Tag Archives: tsunami

New sonar data from around Anak Kratatau constrain size of December 2018 collapse

BBC story here. These data indicate a smaller collapse, but also a shallower failure plane than expected, which allowed that smaller volume to still generate a devastating tsunami. Basically, when modelling this, different combinations of slide volume and failure angle … Continue reading

Categories: geohazards, geophysics, volcanoes

317 years since the last rupture of the Cascadia megathrust

At around 9pm on the 26th January 1700, the Cascadia subduction zone – a shallowly dipping thrust fault that runs more than 1000 km north from Cape Mendocino in Northern California to the vicinity of Vancouver Island, ruptured in an estimated magnitude 9 earthquake. Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, society

Sumatra +10: contemplating the power of tsunami

Whilst touring Port Lockroy in Antarctica last Christmas Day, one of the exhibits describing the scientific research undertaken there had this interesting footnote: This is pretty mind-blowing, if you think about it: an isolated Antarctic outpost at around 65 degrees … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, society

Where tsunamis and nuclear power could meet

Out of all the devastation wrought by the Tohuku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the escalating disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant has ended up having the biggest global impact. A catastrophic loss of cooling led to meltdowns, explosions … Continue reading

Categories: geohazards, society

The humbling legacy of the Tohoku earthquake

A year ago on Sunday, one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded ruptured the subduction megathrust that dips beneath the east coast of Japan. The rupture displaced the seafloor by tens of metres and generated tsunami waves up to 20 … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, tectonics