Tsunamis caused by submarine slope failures along western Great Bahama Bank

Type Article
Date 2016-11
Language English
Author(s) Schnyder Jara S. D.1, Eberli Gregor P.1, Kirby James T.2, Shi FengyanORCID2, Tehranirad Babak2, Mulder Thierry3, Ducassou Emmanuelle3, Hebbeln DierkORCID4, Wintersteller Paul4
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Miami, CSL Ctr Carbonate Res, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, FL 33149 USA.
2 : Univ Delaware, Ctr Appl Coastal Res, Newark, DE 19716 USA.
3 : Univ Bordeaux, UMR EPOC 5805, F-33615 Pessac, France.
4 : Univ Bremen, MARUM Ctr Marine Environm Sci, Bremen, Germany.
Source Scientific Reports (2045-2322) (Nature Publishing Group), 2016-11 , Vol. 6 , N. 35925 , P. 9p.
DOI 10.1038/srep35925
WOS© Times Cited 29
Abstract

Submarine slope failures are a likely cause for tsunami generation along the East Coast of the United States. Among potential source areas for such tsunamis are submarine landslides and margin collapses of Bahamian platforms. Numerical models of past events, which have been identified using high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data, reveal possible tsunami impact on Bimini, the Florida Keys, and northern Cuba. Tsunamis caused by slope failures with terminal landslide velocity of 20 ms(-1) will either dissipate while traveling through the Straits of Florida, or generate a maximum wave of 1.5 m at the Florida coast. Modeling a worst-case scenario with a calculated terminal landslide velocity generates a wave of 4.5 m height. The modeled margin collapse in southwestern Great Bahama Bank potentially has a high impact on northern Cuba, with wave heights between 3.3 to 9.5 m depending on the collapse velocity. The short distance and travel time from the source areas to densely populated coastal areas would make the Florida Keys and Miami vulnerable to such low-probability but high-impact events.

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Supplementary Information 6 1 MB Open access
Vidéo 390 KB Open access
Vidéo 2 390 KB Open access
Vidéo 3 390 KB Open access
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Schnyder Jara S. D., Eberli Gregor P., Kirby James T., Shi Fengyan, Tehranirad Babak, Mulder Thierry, Ducassou Emmanuelle, Hebbeln Dierk, Wintersteller Paul (2016). Tsunamis caused by submarine slope failures along western Great Bahama Bank. Scientific Reports, 6(35925), 9p. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35925 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00506/61772/