On 11th March 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 with epicenter in the Japan trench
generated a tsunami with wave heights of more than 10m in the east coast of Japan. The
monitoring stations of National Mareographic Service, Institute of Geophysics, National
Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) (http://www.mareografico.unam.mx/mareografico/)
Registered tsunami waves with amplitudes varying between 0.4m (Puerto Vallarta) and
3.2m(Zihuatanejo) and reported their arrival between 1.10 p.m. and 4.06 p.m. (central Mexico
time) at different locations along the Pacific coast. Prior to the arrival, the sea retreated more
than 20m and the subsequent tsunami waves left ca.1 cm thick sheet deposit of heavy mineral
enriched dark sediments all along the coast of Guerrero state (Fig. 2).