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Most waves form due to winds or tides, but tsunamis have a different cause altogether.
Imagine the biggest wave you can imagine. Now make it bigger.
The suspected 9.5 earthquake took place in Chile and would have created huge tsunamis.
A tsunami-devastated region has a long historical precedent.
Lightning may not strike two times in the same place -- but tsunami sure does.
This means a couple of extra seconds which could make all the difference in a life or death situation.
Ironically, pollution helped some creatures this time.
Can't have a devastating water wave without water!
Fus-ro-dah!
Indonesian authorities lifted a tsunami warning issued after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the island of Sumatra – the largest earthquake since the 2004 disaster. “There is no info on casualties or damages yet,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman at the national disaster mitigation agency, said via text message. “The tsunami warning is based […]
It's not just the San Andreas fault - a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research reports that there are several long faults on the U.S. West coast which can cause significant earthquakes, as well as tsunamis.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake (initially 6.9) has struck Northern Japan earlier today, with a small tsunami striking the coast without any significant damage. The tsunami was on the order of tens of centimeters. There was some worry, despite Japan being one of the most well prepared countries in the world to deal with earthquakes. “Overall, the […]
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake has struck deep beneath the ocean floor near Alaska’s Aleutian islands, triggering a small tsunami. Initially, a tsunami warning was issued for the area, but it was then downgraded to an advisory. Still, 200 residents of the town of Adak were evacuated to higher ground. The good news is that no injuries was […]
As bad as earthquakes can be, and we’ve recently had our fair share of earthquakes around the world, the tsunamis they generate can be even worse. When an earthquake has a significant effect in a body of water, it displaces large quantities of water – and it is that displacement which causes the huge waves […]
A massive earthquake struck Wednesday east of Kira Kira in the Solomon Islands, with several already confirmed victims and injuries. “At 12 minutes past midday, a 7.9 earthquake in the Santa Cruz Islands (near the Solomon Islands) occurred. A shallow event.” He said. “The nearest part from our location estimate is an island called Ndeni, […]
If you think about tsunamis, you’ll probably think about Japan, Indonesia, maybe America… the last place you’d image would be the Alps, right? Well, you might have to go back to that. About 1500 years ago, a massive flood took place in Geneva, Switzerland, wiping out everything in its path, crippling the local community. Now, […]
You probably remember the massive 9.1 earthquake that struck Japan last year and the subsequent problems that followed – most notably the huge tsunamis that struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, bringing it close to a meltdown. Now, according to the first scientific assessment made on the spot, the tsunami was indeed as formidable as the […]
This summer Japan was hit by a tremendous 9.0 Richter scale earthquake, which generated one of the most powerful tsunamis in recorded history. The event killed thousands, left countless others homeless, caused major damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant , which lead to radiation leakage and more than $130 bln in damage. Now, new details […]
In the first ever-survey of its kind, geologists have managed to discover a chain of massive underwater volcanoes, some as tall as 2 miles, underneath the Antarctic waters near the South Sandwich Islands in the remote Atlantic Ocean. The South Sandwich Islands have always been known for their evident volcanic activity, ever since their discovery […]
Japan’s nuclear crisis level has been regulated from level 5 to 7 by the International Atomic Energy Agency, at the top of the nuclear hazard scale and right on par with the 1986 Chernobyl incident, according to the level of radiation released in the accident. The new ranking signifies a “major accident” with “wider consequences” […]
There’s been a lot of fuss around tsunamis lately, especially seen as Japan, perhaps the most prepared country in the world, was devastated by them. A tsunami in the Atlantic however, is a rare sight, due to the fact that that there are no subduction areas, the most common cause of tsunami-causing earthquakes. However, even […]
As the nuclear situation at the Fukushima power plant continues to deteriorate, engineers start to ponder drastic options more and more seriously; it seems that the method which seems to have te best chances to work is the same one that was user in Chernobyl in 1986. It is the first time operation leaders are […]
The 9.0 (it seems this is the actual magnitude) earthquake that hit Japan on the 11th of March created an absolutely incredible number of aftershocks, some of which were pretty intense on their own. However, a few days before it, as stress built up the subduction area between the Pacific and North American plates, one […]
The sad loss of over 10.000 people caused by the M8.9 earthquake and the tsunamis it generated is not the only problem Japanese people will have to deal with; this major disaster is also the most costly in world history, a “title” previously held by Katrina in the US, with an estimate of £77 billion […]
A National Geographic documentary is on the lookout for the mysterious lost city of Atlantic.
