Free Republic

(Phys.org)—When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests. A team of Australian researchers says that because the Eltanin meteor – which was up to two kilometres across - crashed into deep water, most scientists have not adequately considered either its potential for immediate catastrophic impacts on coastlines around the Pacific rim or its capacity to destabilise the entire planet's climate system. "This is the only known deep-ocean impact...

Alan E Hayden, the director of more than 200 medieval excavations in Ireland, believes the grouping of islands off the Kerry coast suggests earthquake and tsunami wave style damage... The Times report adds: "A folk tale collected by a teacher in the early part of the last century offers an explanation for local place names connected to a road that ran from Dolus Head through the islands to Skellig. "The road, a pre-medieval structure, is called Bóthar na Scairte, or road of the cataclysm, and it is traceable for some distance on Valentia. In the folk tale the road and...

Call to tighten safety design as scientists admit to being baffled by deadly 100ft rogue waves They are the stuff of legend and maritime myth: giant waves, taller than tower-blocks, that rise out of calm seas and destroy everything in their paths. For years scientists and marine experts have dismissed such stories as superstition. Walls of water do not rise out of the blue, they said. But now research has revealed that 'killer waves' do exist and regularly devastate ships around the world. They defy all scientific understanding and no craft is capable of withstanding their impact. 'Rogue waves in...

Video @ link...A 66ft long floating dock that was ripped from the shores of Japan during last year's tsunami has arrived on a beach 5,000 miles away in Oregon.

Few people will develop cancer as a consequence of being exposed to the radioactive material that spewed from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year — and those who do will never know for sure what caused their disease. These conclusions are based on two comprehensive, independent assessments of the radiation doses received by Japanese citizens, as well as by the thousands of workers who battled to bring the shattered nuclear reactors under control.

In the winter of 479 B.C., a tsunami was the savior of Potidaea, drowning hundreds of Persian invaders as they lay siege to the ancient Greek village. New geological evidence suggests that the region may still be vulnerable to tsunami events, according to Klaus Reicherter of Aachen University in Germany and his colleagues. The Greek historian Herodotus described the strange retreat of the tide and massive waves at Potidaea, making his account the first description of a historical tsunami. Reicherter and colleagues have added to the story by sampling sediments on the Possidi peninsula in northern Greece where Potidaea (and...

Any discussion of Japan and nuclear power is complicated by that country's history as the only nation ever to suffer a nuclear attack. That event continues to haunt the venerable Pacific nation. This is an immutable truth that one must accept regardless of which side one is on concerning the legitimacy of the US attack 67 years ago. That said, the Japanese nation nevertheless staked much of its economic destiny on nuclear power. Beginning more than four decades ago, Japan deployed over 50 nuclear power plants to feed the energy needs of its densely packed population. Very limited in domestic...

TOKYO (AP) — A teenager who lost his home in Japan's devastating tsunami now knows that one prized possession survived: a football that drifted all the way to Alaska. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the ball with the youngster's name inscribed on it is one of the first pieces of debris from last year's tsunami to wash up on the other side of the Pacific.

The warning posters titled “Japan Tsunami Marine Debris: What to do if you see debris” are going up at beaches around Washington now and will be replaced as they weather or disappear, said Charles Wallace, Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Grays Harbor County. Here’s what the poster says: ...Human remains: It is extremely unlikely any human remains from the tsunami will reach the United States. However, if you encoun-ter any remains, immediately call 9-1-1 and give local authorities a detailed report about what you observed. Do not touch or attempt to move.

More shake, rattle and roll on the other side of the planet. 8.7 this morning; Tsunami warning for Indonesia, not for Japan. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000905e#summary

We noted days after the Japanese earthquake that the biggest threat was from the spent fuel rods in the fuel pool at Fukushima unit number 4, and not from the reactors themselves...

The U.S. Coast Guard unleashed cannon fire Thursday at a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year's tsunami, stopping the ship's long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean. A Coast Guard cutter fired on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and more than 150 miles from land, spokesman Paul Webb said. Soon after the cannon fire started, the ship burst into flames, began to take on water and list, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow said. About two hours later, the vessel hadn't sunk and the cutter resumed shelling, Lt. Veronica Colbath said. The...

As an eerie reminder of the tragedy that befell the Japanese people more than 12 months ago, a 150-foot Japanese fishing boat has been spotted on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, floating aimlessly off the coast of the Haida Gwaii islands, British Columbia. In the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011, up to 8 million tons of wreckage was washed out to sea -- 2 million of which is thought to still be floating...

A fishing boat lost in the massive Japanese tsunami a year ago has turned up off Canada's west coast... The 65-meter (210-foot) vessel was spotted Tuesday by a Canadian Forces aircraft on a routine surveillance patrol, and its Japanese owner has been notified, said Transport Canada. A military photo shows the ship, streaked with rust but intact, floating 278 kilometers (150 nautical miles) off the southern coast of Haida Gwaii islands, some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) north of Vancouver. "The vessel is considered an obstruction to navigation," ... Near Midway Atoll in the deep Pacific, a Russian ship spotted an...

At 9PM on January 26, 1700 one of the world's largest earthquakes occurred along the west coast of North America. The undersea Cascadia thrust fault ruptured along a 680 mile length, from mid Vancouver Island to northern California in a great earthquake, producing tremendous shaking and a huge tsunami that swept across the Pacific. The Cascadia fault is the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates: the smaller offshore Juan de Fuca plate that is sliding under the much larger North American plate. The earthquake also left unmistakable signatures in the geological record as the outer coastal regions subsided...

Same area as last year. No other detail available. Searching net for more info. Prayers up!

Full title..What a comeback! Eleven months after the tsunami ravaged Japan, a series of pictures reveals the incredible progress being made to clear up the devastationWhen Japan was hit by both an earthquake and tsunami in quick succession in March last year, the images of devastation gripped the world. And now after 11 months of tireless rebuilding, these pictures reveal the amazing progress made since those tragic events. Photographers returned to the scenes of desolation to take these stunning shots that capture the way in which the areas most severely affected have changed.

BIG Earthquake Strikes Off Of Sumatra (Indonesia) Joe Weisenthal Jan. 10, 2012, 1:49 PM Just reported by the USGS. A big 7.3 earthquake off the cost of Northern Sumatra. Here's the map. The full details from the USGS are here. According to Reuters, the Indonesian government has issued a tsunami warning.(snip)

I have always been curious about the lack of documented evidence for a tsunami ever occuring on my home coast of North Carolina. Some of the largest undersea land slides on earth have been documented off our wonderful Outer Banks, and earthquakes are not completely unknown in the Carolinas. Both cause big waves. And more to point for the Tusk, some very credible work has documented cosmically-induced tsunami in the New York and Hudson Valley region, not far away from NC in a regional sense.

Another Asian Fukushima Imminent? Taiwan imports 99 percent of its energy, which is vital to its rapidly industrializing economy. The island nation's electricity demand was recently growing at almost 5 percent per year, but this is slowing to about 3.3 percent per annum to 2013. Nuclear power has been a significant part of the electricity supply for two decades and now provides 17 percent of the country's overall energy needs. But this has come at a potential cost. The country's three nuclear power plants (NPPs) comprise four General Electric boiling water reactors and two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. Taiwan launched its nuclear power project...