Mega Tsunami could wipe out East Coast of the United States
As winter sun holiday destinations go, the Canary Islands are one of the more well known places in the world for sun worshippers and grey sky dwelling northern europeans to head south to for the winter. What is less well known is the impact that the islands’ volcanic past have in store for the East Coast of the US, if volcanologists’ and oceanographers’ predictions of a mega tsunami are realised.
Tsunami hits the statue of liberty – image credit unknown
Over the last few weeks, a rumbling volcanic eruption and earthquakes in the seas around the island of El Hierro in the Canaries have re-ignited the debate on the the Mega Tsunami predicted to hit the Eastern Seaboard of the US. The debate centres on a theory that focuses on a tsunami being caused caused after a large chunk of volcanic rock falls into the sea from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma.
Part of this volcano is highly unstable and could collapse into the ocean at any time. If this were to happen 20,000 cubic meters of rock could fall into open sea water and, channelled by the seabed geology, create a mega wave (Tsunami) travelling at 500mph in all directions.
tsunami triggered by land slide on the island of La Palma. image credit – telegraph.co.uk
The path of destruction caused by the wave would be as follows. African nations of the western Sahara would be hit first by waves of 330ft, followed by southern Europe, then northern France, Ireland, and the UK. The eastern seaboard of the United States would be hit within 7 to 8 hours of the event, causing widespread devastation. A wave making landfall at a height of up to 200ft would hit the metropolises of Boston and New York, then the Tsunami would travel south along the coast, taking out beachside communities all the way to Miami and the Florida Keys. According to Dr Simon Day, of the Benfield Greig Hazards Research Centre (University Collage London, UK), its not a question of if this happens, but when!
However, if you live in the suggested path of this mega tsunami, don’t start moving just yet! Many other scientists believe that these events are highly unlikely, as the rock that could cause such an event is far more likely to break up into smaller chunks, and be dispersed over a considerably longer timeframe than it would take to cause this Tsunami.
Sources of further reading and viewing:
Mega Tsunami – The Discovery Channel
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Posted by James Copernicus
on December 9, 2011. Filed under Front Page Featured,Most Read,Nature,Whats New.
Tags: el hierro tsunami, la palma tsunami, mega tsunami, tsunami, tsunami canary islands, tsunami east coast, tsunami usa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
7 Responses to Mega Tsunami could wipe out East Coast of the United States
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Kim L. Short
February 26, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I’ll stay away from the beach that day.
splashlime
February 26, 2012 at 2:04 pm
That might be a good idea :+)
Quickfix
March 3, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Is their any place on earth safe enough to live? How bout the desserts? Any high mountains liveable? How bout the FEDERAL RESEARVE FAMILIES think they might wana help out or leave us to the tsunami?
Solidoor
May 22, 2012 at 5:49 pm
We kept getting emails from customers/distributors on the east coast asking if everything was o.k., and it most certainly was here in Hood Canal. In the morning on the way to work the news was all about the tsunami threat on the U.S. coast, and I didn’t realize how devastating the waves were in Japan until I saw the t.v. footage in the evening. Terrifying. It’d be interesting to see some analysis about the possibility of tsunami in Puget Sound, from an earthquake in the Straits, for instance.
Florian
October 29, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Live in Germany and you have no problems :b
Michael
April 15, 2012 at 1:13 am
I am really curious about when this mega tsunami will happen..
Scientists say they think it could happen within the next couple
thousand year or so .. But I guess its not really a matter of
how it will happen but when it will happen .
keith biggs
April 22, 2013 at 3:16 pm
it’s just another reminder of how vulnarable and insignificant we are as we ride on a ball of rock around the cosmos ,it happened to the dinosaurs ,it’ll happen to the human race ,get used to it and accept it