeotsunami was more likely to have been locally generated by tsunamigenic offshore submarine slope failure close to Makin's western reef, associated with the giant arcuate bight structure that characterizes the northern rim of Butaritari atoll.

中文翻译：

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基里巴斯的巨型古海啸：来自地质学和口述历史的汇聚证据

对于大洋洲的海啸科学而言，广阔的中西太平洋 (CEWEP) 是一个异常区域，因为历史海啸观测资料的稀缺性以及完全没有过时的古海啸证据。因此，本文记录了 CEWEP 区域内第一次有日期的高震级古海啸事件。地质数据和口述历史相结合，提供了 16 世纪末袭击基里巴斯吉尔伯特群岛最北端的偏远马金岛的古海啸。先前未记录的巨浪口述传统为马金人所熟知。Wiin te Maneaba对这个传说的叙述Makin 的传统讲故事者提供了支持海啸假设的重要细节。这个传说保留了关于Rebua和Tokia巨浪起源的可靠信息，这两个主要的叶片和块体几何形状的地下巨型碎屑从礁缘源向海岸输送 80-130 m，并以侧向和倒置方向沉积。根据可用的流体动力流动传输方程，7.3–16.3 m s ^{-1 的}最小流速生成，取决于礁块是旋转还是提升到礁石平台上。从礁块中提取的化石珊瑚的最年轻的 U-Th 年龄日期给出了大约公元 1576 年的古海啸的最大年龄。存在几种远场太平洋沿岸和区域性海啸发生的可能性。其中包括俯冲带地震活动和灾难性火山爆发，两者都与太平洋岛屿其他地方记录的早期（15 世纪后期）古海啸事件有关。然而，这里现有的证据表明，~公元 1576 年的马金古海啸更有可能是由靠近马金西部珊瑚礁的海啸近海海底斜坡破坏产生的，与布塔里塔里环礁北缘的巨大弓形海湾结构有关。