Tsunamis can be caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, or meteorite impacts. Supertsunamis, triggered by massive landslides or asteroid impacts, can be tens or hundreds of meters high and crush victims. The Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma is being watched for signs of a possible catastrophic landslide that could create a supertsunami, but experts believe an eruption would not provide enough destabilizing force. There is concern about the possibility of deliberate meddling to create an artificial supertsunami using nuclear bombs.
A tsunami, or tidal wave, is created when a large volume of water in the oceans is displaced, causing a wave front that eventually reaches human coastal settlements. A tsunami can be caused by an earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, or meteorite impact, although earthquakes are by far the most common cause. While a normal tsunami taken by itself is pretty impressive, unique events (massive landslides or asteroid impacts) can trigger tsunamis so large and different from their smaller counterparts that they have been called supertsunamis, or megatsunamis, for the purpose of classifying them separately.
While a normal tsunami appears less like a giant wave than a tide that keeps on rising, a supertsunami would be an unmistakable wall of water, killing its victims more by crushing them than by drowning. Conventional tsunamis are about a few meters (about 10 feet) high when they hit the shore, whereas a supertsunami would be tens or even hundreds of meters high. Achieving the level of water displacement necessary to trigger a supertsunami would require a landslide of cubic kilometers of rock, large but plausible given the size of the mountains on the island chains both above and below the water.
One place being watched for signs of weakness and a possible catastrophic landslide is the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the southern half of La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. An unstable block of rock more than 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) long could collapse if a large eruption or series of eruptions were to occur. The result would be a supertsunami that sends waves around the world, crashing into the east coast of the United States with a height of about 50 meters (164 feet) and a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour. Instead of damaging the infrastructure of coastal cities in a repairable way, a supertsunami could toss skyscrapers like toys, reach miles inland, and permanently reshape the coastline. Fortunately, eruptions on Cumbre Vieja only occur about every 200 years, with the most recent occurring in 1949. Additionally, many experts believe that an eruption would not provide enough destabilizing force to remove the blockage.
More concerning than a natural landslide is the possibility of a deliberate meddling used to remove a huge chunk of land and create an artificial supertsunami. This could probably be achieved on La Palma with several large nuclear bombs. Future terrorists may see this as an opportunity to create the greatest possible amount of damage with limited resources.
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