GEOG 1350 Lecture 5: Tsunami Lecture
16 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Tsunamis: tsunami is japanese for harbour wave", they are produced by the sudden displacement of water. Earthquakes that cause uplift of the sea oor. By triggering a landslide that enters the water: generally, an earthquake must be of at least m7. 5 in order to trigger a tsunami. Tsunamis develop in a 4 stage process: displacement of the sea oor sets waves in motions that transmit energy outward and upward. When the waves reach the surface of the water they spread outward. In the deep ocean, the waves one rapidly (they can reach speeds of over 500km/h) The spacing of the wave crests is very large (it can be more than 100km) The height (amplitude) of the wave is often small (less than 1m) Passengers on ships in the ocean rarely even notice tsunamis passing beneath them: as the tsunami approaches land, the water depth decreases. The speed at this time can be up to 50km/h making impossible to outrun.
