Post by Paddy by Grace on Jul 21, 2009 13:46:12 GMT -7
Risk of Huge Pacific Ocean Tsunami on West Coast of America Greater Than Previously Thought
standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Earth_Changes/090720.AK.tsunami.risk.html
InboxX
it could dwarf the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake,
which triggered waves more than 40 feet high
July 20, 2009
Press Association, UK
Photo: The city of Sitka, Alaska. The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast. (Stockphoto, Brandon Laufenberg)
A future earthquake off the coast of Alaska could unleash a devastating tsunami on ports and cities along the US Pacific coast, British scientists have warned.
Such an event could dwarf the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake, which triggered waves more than 40 feet high, research suggests.
Around 130 people were killed by the 1964 earthquake and tsunami, in Alaska, Oregon and California. There was also extensive damage to property across the US Pacific region.
A team from the University of Durham, working with US colleagues, studied soil samples from the Alaskan coast to track the history of earthquakes over the last 2,000 years.
The scientists found the sea floor in the area was even more vulnerable to earth movements than was previously thought.
If two giant slabs of the Earth's crust, or plates, were to rupture at once in the earthquake zone it could generate a highly destructive tsunami.
Study leader Professor Ian Shennan, from the University of Durham's Geography Department, said: "Our radiocarbon-dated samples suggest that previous earthquakes were 15% bigger in terms of the area affected than the 1964 event. This historical evidence of widespread, simultaneous plate rupturing within the Alaskan region has significant implications for the tsunami potential of the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific region as a whole.
"Peat layers provide a clear picture of what's happened to the Earth. Our data indicate that two major earthquakes have struck Alaska in the last 1,500 years and our findings show that a bigger earthquake and a more destructive tsunami than the 1964 event are possible in the future. The region has been hit by large single event earthquakes and tsunamis before, and our evidence indicates that multiple and more extensive ruptures can happen."
Tsunamis are often created by the rapid displacement of water when the sea floor rises or falls during large earthquakes.
The shallow nature of the sea floor on the coast of Alaska could increase the destructive nature of a Pacific tsunami wave as the region lies at the junction of two of the world's most active geological sites, the Fairweather fault and the Aleutian subduction zone.
www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jLi_Cc-re8MgC6-rEtyYIAR0NBBw
standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Earth_Changes/090720.AK.tsunami.risk.html
InboxX
it could dwarf the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake,
which triggered waves more than 40 feet high
July 20, 2009
Press Association, UK
Photo: The city of Sitka, Alaska. The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast. (Stockphoto, Brandon Laufenberg)
A future earthquake off the coast of Alaska could unleash a devastating tsunami on ports and cities along the US Pacific coast, British scientists have warned.
Such an event could dwarf the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake, which triggered waves more than 40 feet high, research suggests.
Around 130 people were killed by the 1964 earthquake and tsunami, in Alaska, Oregon and California. There was also extensive damage to property across the US Pacific region.
A team from the University of Durham, working with US colleagues, studied soil samples from the Alaskan coast to track the history of earthquakes over the last 2,000 years.
The scientists found the sea floor in the area was even more vulnerable to earth movements than was previously thought.
If two giant slabs of the Earth's crust, or plates, were to rupture at once in the earthquake zone it could generate a highly destructive tsunami.
Study leader Professor Ian Shennan, from the University of Durham's Geography Department, said: "Our radiocarbon-dated samples suggest that previous earthquakes were 15% bigger in terms of the area affected than the 1964 event. This historical evidence of widespread, simultaneous plate rupturing within the Alaskan region has significant implications for the tsunami potential of the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific region as a whole.
"Peat layers provide a clear picture of what's happened to the Earth. Our data indicate that two major earthquakes have struck Alaska in the last 1,500 years and our findings show that a bigger earthquake and a more destructive tsunami than the 1964 event are possible in the future. The region has been hit by large single event earthquakes and tsunamis before, and our evidence indicates that multiple and more extensive ruptures can happen."
Tsunamis are often created by the rapid displacement of water when the sea floor rises or falls during large earthquakes.
The shallow nature of the sea floor on the coast of Alaska could increase the destructive nature of a Pacific tsunami wave as the region lies at the junction of two of the world's most active geological sites, the Fairweather fault and the Aleutian subduction zone.
www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jLi_Cc-re8MgC6-rEtyYIAR0NBBw