TSUNAMI

Tsunami
 Japanese word
 pronounced: soo - nah – me
 means “wave in the harbor”
 misnamed as “tidal waves”
 Tsunamis are due to the sudden
upward (or downward) movement of
rocks along a fault at the seafloor.
 TSUNAMI
NOAA
National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration
A set of ocean waves caused
by the large, abrupt
disturbance of the sea-surface.
 TSUNAMI
• Major tsunamis are produced by
earthquakes with magnitudes greater than
7.
• Produced with hypocenters less than
30km.
• Are generated by earthquakes along
convergent boundary (Reverse).
• The seafloor will suddenly be driven
upward.
 TSUNAMI
• Faults are found not only on land but
also under the sea. When a fault at the
bottom of the sea suddenly moves, the
water above it can be affected.
• A sudden push from an underwater
fault can produce a wave called a
tsunami.
 Period
• A series of waves may arrive every 10-60
minutes
• Travel at speeds up to 600 miles per
hour (965.4 Km/hr)
• Tsunami traveling in deep water and
open ocean cause no damage and are
hardly noticeable.
• Tsunami traveling in shallow water can
batter coastlines with waves as high as
100 feet(30m), causing considerable
damage.
• The wave is long, about 100 km or
so. When the “front” end reaches
the shore, it slows down. But the
“tail” end keeps on coming at great
speed. So the water piles up and
grows to dangerous heights,
destroying everything in its path.
 TSUNAMI
• Far from the shore, a tsunami is
low, maybe just a meter high. But
it travels at the speed of a jet
plane. When the tsunami reaches
the shore, it slows down but it
grows in height.
 TSUNAMI
• When a fault suddenly moves on
land, you get an earthquake. But if a
fault suddenly moves in or near a
body of water, you may get a
tsunami in addition to the
earthquake.
 Magnitude 9.0 NEAR THE EAST
COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Friday, March 11, 2011
• This earthquake occurred 130 km (80
miles) east of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
and 373 km (231 miles) northeast of
Tokyo, Japan.
Projection of Japan tsunami moving
across the Pacific Ocean
 In March 2011, a powerful
earthquake took place in the Pacific
Ocean near Japan. Afterward, a tsunami
hit Japan. Tens of thousands (please
check approximate figures) Twenty
thousand people were killed. More than
a million houses and buildings were
damaged or destroyed.
 In December 2004, a strong
earthquake occurred in the Indian
Ocean near Indonesia. A tsunami
soon followed. More than 200,000
people were confirmed dead, many
of them in Indonesia, Thailand, India,
and Sri Lanka.
 In 1976, an earthquake took
place in the Moro Gulf in Mindanao.
Later on, a tsunami hit nearby
coastal areas. Thousands of people
were killed. Many more were
declared missing.
What is the connection between
earthquakes and tsunamis?
The destruction of Tsunami
 SUMMARY
• Thus, when you are near the sea and you
feel a strong earthquake, treat that as a
warning signal. Run to the highest place you
can find, or if you have a vehicle, evacuate
inland.
• Not every fault movement beneath the sea
will produce a tsunami. Those faults that
move in a horizontal direction or sideways
will not result in a tsunami. The fault has to
move in the vertical sense. A sudden
upward push triggered the wave.