Mega-Tsunami (US East Coast to be Annihilated?)

BBC ^ | 12 October 2000 | BBC Science staff

[FormerACLUmember]

Scattered across the world’s oceans are a handful of rare geological time-bombs. Once unleashed they create an extraordinary phenomenon, a gigantic tidal wave, far bigger than any normal tsunami, able to cross oceans and ravage countries on the other side of the world. Only recently have scientists realised the next episode is likely to begin at the Canary Islands, off North Africa, where a wall of water will one day be created which will race across the entire Atlantic ocean at the speed of a jet airliner to devastate the east coast of the United States. America will have been struck by a mega-tsunami.

Back in 1953 two geologists travelled to a remote bay in Alaska looking for oil. They gradually realised that in the past the bay had been struck by huge waves, and wondered what could have possibly caused them. Five years later, they got their answer. In 1958 there was a landslide, in which a towering cliff collapsed into the bay, creating a wave half a kilometre high, higher than any skyscraper on Earth. The true destructive potential of landslide-generated tsunami, which scientists named "Mega-tsunami", suddenly began to be appreciated. If a modest-sized landslide in Alaska could create a wave of this size, what havoc could a really huge landslide cause?

Scientists now realise that the greatest danger comes from large volcanic islands, which are particularly prone to these massive landslides. Geologists began to look for evidence of past landslides on the sea bed, and what they saw astonished them. The sea floor around Hawaii, for instance, was covered with the remains of millions of years’ worth of ancient landslides, colossal in size.

But huge landslides and the mega-tsunami that they cause are extremely rare - the last one happened 4,000 years ago on the island of Réunion. The growing concern is that the ideal conditions for just such a landslide - and consequent mega-tsunami - now exist on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. In 1949 the southern volcano on the island erupted. During the eruption an enormous crack appeared across one side of the volcano, as the western half slipped a few metres towards the Atlantic before stopping in its tracks. Although the volcano presents no danger while it is quiescent, scientists believe the western flank will give way completely during some future eruption on the summit of the volcano. In other words, any time in the next few thousand years a huge section of southern La Palma, weighing 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic ocean.

What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.

[nonliberal]

The assertions of the many cable science documentaries on this have been torn apart by a lot of prominent tsunami experts.

I saw a guy on Fox News who said that plates were located too far out in the Atlanic to have an effect on the United States.

[RS]

"So, since I'm in Upstate NY, near Buffalo, I'll have beach front property?"

Yep, but it'll still be Buffalo, so noone will want to be there anyway ... (/sarcasm )

[farmfriend]

Thanks.

[Goldwater4ever]

Can't predict beachfront property. However, I can predict that no matter what happens, you will still get lake effect snow.

[DJ Taylor]

As the old saying goes, "Those who really know the ocean will not live anywhere near it."

[Yasotay]

TOBA .... TOBA .... TOBA .... and no I don't mean Animal House .... Is a giant awaking? If so, then you won't be safe in the mountains either. :)

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I saw a show on this. Really scary stuff. Like CA's big one it is not a matter of if but of when.

You stand a far greater chance of being whacked as a result of Leftist governmental policy (gun control, early parole, freeing the insane, excess taxation, etc.).

[jocon307]

"That just leaves the "red states".... "

LOL, you're right!

[b4its2late]

See that? No respect......

[Slicksadick]

Canary Islands is a mole hill compared to landslides that occur regularly in the Hawaiian islands. Check this map out below, sized in cubic kilometers.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

HHHmmm a "mega-Tsunami" wipes out the East Coast and the West coast falls into the Pacific with a mega earth quake......That just leaves the "red states".... Interesting ;^)

Move over...And I like my breakfast at 7am sharp. ;O)

[RedBloodedAmerican]

We dont have the tsunami system and warning test-runs like Hawaii, but we do have the buoys and markers out there picking up info, that will give some warning.

[XRdsRev]

Here is another source debunking the mega-tsunami theory...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/08/040815234801.htm

[b4its2late]

you will still get lake effect snow.

Most likely though it'll melt on contact since it'll have salt in it.....

[Frank_2001]

We probably should just nuke the darn thing!;)

[farmfriend]

You stand a far greater chance of being whacked as a result of Leftist governmental policy

Hey I live in CA, you don't have to tell me. Unfortunately out here "leftist" includes a lot of Republicans like our current Govenator.

[Nexus]

I think a major tsunami producing earthquake off the north coast of Hispaniola or Puerto Rico is far more likely in our lifetimes. It would surely devastate much of our East Coast:

[PennsylvaniaMom]

The flooding is worse than the snow...unfortunately I know this first hand. Stay safe and dry!

[hoosiermama]

We've had several families move in our area from California lately.....Tired of fighting with the liberals...wanted to raise their children in a "normal environment"......and most of them speak English.
;^)

[76834]

Not only that, that would most certainly get the UN out of the US!!!