We watched a program here in the UK about the very real risk of a Mega Sunami (i.e. really REALLY huge tidal waves) that will wipe out most of the U.S. East Coast, to a distance of 12 miles…experts agree that this will be caused by a volcanic eruption on an island near Gran Canaria, where the natural fault in the rock will cause a massive landslide that will shunt a wave twice the height of a New York skyscraper across the Atlantic - taking no more than 2 hours to cross it.
My question is: Has anyone living on the East Coast heard/known about this, or what is your reaction if this is the first you’ve heard? (The ‘experts’ all agreed that, if they lived in the danger zone, they would watch very carefully for news of this volcano, and begin driving when it is active…)
I don’t know for certain, but that sounds a lot like the theory that Hawaii is going to shed a big rock shelf and cause a Pacific tsunami. I’ve seen a documentary on this one and it seemed reputable. They don’t know when the “underwater landslide” is going to happen, but when it does, there will be a big wave to deal with.
It’s possible this is a similar situation to the one in the Atlantic you’ve heard of. It’s also possible that someone heard about the Pacific one and got confused and relocated it.
I saw a similar article recently. Although most of the East Coast is a potential target, I’d have to question the “wipe out most of the East Coast” scenario. Just from a potential energy perspective, I don’t see how one falling cliff, however massive, could raise a wave of water 1200 feet high and 1500 miles long.
Very seat of the pants calculation, let’s assume a chunk o’ rock 10 miles long * 1 mile thick * 1 mile high falls from six thousand feet (1/2 average mountain height in the Canary islands + average ocean depth in those parts) into the ocean in one majestic plummet rather than a slow slide. A quick check of the encyclopedia indicates that the density of granite is about 3 times that of water. Let’s assume that the tsunami is only 100 yards wide (because frankly I have no idea). Hmmmm. Actually, yep, that’s a wall of water approximately 1000 miles wide and 1/2 mile high. Maybe buying a place two miles inland on the Massachusetts shore wasn’t such a good idea after all…
Oh well, at least it will resolve most of the urban sprawl problems on the East Coast.
I’m still waiting for California to drop into the sea after hearing these lyrics: “Where will you go, when there’s no San Francisco? Boy, you better get ready to tie up your boat in Idaho!”. Forty years ago!
This was in the news here (DC) earlier this summer. Basically, the eastern shore peninsula would be screwed, and life wouldn’t be pleasant here in the Capital region, but we’d survive.
And, for the benefit of my parents and grandparents in South Florida, who live about 10 miles from Ft. Lauderdale Beach, the tidal wave is expected to really only affect the mid-Atlantic, between North Carolina and Connecticut.
Actually, “tsunami’ is a poor term for seismic waves. “Tidal wave” is actually just as accurate. Yes, 'tidal waves” are not caused by tides, true, but the tidal here refers to the fact the occur only in the tidal zones, which is mostly correct. “Tsunami” means “harbor wave”, and since they are not restricted to harbors, not do harbors cause them, the term is actually not even as good as "Tidal wave’, which pedantic folks like to critisize.
Some clarification is in order here, Daniel, because your explanation is not correct:
A tsunami refers to a long-period seismic sea wave that may be caused by an earthquake that produces displacement in the sea floor, an underwater volcanic explosion, or a massive underwater landslide. The key to producing a tsunami is rapid displacement of a large volume of sea water. It’s true that the word comes from Japanese meaning “harbor wave,” but it doesn’t mean that the phenomenon is restricted to harbor settings; harbors are simply one of those places where a tsunami’s energy can become focused, making the wave visible to the likes of us. In the open sea, tsunamis can travel up to 700 km/hr, but can pass by ships unnoticed because their energy has not yet been focused (by shallowing sea floors along coastlines), and they may be only a few inches high. So it’s not correct to say that tsunamis only occur in tidal zones - they are simply more visible close to shore.
“Tidal wave” is an old term used to describe this phenomenon before geologists and oceanographers understood why it occurs. In the geoscience community the term has been abandoned, but its usage continues to linger in the popular media and it’s one of those things that’s tough to stamp out.
A seismic wave refers to any packet of elastic strain energy traveling away from an energy source (e.g., earthquake or man-made shot). In practice, the term is usually meant to describe a wave moving through the earth; a distinction is made when you’re describing an event occurring in the ocean.
friponne said:
One of my colleagues down the hall works on natural hazard assessment, and just sent around an email about this. His take on it: while it’s worth keeping an eye on the volcano, he thinks the probability of this happening is on the order of a 1,000,000:1 - the same probability as a nuclear power plant reactor meltdown, and about 2 orders of magnitude less likely than a M=7 earthquake hitting NYC. He also feels that the British researchers downplayed the probability that methane gas release will cause a major landslide and tsunami here on the east coast (see Boscibo’s link above) in favor of the Canary Islands scenario.
Actually, that could be the premise for the next summer bluckbuster: giant tsunami menaces the Atlantic Coast and the U.S. Coast Guard requests the help of tsunami hunter extraordinaire Bruce Willis who manages to create an anti-tsunami and annihilates the threat. This of course happens one second before the tsunami reaches zero point barrier, at which point it would be unstoppable.
Unfortunately, Bruce Willis gets sucked by the black hole he used to gravitationally induce the formation of the anti-tsunami. His daughter, played by Alicia Silverstone, mourns his death until she realizes that her hubby, Matt Damon, managed to survive. As they get married, the light waves emitted by the black hole’s accretion of Bruce Willis brightens the sky while the latest Aerosmith hit song plays on.
Tsunami Attack: Poseidon’s Revenge, coming soon to a theater near you.
Does anyone else remember a really atrocious made-for-TV flick called (incorrectly ) Tidal Wave, starring Corbin Bernsen? It came out a few years back, around the time Dante’s Peak and Volcano were out. Bernsen was the disaffected former government scientist who thwarted an extortionist’s plans to trigger tsunamis aimed at specific parts of the California coast by setting off massive undersea landslides using stolen nuclear warheads, unless the government gave him the money he wanted. Oh, the horror! The suspense! The utter ridiculousness of it all!
When do you think they’ll remake it for the big screen?
I always thought that the continental United States was protected from tidal waves by virtue of its wide continental shelf (the area of shallow water before the big deep drop). Supposedly this shallow water area forced the approaching tidal wave to compress prematurely and “fall over” offshore.
Has this theory been revised or rejected by new studies, or am I remembering it incorrectly?
I saw the story on the BBC’s webpage. Sounds plausible, but they can’t predict when or if it’ll happen. From what I understand, the wide continental shelf will just make the wave break farther away, but all that water will still come just as far inland.
Oh well. I live in Texas. Maybe Florida will slow it down a little.
Fillet, the term “tsunami” is no more “correct” than “tidal wave”. It is just that certain pedants feel anything in a foriegn language must be better than in english. How is tsunami more accurate than Tidal wave?
) Tidal Wave, starring Corbin Bernsen? It came out a few years back, around the time Dante’s Peak and Volcano were out. Bernsen was the disaffected former government scientist who thwarted an extortionist’s plans to trigger tsunamis aimed at specific parts of the California coast by setting off massive undersea landslides using stolen nuclear warheads, unless the government gave him the money he wanted. Oh, the horror! The suspense! The utter ridiculousness of it all!