Posted on 12/28/2004 6:19:53 PM PST by 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.
Good post! The Big Island sloughs off lava flows on a regular basis. In '75, there was a quake and a piece of the lava flow dropped off into the ocean and caused a local sea wave but did not generate an ocean wide seismic sea wave.
Interesting post. I'm not an engineer, nor a geologist, but it does seem to me that the energy released by even a massive landslide in the Canaries is only the slightest fraction of the energy released in a significant earthquake.
It would seem to me that it is all about the energy imparted to the water. A 9.0 earthquake is off the charts energy-wise, while even a massive landslide of several miles of rock in the canary islands would barely register by comparison. Sure, it would generate a nasty wave locally, but it wouldn't have the energy to generate a tsunami.
Interesting.
Good morning
Kanada/Canada news
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=a6b72030-63df-4d01-b1ad-34e31cfffad6
Dilip Ganguly
Canadian Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Rescuers piled bodies along coastlines devastated by a tsunami that obliterated seaside towns in Asia and Africa, killing some 21,000 people in nine countries. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled Monday to cope with the catastrophe.
The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia. It was the world's most powerful earthquake in four decades.
Walls of water sped away from the epicentre at more than 800 kilometres an hour before crashing into the region's shorelines, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands remained missing Monday.
The governments of Indonesia and Thailand conceded that public warnings came too late or not at all. But officials insisted they could not know the seriousness of the threat because no tsunami warning system exists for the Indian Ocean.
Officials said the death toll would continue to rise, and the international Red Cross said it was concerned about waterborne diseases.
Sri Lanka said more than 10,000 people were killed along its coastlines, and Tamil rebels said 2,000 people died in its territory, raising that country's toll to more than 12,000.
Indonesia reported about 5,000 deaths and India 3,000. Thailand - a western tourist hotspot - said hundreds of people were dead and thousands more were missing. Deaths also were reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia, more than 4,800 kilometres away in Africa.
On the remote Car Nicobar island northwest of Sumatra, Police Chief S.B. Deol told New Delhi Television he had reports that another 3,000 people may have died. If confirmed, that would raise India's death toll to 6,000 and the overall number to 23,900.
"The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been really badly hit," said Hakan Sandbladh, senior health officer at the Geneva headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Offers of aid poured in from around the globe as troops in the region struggled to deliver urgently needed aid to afflicted areas.
A Canadian was among those killed in Sri Lanka, and at least a dozen were reported injured in Thailand, Foreign Affairs confirmed Sunday. No information was immediately available on their names or hometowns. The number of Canadians in the affected areas was not known, because registration with embassies by tourists is voluntary.
In Bandah Aceh, Indonesia, 240 km from the quake's epicentre, dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets as soldiers and desperate relatives searched for survivors Monday. Some 500 bodies collected by emergency workers lay under plastic tents, rotting in the tropical heat.
"We have ordered 15,000 troops into the field to search for survivors," Indonesian military spokesman Edy Sulistiadi said. "They are mostly retrieving corpses." Thank you
Do ya think we could get people of the beaches in those hours?
a totally unsupported, without peer review, "scientific" report.
Rocks from space, tsunamis, global warming, huge holes in the ozone layer, evaporating methane ice, and the sun exploding.
Lets not forget about mad cow disease, the flu shot shortage, ebola, e. coli, and various exotic flu "epidemics".
China and Pakistan have the bomb. North Korea, Iran, Lybia, and the terrorists may have a bomb.
Let's not forget about all of the now-proven-fatal perscription drugs. Celebrex. Phen Phen. Dozens of others.
Looks like we are all going to die.
APf
And that sickening and terrifying image carries as much weight as "....scientists predict..." does.
no. we can't even get day trippers off long island in two hours on any summer weekend - much less the entire population.
If we were lucky, it would wash up on shore in Antartica.
Just remember, pretty much all of Florida is beach that just sees wave action infrequently enough for trees to grow on it...
If that damn butterfly had just not flapped its wings...
and the others. Speak?
Denver lookin REAL good 'bout now...
Mother nature will decide this based on which event leads to the greatest tax increase for US citizens. This according to informed sources at the UN.
Four strong earthquakes have affected Puerto Rico since the beginning of its colonization. The most recent of these occurred on October 11, 1918. The epicenter was located northwest of Aguadilla in the Mona Canyon (between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic). This earthquake had an approximate magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale and was accompanied by a tsunami ("tidal" wave) which got up to 6 meters (19.5 feet) high. Damage was concentrated in the western area of the Island because this was the closest zone to the earthquake. The earthquake killed about 116 people and caused more than 4 million dollars of damage. Numerous houses, factories, public buildings, chimneys, bridges and other structures suffered severe damage.
On November 18, 1867, 20 days after the Island was devastated by Hurricane San Narciso, a strong earthquake occurred with an approximate magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was located in the Anegada Passage, between Puerto Rico and St. Croix, Virgin Islands. The earthquake produced a tsunami that ran inland almost 150 meters (490 feet) in the low parts of the coast of Yabucoa. This quake caused damage in numerous buildings on the Island, especially in the eastern zone.
Possibly the strongest earthquake that has affected Puerto Rico since the beginning of colonization occurred on May 2, 1787. This was felt strongly throughout the Island and may have been as large as magnitude 8.0 on the Richter Scale. Its epicenter was possibly to the north, in the Puerto Rico Trench. The quake was felt very strongly all across the Island. It demolished the Arecibo church along with the El Rosario and La Concepcion monasteries and damaged the churches at Bayamon, Toa Baja and Mayaguez. It also caused considerable damage to the castles of San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobal, breaking cisterns, walls and guard houses.
The other strong earthquake, whose magnitude has not been determined, occurred in 1670, significantly affecting the area of San German District.
Yeah, red states with no sea ports for oil, nor military bases to defend yourselves with, and all the banks money lost when Wall Street disappears.
It wont be a picnic for the red states at all.
Plus the smell will be unbearable...oh, wait, you guys are upwind from us...my bad.
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