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To: FormerACLUmember

Well, Krakatoa did cause a tsunami that killed many people, but its deadly effects were still limited to within a fairly small area around it.

I have a hard time believing that an explosion/landslide off the coast of Africa could cause a tsunami to travel all the way across the Atlantic ocean.

Remember that we are talking thousands of miles travelled here and that such a wave front would spread out to devastate the entire east cost of the New World. The energy required for that would just be, IMO, impossible to create with a simple landslide.


52 posted on 08/09/2004 9:09:57 PM PDT by swilhelm73 (When Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, his son murdered 2,000 people in the Abu Gharib prison in *one* day.)
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To: swilhelm73
Well, Krakatoa did cause a tsunami that killed many people, but its deadly effects were still limited to within a fairly small area around it.

Krakotoa blew up and out of its vent. This is different, it is a vast landslide. Keep in mind the wall of the island/volcano is underwater for about a mile or so to the floor of the ocean.

I have been in Hawaii, where the seal floor reveals that this type of thing has happened many times over the history of those islands.

64 posted on 08/09/2004 9:18:27 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: swilhelm73

"I have a hard time believing that an explosion/landslide off the coast of Africa could cause a tsunami to travel all the way across the Atlantic ocean.

Remember that we are talking thousands of miles travelled here and that such a wave front would spread out to devastate the entire east cost of the New World. The energy required for that would just be, IMO, impossible to create with a simple landslide."



Remember that the earthquake in Alaska travelled around the planet either 5 or 7 times. The tsunami killed many people in Japan. The energy of the wave travels along the bottom of the ocean, where at those densities and pressures, nearly 100% of the initial energy transfers. It is NOT evident on the surface....At least not until all that energy begins racing up the continental shelf, where it would become slightly visible. At shoreline, however, we would witness a wave or series of waves that were indeed 500-600 meters tall. Yes, 1900 feet tall. And yes, moving at nearly 400 miles per hour.

The Navy has installed instruments to detect the energy of a tsunami on the ocean bottoms, so there would be some warning. How many would believe it is up for questions.


84 posted on 08/09/2004 10:17:05 PM PDT by datura (The Difference Between a Democrat and a Communist Is????)
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