Landslide-generated tsunami:
Tsunamis can also be generated by landslides. This type of tsunami is commonly known as the mega-tsunami. Landslide-generated tsunamis are normally more powerful than earthquake-generated tsunamis. The strength of the mega-tsunami waves depend upon the size of the landslide and also the height of the fall. The larger the area and the higher the fall, the bigger the wave. These gigantic waves are big enough to cross oceans and affect cities. These waves travel at supersonic speed and can rise to over a thousand feet!
Lituya Bay in Alaska was the site of one of the largest tsunamis ever recorded. The giant waves rose to a height of about half a kilometre high, higher than any skyscraper on Earth. On the night of July 7, 1958, a large landslide in the bay produced a mega-tsunami. It caused a lot of destruction in the area.
The only good news is that such dangerous landslides do not happen often. The first landslide is reported to have happened on the island of Réunion over 4000 years ago. However, scientists are predicting that we may see another landslide and a mega-tsunami on the island of La Palma in the Canaries.
Caption: La Palma
Credit: Wikipedia
The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Islands' La Palma island may not erupt again for centuries, but when it does erupt the scientists predict that there might be a major natural disaster. When Cumbre Vieja erupted in 1949, the scientists noticed that a huge crack appeared on one side of the volcano and the western half slipped a few meters towards the Atlantic before it stopped. Scientists predict that there is a high possibility that the western flank of this volcano, weighing over 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic Ocean. If this happens, the landslide will cause a huge mega-tsunami that will be far bigger than what happened at Lituya Bay. The massive tsunami waves are expected to travel toward the coasts of Africa, Europe, South America, Newfoundland and the eastern coast of the United States.
A graphical presentation of possible volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands and how it might possibly create a tsunami in the Atlantic.
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Meteor-generated:
Meteor-generated tsunamis are also called mega-tsunamis. The effects of this tsunami are very similar to the landslide-generated tsunami.
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Credits
Credits: Online
Credits: Books
- Plate Tectonics by Kevin Cuff, Ian Carmichael, Carolyn Willard
- Apocalypse: a Natural History of Global Disasters
by Bill McGuire (Cassell, London, 1999).
- Furious Earth: The Science and Nature of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis by Ellen J. Prager.
Credits: Interactions
Ideas for team-generated interactions were conceived by reading articles from NASA and also from Creative Adventures activities.
Credits: Individuals
- Ms. Irivinti for teaching us how to use Dreamweaver for our web design, Photoshop and Fireworks for graphics as well as animating our logo. She taught us how to create different background (fading) effects, how to pick appropriate colors, and how to generate theme specific images, spacers etc. She also assisted us with all programming aspects of our website.
- Mrs. Cataldo, Ms. Irivinti and our parents for guiding us with research and content development. It was difficult to find information we needed in one place and their assistance helped us a lot in this regard.
- Mrs. Cataldo and Ms. Irivinti for reviewing and editing what we wrote. They told us when our writing needed more work and also taught us how to cite sources, obtain permission for images that we borrowed from other websites and also the proper way to credit them.
Our Interactions on Types of Tsunamis
More Reading on Types of Tsunamis
More Online Interactions on Types of Tsunamis
Vocabulary on Types of Tsunamis
