AN ABNORMAL TSUNAMI GENERATED BY OCTOBER 25th, 2010

MENTAWAI EARTHQUAKE
Bambang Sunardi1, Suci Dewi Anugrah2, Thomas Hardy1 , Drajat Ngadmanto1
1

Research and Development Center, Indonesia Meteorological Climatological and Geophysical Agency
2
Tsunami Mitigation, Indonesia Meteorological Climatological and Geophysical Agency

ABSTRACT

A research of tsunami generated by the October 25th 2010 earthquake at Mentawai Western of
Sumatra has been investigated. The observation of tsunami run up is about 5.7-7.4 m at three
locations in the South and North Pagai. Numerical simulation of tsunami using the source
mechanism obtained from BMKG results 3.8 m of tsunami wave height, while the propagation
model shows that tsunami reach Enggano and Padang for about 38 and 58 minutes close to the
tsunami travel time observation. It is clearly showed that the result of run up model is lower than
its observation. From the calculation of the magnitude, it is obtained that the tsunami magnitude
is about 8.1. This value is higher than the moment magnitude which is only 7.4. It can be
conclude that the tsunami Mentawai can be characterized as an abnormal tsunami. This tsunami
can also be categorized as a Tsunami Earthquake (TsE).

INTRODUCTION
Many studies of some great earthquakes in
subduction zone of Sumatera had been carried out.
Those
investigations
have
contributed
significantly on the seismic hazard potential at
this area. Natawidjaja, 2007 noted that the
potential megathrust earthquake at the area of
the subduction depends on the fault segmentation,
the dimension of the locked region and the history
of the earthquake. These parameters determine the
strain
energy accumulation area
that can
generate a big earthquake. Subarya et al, 2006 had
been investigated the great earthquake of AcehAndaman (2004, Mw 9.15), while Briggs et al,
2006, investigated the Nias Simelue (2005, Mw
8.7). Both of the earthquakes were characterized
by the seismic gap zone. The Aceh Earthquake
was already signed by the Simeuleu Earthquake of
2002 (Mw7.4), and then the Aceh Earthquake was
assumed as an earthquake-triggered of the Nias
Earthquake which occurred three months later
after that.
After a series of two large earthquakes in the
northern zone of Sumatra, Natawidjaja et al, 2007

predicted the megathrust of Mentawai Earthquake

in the south of Sumatera. This prediction based on
a study of paleogeodesy and paleoseismic
(Natawidjaja, 2003) that noted the last major
earthquake in Mentawai had occurred in the
1300s and 1600s, therefore, the cycle of the
Mentawai Megathrust Earthquake is about 200
years.
Most of the big earthquakes occurred at the
Sumatera area generated a tsunami. Jaiswal et al.,
(2006), noted that there were 33 tsunamis
occurred at the Sumatera area. As a part of Sunda
Arc, Sumatera had been much more active than
Java. Table 1 gives a list of Tsunami Occurrence
in Sumatera area.
From the list of tsunami events, generally, the
tsunamis in the Sumatera area are generated by an
earthquake with a magnitude of more than 7 Ms.
The Mentawai Earthquake which happened on
Oktober 25th, 2010 is an
earthquake that
generated a tsunami due to its magnitude and
depth. This study investigated a Mentawai
Tsunami which generated by an earthquake with a
magnitude of 7.2 Mw. The earthquake has

occurred along the plate interface boundary

between the Australia and Sunda plates at Pagai
Selatan Sumatera. According to BMKG, the
earthquake located at the location of 3.6oS and
99.9oE with 10 km depth. This big earthquake
occurred due to the movement of the Australia
Plate with respect to the Sunda Plate with a
velocity of approximately 50-70 mm/yr.

of
Melange
rock
lane
associated with
akrasi complex is known as the rollback. The
Orogenesaon process in Neogen Age produces the
existence of the four phenomenons in this region
namely the Bukit Barisan Mountains, an oblique
subduction with angle range from 50o 65o in the
west of Sumatera, the Sumatera fault, and the
Sumatra magmatisme activities (Barber, 2005).

