The temporal development of a late Holocene strand plain system along the western Shizuoka Prefecture was reconstructed based on facies analyses and 14C dating for core samples excavated in a back marsh using a geo-slicer, 6.0-m-long, 0.35-m-wide, and 0.05- to 0.1-m-deep wedge-shaped stainless steel case. The strand plain system consists of beach, sand dune, and back marsh. Stratigraphic succession of the strand plain system, up to 4.4 m thick, is composed of upper shoreface sand, foreshore sand, backshore sand, and back marsh mud, in ascending order. The succession shows three development stages of the strand plain system.
Stage 1 (before the 13th century) : The study area was under a wave-dominated beach environment. The beach system was developed by progradation of shoreface, foreshore, and backshore deposits in the later period of this stage.
Stage 2 (from the 13th century to the 16th century) : Sand dune and back marsh developed, covering the beach deposit. Humic mud was thickly deposited in the back marsh with low sand supply from seaward across the dune.
Stage 3 (after the 17th century) : The back marsh has been infilled mainly by washover sand and debris from the hinterland. The AD 1707 Hoei Earthquake Tsunami, which destroyed villages on the dune, possibly promoted reactivation of sand movement from ruined dune to the back marsh.
