Could terrorists use explosives to start Mega-Tsunami?

BBC.co.uk ^

[crush-the-left]

I just had a scary (though possibly naive) thought.

I've read quite a bit about the La Palma volcano in the Canary Islands triggering a "mega-tsunami". From what I've read this is a virtually certainty in the next 2000 years. Apparently an eruption 60+ years ago "loosened" a massive piece of rock from the side of the mountain creating a 6 foot "crack" as it moved towards the Atlantic ocean. If and when this 20+ mile piece of rock collapses into the ocean, a maga-tsunami would be generated that could be up to to 1000 feet high, moving across the Atlantic at 500 mph and bringing destruction to the entire east coast of the US, as well as Cuba, the Bahamas and the entire Atlantic Ovean region. This would absolutely dwarf the Indonesia tsunami, and millions could be killed.

With this in mind, wouldn't this be an easy target for terrorists? Maybe I'm mistaken but couldn't several tons of strategically placed explosives throughout this 6 foot "crack" set the landslide in motion....kind of like a skier starting an avalanche with a kick?

Hopefully I am incorrect. Opinions are certainly welcome....

[Rebelbase]

Kind of like Tommy Thompson wondering out loud "I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do,".

You don't flaunt weakness to the enemy, nor give them ideas.

[crush-the-left]

Alrighty then! :)

[katana]

Bought the book for my wife for Christmas and I'm into the fourth or fifth chapter. I can hardly wait to hear (what I expect will be) the guy from MIT explaining to the billionaire donor how bogus the whole idea of human responsibility for "global warming" is.

[crush-the-left]

As I said, if you were a terrorist and spent every second thinking of ways to kill Americans, I assure you this would be on your radar after the recent India tsunami.

Give me a break...

[Poohbah]

Several tons of explosives? Sheesh. Try several hundred MEGAtons of nuclear yield.

[Publius6961]

NO

[Rebelbase]

You AssUMe it's already been thought of. Is that assumption worth the risk that it had not been thought of before?

Odds are it's preposterous and will never happen. But isn't it good form to just refrain from public brain farts in the terrorist realm for safety's sake?

[rightgrafix]

correcto mundo

[sassbox]

LOL :)

[pfflier]

You got that right. The estimated energy released by the 9.0 was 1,000 Hiroshima equivalents. More than your average IED.

[CedarDave]

Several years ago, it was postulated that a large undersea landslide in the area when the eastern US continental shelf meets the deep Atlantic trench could trigger a similar tsunami along the east coast. The geologists postulating such an event said if (a BIG if) the area was susceptible to such a landslide it would not take more than a minor local earthquake for the event to occur. Haven't heard the possibility of this mentioned by all the current crop of news infopersons. Don't know whether the idea has been discredited or whether it has just been overlooked in favor of the Canary Islands scenario.

Anyone heard any news on this front?

[Yo-Yo]

Already been tried.

[jim macomber]

"Michael Crichton's new book "State of Fear" addresses this very issue. Good read."

Just last evening I finished "Scimitar SL-2" by Patrick Robinson which is about this EXACTLY - terrorists nuke La Palma, tsunami, hits the east coast, etc.

The book's not bad IMHO and operates from a political perspective that most of us here would not have a problem with except for one thing. The jacket lists the author as splitting his time betwen Ireland and Cape Cod and I fear he has that Irish obsession with Kennedy adoration.

Beginning on page 268, out of nowhere, he brings in Senator Edward kennedy by name and describes him as "...the senior member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, whose patriotism was unquestioned and whose personal motives to act on behalf of the United States were always impeccable."

I kept waiting for the punch line but he was serious.

I mean, I know this is fiction but.....sheesh!!

[Big Digger]

IMHO, I don't believe an Atlantic Ocean tsunami can be generated by collapsing the side of a mountain, say in the Canary Islands, into the sea in the tidal depth zone. There would be a big splash but the energy would dissipate fairly locally in the air/water interface. You would need a deep ocean tectonic displacement, similar to what has just ocurred in South Asia. In the Atlantic, it would take the African Plate slipping against the North American Plate, to displace the amount of water and generate the impulse necessary to power this type of wave. The energy is trapped and travels unseen underwater until it reaches a coastline where it dissipates by breaking in the shallows and flooding over the shoreline. Am I all wet, or what?

[ModelBreaker]

First they will make a demand for "One Million Dollars".

And a lifetime job for Mini-Me.

[monday]

"You AssUMe it's already been thought of. Is that assumption worth the risk that it had not been thought of before?"

lol... you are serious? This idea isn't exactly new or a secret. Numerous books and articles have been written about it.

[reg45]

Also: Scimitar SL-2 by Patrick Robinson

[monday]

"There would be a big splash but the energy would dissipate fairly locally in the air/water interface."

I agree with you to a point. I think the tsunami would result when the twenty square mile chunk of rock hit the sea bed. All that water squeezed between the rock and the sea floor would displace a tremendous amount of water. I too am just guessing. I don't know if you are "all wet".

[muffaletaman]

Actually, earthquakes are limited in the size of tsunami they can create by the size of the earth displacement (vertical thrust or subsidence) which occurs.

Huge landslides such as the eventual La Palma event can displace much more water vertically, and thus raise much higher waves, which then propagate in the same manner as the earthquake-generated waves.

Some models show the La Palma wave when generated will be 650 meters high (2130 feet) - but others say it could start as 1 km (3280 feet) or higher. It will still dwarf this past weekend's tsunami after traversing the Atlantic ocean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami_transcript.shtml

[Disambiguator]

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