The Mamoru Nakamuras Program was applied in

this study to run a modeling of the Mentawai
tsunami. A field study to the Mentawai Islands
after the event had also been carried out in this
research to provide the height of tsunami run-up
in that area to validate the tsunami modeling.

The western part of Sumatera Island is an area

located on the outskirts of the active plate that is
reflected by a high frequency occurrence of the
earthquakes.
The
earthquakes distribution
in this region is not only caused by the activity
of subduction zones, but it also caused by an
active fault systems along the island of Sumatra.
Based on the Harvard CMT focal mechanism
data, most of the subduction zone seismicity
shows a normal fault type, while most of
seismicity activity on the ground shows a
mechanism of a strike slip fault (Figure 2).

TECTONIC SETTING
The west Sumatera region is a part of the Eurasian
Plate with a very slow speed of approximately 0.4
cm/year that moves relatively to the southeast. An
interaction between The Eurasian and the Indian
Ocean plate is occurred in the western part of this
province that moved to the north at speeds up to 7
cm / year relatively (Minster and Jordan, 1978 in
Yeats et al., 1997). This interaction produces an
oblique subduction, which had been formed since
the Cretaceous era and still continues up to
now. In addition to subduction, two plates of this
interaction also resulted in major structural pattern
of Sumatra, which are known as the Sumatra Fault
Zone and Mentawai Fault Zone (Figure 1).
The Tectonic evolution of West Sumatra before
the Age of Neogen tectonics was characterized by
the expansion (Tectonic rifting) followed by the
collision, amalgamation, and akrasi which lead to
the formation of mountains, crumpling, and
faulting (Simanjuntak, 2004). The Unveiling of
melange rock in North Sumatra and West Sumatra
of the Cretaceous age indicates the presence of
subduction related to the complex akrasi systems
(Asikin, 1974; Simanjuntak, 1980; Sukamto,
1986; Wajzer et al, 1991 in Simandjuntak,
2004). In the Age of Paleogene subduction system
was relatively shifted to the west. It was proved
by the presence of mlange rocks at Nias Island,
Pagai and Sipora which are located in west of
Sumatra Island (Katili, 1973; Karig et al., 1978;
Hamilton, 1979; Djamal et al., 1990 ; AndiMango, 1991 in Simandjuntak, 2004). The change

DATA AND TSUNAMI MODELING

To calculate run-up heights we use a code that is
modeled by Nakamura. This code applied a finitedifference method. The bathymetry data are
obtained from ETOPO2 provided by National
Geophysical Data Center. The study area is
showed in figure 3. The grid interval of
bathymetry was 2.5 km x 2.5 km. In this
simulation we used 5 seconds time step used for
calculations.
A focal mechanism solution from BMKG was
used for this model. An uplift red fault block
(Figure 4) represents an earthquake source
mechanism that reflects an oblique reverse
fault. This source mechanism triggered a tsunami
after the earthquake occurrence. According to the
earthquake source of BMKG data it was obtained
that the maximum vertical displacement is 1.3 m.
Table 2 is the simulation parameters as a solution
of focal mechanism.
The numerical simulation of tsunami propagation
shows
that
tsunamis arrived the coastlines
area of Purourogat and Munte, Enggano, and
Padang about 11, 38 and 58 minute after the
earthquake respectively (Figure 5).

