TSUNAMIS
WHAT ARE TSUNAMIS?
- The literal meaning is harbor waves.
- The Tsunami is series of extremely long waves of water.
- Also known as seismic sea waves.
WHAT ARE ITS CAUSES OF FORMATION?
- It can be generated only through the vertical movement of the seafloor.
- Causes of Tsunami:
- Earthquake: Due to the disturbance on the seafloor.
- Volcanic eruptions: Due to disturbance in volcanoes.
- Underwater explosion: Due to Nuclear Testing like in 1940 by the US.
- Landslides: Earthquake and volcanic eruptions generally generate Landslides, when moving in the oceans, bays and lakes can cause Tsunamis.
- Meteorite Impacts: About 5 million years ago produced Tsunami along the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the US.
WHAT ARE ITS CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES?
- Tsunamis are infrequent natural hazards.
- Most of them are small and non-destructive.
- Mostly tsunamis have less than 3m wave height.
- They pose a major threat to coastal areas.
- In deep water, it has long wavelengths while in shallow water wavelength gets reduced.
- There is no season for tsunamis and it cannot be predicted.
- The speed of the wave is more in shallow water than in deep ocean.
TSUNAMI IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
- Tsunamis caused in the Indian Ocean multiple times.
- Indonesia’s Java and Sumatra islands in 1883.
- Recently in 2004.