Major typhoon phases in the upper Gulf of Thailand over the last 1.5 millennia, determined from coastal deposits on rock islands

Abstract Rapid growth of Asian megacities, exemplified by the megacity of Bangkok, Thailand, with a population of over 10 million inhabitants, means that an increasing number of people are living in low-lying coastal areas exposed to hazards such as typhoons. While Bangkok has always been considered not to be at risk from typhoon strikes, recent discoveries of elevated carbonate boulder deposits have started to question this assumption. This work reports on findings from the islands of Ko Khang Khao and Ko Phai, farther north and west than earlier studies, and adds to the existing body of evidence for prehistorical typhoon-driven high energy marine inundation (HEMI) events penetrating north…