The run-up simulations are showed on the

Figure 6. The maximum tsunami height at the
Pagai Island is about 4 m. Figure 6b shows a
tsunami height at three locations, while Table 3 is
a list of tsunami height at many points along the
coast. It appears that a bay or an estuary
experiences a higher run-up value than its
surrounding area relatively.
FIELD SURVEY
Post-tsunami field survey was also conducted in
this study. We measured and collected as many as
possible data of tsunami height traces, tsunami
direction, inundation, and also the impact of
tsunami on life and material losses.
Three locations were observed in that survey
namely Munte Kecil, Purourogat, and Muntei.
The first and two are located at Malakopak, South
of Pagai, and the third are located at Betumonga,
North of Pagai. The followings are a brief
description of observation result at each area.
The first observation point was in the Dusun
Munte Kecil, Desa Malakopak, South Pagai. We
found 4 buildings were damage at the distance of
70 m, 120 m, 150 m, and 170 m from the beach
respectively. At a distance of 230 m from the
beach, some buildings were found safe. We did an
interview with some local residents to investigate
whether any casualties due to the tsunami. They
said that there were no casualties caused by the
tsunami. After the earthquake of 2007, the
government had relocated the coast resident to the
safe place. This effort, however, had saved the
people from tsunami hazard successfully. Because
of the earthquake, this area can be categorized as a
zone of 2-3 MMI scales (weak shocks). We
measured approximately 6.4 m of run-up traces,
290 m of inundation, and N15E of tsunami
direction.
The second one was in the di Dusun Purourogat,
Desa Malakopak, South Pagai. This place is a bay
area. We found 3 damaged buildings at the
location of 50, 120, and 130 m from the beach. At
a distance of about 210 m, we found some houses
with a small scale of damage. Not far from this
location, there was a valley with a depth of about
2.3 m. The tsunami measurement results are about

7.4 m of tsunami run-up, 420 m of tsunami

inundation, and N85E of tsunami direction. 71
people were reported die and 4 people were
missing.

The last observation point was in Dusun

Muntei, Desa Betumonga, North Pagai. Most
area of Muntei is located at a bay, while some part
is located at the edge of an estuary. Although the
Muntei area is more far from the earthquake
source compare to others, this area was the most
tsunami affected. A lot of houses were damaged
because the buildings were built close to a sloping
beach and confronted the sources of earthquakes
directly. The geographic condition of Muntei as a
bay and an estuary is another factor that caused
this area is more vulnerable than others. The
tsunami run-up is higher and its inundation is
widespread. The tsunami measurement results are
about 5.7 m of tsunami run-up, 406 m of tsunami
inundation, and N10E of tsunami direction. 115
people were reported die and 34 people were
missing. 73 houses were severely damaged.
This study estimated also a tsunami source
magnitude based on the wave height distribution
at various places in relation with the source of
tectonic earthquake which is known as Tsunami
Magnitude (Mt). Abe (1979, 1981, 1989b),
formulated a calculation of Mt as follows:
Mt = log + logH + 5.8
where H is the maximum amplitude of tide gauge
observation, and is the distance of the
earthquake source to the tide gauge. In this case
8.1 of Mt were estimated.

MODEL VALIDATION
The ocean modeling of tsunami propagation was
nearly appropriate when verified with tide gauge
observation data. Table 5 shows the comparison
of tsunami travel time between observational data
(tide gauge) and numerical simulation results of
tsunami propagation using Mamoru Nakamura's
Program. The model estimated that the tsunamis
entered the Pagai island coastline of about 11
minutes after the main earthquake. Therefore, it is
not true that the tsunami occurred after BMKG
BMKG end tsunami warning at 51 minutes after
the earthquake.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

The results of post-tsunami survey at the three

observation points namely Munte kecil,
Purourogat and Muntei noted that the run-up
varied between 5.7 - 7.4 m. The maximum run-up
was occurred in Purourogat of about 7.4 m which
captured 420 m of inundation area from the beach.
In this location the tsunami moved from the
direction of N850E. The Munte Kecil and Muntei
experienced the maximum run-up of about 6.4 m
and 5.7 m respectively, with inundation area of
about 290 m and 420 m. In that points the tsunami
moved from the direction of N150E and N100E.
The geographic condition of the beach influenced
the height of tsunami run-up. A bay as well as an
estuary, like the shape of the Purourogat beach,
will produce a higher tsunami run-up.

