01869nas a2200193   4500000000100000008004100001100001800042700001600060700001700076700001800093700002100111700001700132700002400149700002000173245010000193856007400293300002200367520128600389       2013                            d1 aEsther Sumner1 aMarina Siti1 aLisa Mcneill1 aPeter Talling1 aTimothy Henstock1 aRussell Wynn1 aYusuf Djajadihardja1 aHaryadi Permana00aCan turbidites be used to reconstruct a paleoearthquake record for the central Sumatran margin?  uhttp://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2013/05/09/G34298.1.abstract  a763\textendash7663 a<p>Turbidite paleoseismology aims to use submarine gravity flow deposits (turbidites) as proxies for large earthquakes, a critical assumption being that large earthquakes generate turbidity currents synchronously over a wide area. We test whether all large earthquakes generate synchronous turbidites, and if not, investigate where large earthquakes fail to do this. The Sumatran margin has a well-characterized earthquake record spanning the past 200 yr, including the large-magnitude earthquakes in 2004 (Mw 9.1) and 2005 (Mw 8.7). Sediment cores collected from the central Sumatran margin in 2009 reveal that surprisingly few turbidites were emplaced in the past 100\textendash150 yr, and those that were deposited are not widespread. Importantly, slope basin deposits preserve no evidence of turbidites that correlate with the earthquakes in 2004 and 2005, although recent flow deposits are seen in the trench. Adjacent slope basins and adjacent pairs of slope basin and trench sites commonly have different sedimentary records, and cannot be correlated. These core sites from the central Sumatran margin do not support the assumption that all large earthquakes generate the widespread synchronous turbidites necessary for reconstructing an accurate paleoearthquake record.</p>