How about we officially change the name to ‘Big-Ass Waves’ and leave it at that?
I’ve heard about part of the N. American continental shelf sliding off off the coast of Virginia. It too was supposed to cause a massive tsunami.
DC is much further than 12 miles inland of the coast. The Delmarva peninsula is wider than that too, so Baltimore is safe. That is, unless the tsunami can travel up inland bays and tidal rivers.
Oh well, I guess we get a double whammy out here on Long Island (NY). Not only is our island going to be eroded away, but a big-ass-wave is going to take us out too. What’s next? Nuclear attack on NY City? That’d probably take me out too (50 miles away).
Personally, if I lived within a couple hundred miles of any ocean, I’d be more worried about polar ice cap melting. Likely to affect more coastal folks than tidal waves.
I think we all need to relax. I read the link, and have heard this story before.
The wave would be 18 feet high, destructive, yes, but certainly far, far short of “twice the size of the Empire State Building”.
As for the wave “wiping out everything 200 miles inland on the East Coast”, scientists say the worst case scenario is the flooding of Washington DC. That would be a mess, but that would be due to the flooding of the Potomac, and not some massive tidal wave barelling ass across Maryland ala “Deep Impact”.
And finally, the risk, according to scientists, of this occuring is “small”.
Sounds like another good scare story the media has overhyped.
Frankly, I think we will be nuked before this ever happens. See you at the shore next summer!
Ok, so it’s extreamly unlikely that it’s ever gonna happen. But what’s my best bet for survival if it does? Hide in the basement with an air tank and hope that the water goes down before I run out of air? Hop on an inflatable raft and try to ride it out? Come on…I want tips and tricks for doging the wave here.
Sorry, Daniel, every discipline has its jargon, and in the geosciences tsunami=seismic sea wave. We use the Japanese term because they’d had the most historically documented number of seismic sea wave events, and it just makes sense to give that term priority of usage. It has nothing to do with geologists deciding that a non-English term was better than an English term. :rolleyes: Give me a break.
A seismic sea wave can’t be called a “tidal wave” because the mechanism generating the wave (sudden rapid displacement of a large volume of water) has nothing to do with tidal forces exerted on the Earth. Tides are generated by the relative gravitational attraction of the Earth, Moon and Sun - these are responsible for the twice-daily changes in local sea level. See the difference?
You can also look at this page on tsunamis, which includes a link to a nice little series of animations. NOAA provides a more in-depth explanation of tsunamis and tides.
AWB said:
Depending on the energy of the wave and whether there are any significant obstacles in the way, a tsunami could conceivably travel some way up a tidal inlet or an estuary. Just when you thought it was safe… 
c-goat said:
You can figure that out right here. You might be safe if you make it to the North Fork fast enough. 
“Large methane gas release off the east coast of the US?” I thought that smell was just Baltimore.
It’s about time there was some decent surf on the east coast.
I had heard the story, but since the disaster wasn’t definitively scheduled for the same week, it was apparently deemed insignificant and has since faded away.
An added reason to use the term “tsunami” for earthquake-induced mondo waves is that there is such a thing as a true tidal wave, caused by the tides, and which is nothing like a tsunami.
I read that there was a large fault on the western edge of Canada which has a habit of shifting every three hundred or so years, I think it is calle dthe Arcadia fault or something similar.
It last went off in the early 1700’s and there is evidence in trees that were swanped and buried in river mud.
Anyone got more ?
casdave, you might be interested in this page maintained by the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. They’ve got some useful illustrations of the potential for tsunami damage in the Pacific Northwest that could be produced by a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. There’s also some good info at this site relating more to past tsunami events.