In the aftermath of the earthquake that violently struck Japan and the tsunamis it generated, the small, industrial city of Hitachi emerged unscathed from what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has described as Japan’s “worst crisis since the Second World War”, making it somewhat of a refuge for the hordes of refugees that flooded from many […]
In its wake, the Japan 8.9 Richter scale devastating earthquake and the huge tsunami that was produced by it left inimaginable damage. Homes simply stripped apart, farm areas swept away by the water, airports raised, nuclear power plants dangerously shaken and a concerning death toll made the world tremble and reinforced the idea that nature […]
As a consequence of last Friday’s devastating earthquake near the coast of Japan, the nation’s most powerful recorded earthquake to date actually since it began archiving results in the late 1800, scientists have assessed that the Earth axis has tilted by a few inches and that the chronological day has been shortened by a millionth […]
This picture, created by a computer model at NOAA displays the expected heights of the tsunamis created by the 8.9 earthquake in Japan (which may be “upgraded” to 9.0 – calculating magnitudes is a pretty delicate issue). Of course the largest wave heights are expected near the epicenter, off the coast of Sendai, Honshu, Japan. […]
If you’re looking for an easy to understand scientific explanation about the formation of the devastating quake and tsunami that devastated Japan this Friday, you’d better read Dr. John Ebel‘s theory from below, Professor of geophysics and director of Weston Observatory of Boston College. “We had an earthquake caused by the Pacific Ocean plate sliding […]
The recent tsunami wave that hit the Japanese coast this Friday simply devastated the countries costal areas. Besides the actual casualties (now reported to around 1,700), there are a few thousand people still isolated (footage of Japanese citizens stranded on rooftops have been circulating everywhere recently) and thousands more left homeless. The Japanese Government and […]
In the wake of Japan’s most devastating recorded earthquake to date, the nation of the rising sun is still left in shock. Hundreds were killed, many more left homeless, countless financial damage and entire cities left with electricity – it might even get a heck of a lot worse. Another big issue is the telecom […]
The damage caused by the 8.9 earthquake in Japan is far from being over – asa matter of fact, unfortunately, it may very well just be starting. The earthquake and the tsunamis it created cut down power supply throughout a major part of Japan, and so the cooling system of several power plants was unable to […]
The earthquake that occured yesterday near the coast of Japan, the 4th most powerful earthquake ever to be recorded, is causing even more problems, after the direct damage, the aftershocks, the tsunamis, and the fire tsunamis; this time, things can get way, way bigger and worse, and the disaster toll keeps rising. An explosion at […]
The earthquake that struck Japan is much worse than original estimates ! The original 7.9 magnitude actually just got upgraded to 8.9, which makes it 10 times more powerful, and the 4th most powerful earthquake in the past 100 years. Sadly, reports of injured and killed people keep coming in, and will likely not stop […]
It’s been a busy tectonic month, and things aren’t about to chill down. A massive 7.9 magnitude Earthquake has just hit the Northern coast of Japan, triggering a more than four meter tall tsunami that wiped down cars and other property along the coastline, but it’s still unclear how many people were injured or killed. […]
Dr. Beverly Goodman of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa was doing some research on the ancient port and shipwrecks of the place, when she stumbled upon information that led her to this conclusion. “There is a likely chance of tsunami waves reaching the shores of Israel. Tsunami […]
In case you don’t know, a tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, underwater earthquakes, large meteoroid or asteroid impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have […]
People, as a society, find it hard to learn from their mistakes. Since the tragic events caused by tsunamis we have not been able to shelter ourselves from them. But this doesn’t mean researchers are just hanging around – on the contrary. Many scientists are working and they are trying to understand the exact mechanism […]
