Thread: Mega tsunami

I recently watched a documentary on mega tsunami. Does anyone know anything about these and how they can occur ?

The show I watched suggested that a volcanic island off the coast of Africa or Europe, sorry I don't remember its name or exact location, can and has had major land slides that would cause a major tsunami to hit the east coast of the US. I believe that there is a shelf in Hawaii that can do the same thing. It already has a major crack that continues to widen and they are watching it carefully.

What would happen if two mega tsunami's or even just normal tsunami's were to crash into each other? (from opposing directions)

The show was on just after I posted this. Too weird. The volcanic island is La Palma and it must be off of Europe or it wouldn't hit the US. I didn't watch the show again.

Originally Posted by scpg02

The show I watched suggested that a volcanic island off the coast of Africa or Europe, sorry I don't remember its name or exact location,

it's the canary islands

Ok so it is off the coast of Northern Africa. My brain just wouldn't recall the info and I was too tired to look it up.

It's off Africa, but politically is part of europe (spain) :P

On volcanic oceanic islands like Hawaii, La Palma and the other Canaries, giant landslides are the major way they erode in their younger stages. Take a look at Tererife and El Hierro on Google Earth and you can see huge landslide scars on their sides.
The threat of megatsunamis from these islands may be overhyped to an extent. I'm told that surveys of the sea floor deposits from old landslides suggest they result from a number of smaller movements rather than one massive slide. Don't get me wrong, they could still devestate (particularly locally), but probably not to the extent the documentary suggested.