Abe, K., 1979. Size of great earthquakes of 18371974 inferred from tsunami data. J. Geophys.
Res., v. 84, pp. 1561-1568.

The run-up estimation of the tsunami numerical

model using the BMKG data was 4 m, lower than
field measurements of 7.4 m. However, the
ocean modeling of tsunami
propagation
was
almost similar with the tide gauge data. It was
estimated that within 11 minutes after the main
earthquake, the tsunamis began to enter some
coastlines area in the South and North of Pagai.

Briggs, R., Sieh, K., Meltzer, A.S., Natawidjaja,

D., Galetzka, J., Suwargadi, B., Hsu, Y.J.,
Simons, M., Hananto, N., Suprihanto, I.,
Prayudi, D., Avouac, J.-P., Prawirodirdjo, L.,
and Bock, Y. (2006). Deformation and slip
along the Sunda megathrust in the Great 2005
Nias-Simeulue earthquake.: Science, v. 311, p.
1897-1901.

The Mentawai tsunami has a similar characteristic

with the event of Pangandaran 2006. Both of
those can be categorized as the TsE, considering
that the estimated value of the tsunami run-up was
much smaller than the actual height of the
tsunami. A slow ground shaking had made
tsunami magnitude calculation (Mt) of Mentawai
Earthquake was much larger than the earthquake
magnitude (Mw). The Mentawai tsunami might be
also influenced by other mechanisms. The source
of the earthquake was at the point that close to the
ocean trench where subduction between the IndoAustralian plate with the Eurasian plate in the area
where the accumulation of sediments experiences
a great pressure forming a continuous ridge
submarine elongated with steep slopes that tend to
shock and vulnerable to earthquake shocks.
Possible lifting of sediment above it or a large
landslide that occurred after the earthquake as an
additional factor that triggered the tsunami height
becomes abnormal (much higher than normal
calculation). However, to prove the source of
research takes a more in-depth process.

Abe, K., 1981. Size of tsunamigenic earthquakes

of the northwestern Pacific, Phys. Earth Planet.
Inter., v. 27, pp. 194-205.
Abe, K., 1989b. Quantification of tsunamigenic
earthquakes by Mt scale, Tectonophys. 166,
27-34.
Barber, A. J., Crow, M. J., Milsom, J. S., 2005.
Sumatera Geology, Resources and Tectonic
Evolution. Geological Society Memoir No. 31,
The Geological Society, London, 290 p.

Jaiswal, R.K., B.K (2006). Tsunamigenic sources

in the Indian Ocean.
Lasitha, S., Radhakrishna, M., Sanu, T. D., 2006.
Seismically active deformation in the Sumatera
Java trench arc region : geodynamic
implications. Current Science, 90 (5), pp. 690
696.
Natawidjaja, D.H. (2003). Neotectonics of the
Sumatran fault and paleogeodesy of the
Sumatran subduction zone. Ph.D thesis,
California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Natawidjaja. (2007). Tectonic Setting Indonesia
dan Pemodelan Sumber Gempa dan Tsunami.
Presented on Pelatihan pemodelan run-up
tsunami, ristek, 20-24 Agustus 2007, Jakarta.
Natawidjaja, D., Sieh, K., Galetzka, J., Suwargadi,
B., Cheng, H., and Edwards, R. (2007).
Interseismic deformation above the Sunda
megathrust recorded in coral microatolls of the

Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra: J. Geophys.

Res.
Simandjuntak, T. O., 2004. Tektonika. Publikasi
Khusus, Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan
Geologi, 216 p.
Subarya, C., Chlieh, M., Prawirodirdjo, L.,
Avouac, J.P., Bock, Y., Sieh, K., Meltzner,
A.J., Natawidjaja, D.H., and McCaffrey, R.
(2006). Plate-boundary deformation associated
with the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake:
Nature, v. 440, p. 46-51.
Yeats, R. S., Sieh, K., and Allen, C. R., 1997.
The Geology of Earthquakes. Oxford
university press, 567 p.

