A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM), a Spanish research institute, found that lateral displacement tectonics has a greater potential for the formation of coastal tsunamis than previously thought.
The Alboran Sea lies between the westernmost part of the Mediterranean, the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa. The Strait of Gibraltar, at the western end of the Alboran Sea, connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean. New data from the Averroes fault line here show that a large earthquake (7.0 on the Richter scale) should have occurred in the seismic zone. This would trigger a tsunami of at least 6 meters in height, which would partially destroy and flood the Andalusian coasts.
“These huge waves could endanger coastal populations, damage marine and terrestrial infrastructure, and damage economic and environmental conditions. These results will be essential to improve planning measures to mitigate the effects of a possible tsunami, “explained Ferran Estrada, an ICM geologist.
caused by seismic activity. However, in the absence of a vertical motion component in subsea earthquakes, the mass of water absorbs the kinetic energy of earth motion to a much lesser extent than in the case of subduction, so there is usually no devastating tsunami.
it has a seed drill of up to 5.4 meters capable of producing a strong earthquake of magnitude 7. We examined the activity of the fracture in geological recent times and, according to historical records, the last earthquake generated by this fracture in 365 AD. was “,” added Estrada.
Thanks to a mathematical model of seabed deformation, the research team was able to calculate the behavior of water bodies in the Alboran Sea in the event of another seismic event at the fracture.
According to the simulation of possible scenarios, the tsunami waves would spread in two main branches, and would reach and flood the densely populated areas of the southern coast of Spain and northern Morocco. These waves can be as high as six meters and reach the shores in 21-35 minutes.
“These are too fast for current early warning systems to work successfully. These results indicate that the tsunami-generating potential of lateral displacement tectonics should be taken into account when re-evaluating tsunami forecasting systems, “concluded the ICM researcher.
Here is an excerpt from the Nature study:
“Tsunamis are triggered by sudden movements of the seabed and are usually the result of seismic activity on fractures. the tsunami potential of the vertical throw at the apex of transverse fractures is not considered significant.
“Enn The tsunami-like potential of seabed deformation was modeled with Tsunami-HySEA software using Coulomb code 3.3. The waves on the two main branches reach the densely populated sectors of the Iberian coast in 21 and 35 minutes with a maximum arrival height of 6 m, which is too fast for the successful operation of the current early warning systems.
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