300 Foot Tsunami and East Coast Destruction
July 28, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
‘Hierro’, a volcano, an island of the Canary Islands of Spain named ‘El Hierro’, summits at 1500 meters (4,900 feet), and has suddenly become highly active with more than 700 earthquakes in just a matter of days – leading some to believe that ‘something’ is about to happen.
Super Tsunami
About El Hierro:
After three successive eruptions, and consequent accumulations, the island emerged from the ocean as an imposing triangular pyramid volcano. El Hierro has the largest number of volcanoes in the Canaries with over 500 open sky cones, another 300 covered by the most recent outflows, and some 70 caves and volcanic galleries.
130,000 years ago (some reports say 50,000 years ago), seismic tremors produced massive landslides at El Hierro as a giant piece of the island split off and crashed down into the ocean, scattering along the seafloor. The submarine landslide, which consisted of approximately 300 cubic kilometers of earth, resulted in the creation of the huge amphitheater of the El Golfo valley, and more importantly caused a super tsunami that most likely rose over 100 meters high, 300 feet, and probably reached as far away as the American coast.
Trying to imagine a 300 foot tall tsunami is nearly unimaginable. Knowing the devastation that was caused by the recent tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan, which themselves reached heights ranging between 20 and 50 feet, and the devastation that followed… A 300 foot tsunami… is something that we have never seen.
The devastation would be so extreme, so severe, so dire, that we assume that it would never happen in our lifetime. After all, the worst that most people have ever seen is probably a fender bender in the grocery store parking lot. A 300 foot tsunami is strictly reserved for the cinema.
The reality is that the odds of such an occurrence is truly quite low. However we cannot escape the sometimes random behavior of the geophysical world that we live in. While some of it is predictable, other events simply occur in wide ranging windows of time… disastrous events that could unleash at any given moment within a window of hundreds or thousands of years.
‘If’ Hierro were to shake itself to the point of another huge chunk of the island plunging into the sea, the potential super tsunami would reach European shorelines in an hour or few, while the US east coast would probably be inundated in 6 hours.
Knowing that the recent major tsunami in Japan traveled 4.000 miles across the Pacific to produce an approximate 3 foot tsunami on some areas of the US west coast, the approximate ratio was 10:1 as the wave reached the US coastline. There are many factors that are at work to determine tsunami height, and this is highly over-simplifying the formula – the point is that if this were to be a similar case on the US east coast, which is 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands, the tsunami height could be 30 to 40 feet – while some suggest even higher.
This would completely cover most of Long Island New York, Cape Cod Massachusetts, much of New York City, Boston, and countless other cities and towns up and down the east coast harboring millions upon millions of people. How about the state of Florida which is only feet about sea level… Unthinkable.
Why mention this? What can we do about it anyway?
It’s good to simply be aware of the possibilities, which may lead to further preparedness by some who’ve never thought of it before. We’re all about preparedness here, while tempering the doom and gloom – but at the same time being aware of what is currently happening in the world while still measuring against the odds. Given the 700+ tremors at Hierro, who’s to say more of the island won’t slump into the sea and produce a worst-case-scenario?
Be prepared
Update, July 29
20 new earthquakes during the past 24 hours on location at El Hierro. Magma is probably on the move.
Update, September 30
POLICE have moved residents and tourists from houses at the foot of a volcano on Spain’s Canary Islands after a growing series of earthquakes raised fears of an eruption.
A local resident: “I have never felt shaking like it…I notice it especially at night. We can also hear a rumbling and sounds from deep down.”
The Spanish National Geographic Institute has recorded 8,000 tremors since July 19.
Map of El Hierro Earthquakes, 8,800 (July – September)
Update, Canary Islands Sinking Into The Ocean
Update, (October 17)
The El Hierro eruption is almost to the surface of the ocean as geysers, steam, and a broiling roiling sea is observed while at the same time a strong smell of sulfur…
image source: Canaries News
Video showing that the eruption is ready to break the surface
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Here are some comments from Vulcanologist Boris Behncke. (he is currently is residence at Etna in Italy studying that particular on going event)
Yet one more good reason to live in “fly-over country”.
The positive point of WHEN this happens is that the Canary Islands are quite isolated and far enough away from most land masses of populated areas that most everyone would probably have enough warning of the incoming waves. Even someone in Florida could get inland far enough to be SAFER if the roads were not jam backed. Like In Hawaii people go up vertically into very strong buildings and are usually safe. The main word here is prepared. Tsunamis can occur anywhere there is enough water. An earthquake can collapse a massive dam holding back a small sea of water and you can have an inland tsunami.
People better take the Canary Islands seriously and not become so laxed that tsunamis only happen in the Pacific and Indian oceans. The largest and tallest wave that was ever recorded was in Alaska from a landslide in which a lot of debris fell into the bay, I believe that wave reached something like 1700 feet tall. About 1/3 of a mile tall. So these events happen and have been witnessed before.
Yes. I saw a documentary in which a 1,700-ft., ht., mega-thrust Tsunami Inundated Parts of Alaska. It was caused by a Cliff-Face falling into a Bay. There was, unbelievably, a survivor who witnessed the event.
Constant Tremors and Water = Liquefaction. There is a possibility something could shake loose?
Anything is possible, let’s not continue to have an “that won’t ever happen” attitude. Biblical signs are so apparent. Even if you’re not a believer in scripture, you can easily look around you and know that things in the atmosphere have changed and are changing…we will see things soon that we’ve never seen before!!
Thank you! A measured view on what ‘could’ happen and why it is important. I’m way too far inland in the UK for it to affect me directly, but indirectly, the destruction that ‘could’ happen would affect everyone.
Beano is spot on. It would be diffrent if we were tslking about her sister to the north Cumbre Vieja. No need to panic !
I remember this subject was discussed in one of my Geology classes over 50 yrs. ago. Evidence is -huge blocks of tropical coral in the interior of Florida…Question was how did they get there..
Looks like were about to find out one way or another. Sounds like something is about to happen there. Can’t hurt to keep an eye on this one if your along the east coast right now….
Check out http://www.volcanolive.com/news.html as the Hierro volcano in the Canary Islands has begun an undersea eruption. Could be a precussor to more activity on the dangerous points of the islands.