No

Year

Location

Latitude

Longitude

Magnitude

1
2

1681
1770

Sumatera
Sw Sumatera

102

-5

3
4
5
6
7
8

1797
1799
1818
1833
1833
1837

Sw. Sumatera
Se. Sumatera
Bengkulu, Sumatera
Bengkulu, Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Banda Aceh

99
104.75
102.267

-1
-2.983
-3.77

4
2
7

102.2
96

-3.5
5.5

8.7
7.2

9
10
11
12
13
14

1843
1843
1852
1861
1861
1861

Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Sibolga, Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera

98
97.33
98.8
97.5
97.5
99.37

1.5
1.05
1.7
-1
-1
0.3

7.2

15
16
17
18
19
20

1861
1861
1864
1896
1904
1907

Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera

97.5
107.3
97.5
100

1
-6.3
1
-1.5

7
6.8
6.5

102.5

-3.5

6.8

21
22
23
24
25
26

1908
1909
1914
1922
1926
1931

Sw. Sumatera
Sumatera
W. Coast Of S. Sumatera
Lhoknga, Aceh
Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera

100
101
102.5
95.233
99.5
102.7

-5
-2
-4.5
5.467
-1.5
-5

7.5
7.7
8.1

27
28
29
30
31
32

1935
1958
1984
1994
2000
2004

Sw. Sumatera
Sw. Sumatera
Off West Coast Of Sumatera
Southern Sumatera
Off West Coast of Sumatera
Off West Coast of Sumatera

98.25
104
97.95
104.3
102.09
95.947

.001
-4.5
0.18
-5
-4.72
3.307

8.1
6.5
7.2
7
7.8
9.3

33
34

2005
2005

Off West Coast Of Sumatera

Kepulauan Mentawai

97.01
99.607

2.074
-1.64

8.7
6.7

Table 1: Tsunami catalogue for Sumatera area (Rastogi and Jaiswal, 2006).

6.8
6.8
8.5
7

6.7
7.5

Simulation Parameters
Length (km)

74.5

Width (km)

26.5

Slip (m)

3.3

Mw

7.4

Center Fault
Coordinate

Latitude

-3.2

Longitude

100

Table 2: Simulation Parameters.

Longitude

Latitude

Run Up (m)

100.18891

-3

4.0

100.22489

-3.03593

3.3

100.2169

-3.01797

3.0

100.36883

-3.23357

2.7

100.08096

-2.82033

2.5

100.18891

-3.01797

2.5

100.15293

-2.85627

2.5

100.18891

-2.85627

2.4

100.04498

-2.82033

2.3

100.009

-2.76643

2.2

100.06297

-2.8383

2.1

100.17092

-2.98203

2.1

100.29686

-3.07187

2.1

100.18891

-2.96407

2.0

100.17092

-2.87423

2.0

100.18891

-2.87423

2.0

100.22489

-3.08983

2.0

100.2069

-3.03593

2.0

100.2069

-3.0539

1.9

100.02699

-2.82033

1.9

100.009

-2.7844

1.9

100.18891

-3.03593

1.9

100.24289

-3.1078

1.6

100.27887

-3.1078

1.6

100.24289

-3.07187

1.6

Longitude

Latitude

Run Up (m)

