Extreme block and boulder transport along a cliffed coastline (Calicoan Island, Philippines) during Super Typhoon Haiyan

Abstract

This paper presents data and analysis for block and boulder transport during Super Typhoon Haiyan along a 4.5 km long, low (5–12 m) cliffed coastline in Calicoan Island, Eastern Samar, Philippines. Wave runup exceeding 15.2 m elevation above mean sea level drove large limestone clasts, with volumes up to ~ 83 m3, up to ~ 280 m inland. A few very large clasts with volumes 65–132 m3 were not transported by the waves. When combined with recent transport reported in May et al. (2015), Cox et al. (2016), and other literature, it is becoming increasingly clear that the largest blocks transported by storms overlie much of the tsunami transport range, increasing the difficulty in attributing the transport source without additional evidence. Comparison of present results with a global database of storm boulder transport shows a mass-elevation envelope outside of which no transport is observed. Initiation of motion criteria were extended to include non-rectangular cross-sections, which significantly reduces inferred velocities, particularly for overturning motion. These new relations were applied to the largest observed sliding and overturning boulders while considering coefficient uncertainties, and resulting velocity uncertainty was large enough that direct inference of wave heights would be problematic. Estimates of initiation velocities for cliff-edge boulders computed using lifting/joint-bounded relations were unreasonably large when compared to those for sliding and overturning boulders, suggesting that processes other than Bernoulli lift forces dominated at cliff edges.