100.17092

-3.01797

1.6

100.18891

-2.82033

1.6

100.36883

-3.2695

1.6

100.33284

-3.19764

1.6

100.11694

-2.85627

1.6

100.26088

-3.12577

1.6

100.18891

-3.07187

1.6

100.11694

-2.8383

1.6

100.13494

-2.85627

1.5

100.2069

-2.8922

1.5

100.17092

-2.8922

1.5

100.29686

-3.17967

1.5

100.18891

-2.9461

1.5

100.38682

-3.28747

1.5

100.15293

-2.87423

1.5

100.2069

-3.08983

1.5

100.35083

-3.2156

1.7

100.08096

-2.85627

1.6

100.2069

-2.91017

1.6

100.2069

-3.0

1.9

100.06297

-2.8383

1.8

100.27887

-3.12577

1.8

100.24289

-3.08983

1.8

100.17092

-3.0

1.7

100.2069

-3.07187

1.7

100.18891

-3.0539

1.7

100.27887

-3.14373

1.7

100.13494

-2.8383

1.7

100.26088

-3.1078

1.7

100.18891

-2.8922

1.7

100.09895

-2.85627

1.7

100.09895

-2.8383

1.7

100.17092

-2.96407

1.7

100.17092

-2.85627

1.7

100.009

-2.80236

1.7

100.35083

-3.2156

1.7

Longitude

Latitude

Run Up (m)

100.08096

-2.85627

1.6

100.2069

-2.91017

1.6

100.2069

-2.87423

1.6

100.04498

-2.8383

1.6

100.2069

-2.87423

1.6

100.04498

-2.8383

1.6

100.24289

-3.1078

1.6

100.24289

-3.07187

1.6

100.17092

-3.01797

1.6

100.18891

-2.82033

1.6

100.36883

-3.2695

1.6

100.11694

-2.85627

1.6

100.26088

-3.12577

1.6

100.18891

-3.07187

1.6

100.11694

-2.8383

1.6

100.13494

-2.85627

1.5

100.2069

-2.8922

1.5

100.17092

-2.8922

1.5

100.29686

-3.17967

1.5

100.18891

-2.9461

1.5

100.38682

-3.28747

1.5

100.15293

-2.87423

1.5

100.2069

-3.08983

1.5

Table 3: Tsunami height modeling at many points along the Pagai coast.

Location

Munte Kecil
South Pagai

Purourogat
South Pagai

Munte
North Pagai

Position

3.02185 S 100.22244 E

3.03782 S 100.23215 E

2.82955 S 100.09409 E

Direction

N150E

N850E

N100E

Run-Up (m)

6.4

7.4

5.7

Inundation (m)

290

420

406

Table 4: Post Tsunami Survey.

Tide Gauge
Travel Time (Minute)

Simulation
Travel Time (Minute)

Enggano

37

38

Padang

58

58

Locations

Table 5: The comparison of tsunami travel time between observational data (tide gauge) and numerical
simulation results of tsunami propagation using Mamoru Nakamura's Program.

Position

Run Up
Observational
(m)

Simulation
Position

Run Up
Simulation
(m)

3.02185S 100.22244E

6.4

3.01797S 100.2169E

3.03782S 100.23215E

7.4

3.03593S 100.22489E

3.3

2.82955S 100.09409E

5.7

2.82033S 100.08096E

2.5

Location
Munte Kecil Malakopak
South Pagai
Purourogat Malakopak
South Pagai
Munte Betumonga
North Pagai

Table 6: Comparison of tsunami run up between observational and numerical simulation.

Name

Lat

Long

Distance

Arival Time
(UTC)

Travel Time
(minute)

Max Water
Height (m)

Enggano

-5.3461

102.2781

316

15:19

37

0.22

Padang

-0.9500

100.3661

283

15:40

58

0.38

Tanabalah

-0.5326

98.4977

374

15:39

57

0.25

Telukdalam

0.5542

97.8222

516

16:10

88

0.14

Table 7: Observational data (tide gauges data).

Figure 1: Tectonic of Sumatra and Java (Lasitha et al., 2006).

Figure 2: Earthquakes source mechanism in Sumatra and surrounding

based on Harvard CMT data (Lasitha et al., 2006).

Figure 3: Research area.

Figure 4: Source modeling.

Figure 5a: Ocean modeling at 11 minutes.

Figure 5b: Ocean modeling at 38 minutes.

Figure 5c: Ocean modeling at 58 minutes.

Figure 6a: Run up modeling.

Figure 6b: Run up modeling at Muntei Kecil, Purourogat and Munte.