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Thread: Can Canary Island landslide really threaten Florida?

  1. #1
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Can Canary Island landslide really threaten Florida?

    Over on another thread, What Exit provided this link to a potential catastrophe that could occur when/if the island of Las Palmas should have a landslide that collapses some sort of fault line along its western coast.

    Looking at the size of this island and the amount of water between it and the Florida coast, it seems inconceivable that this could have the effect suggested by the writer of the article. Can someone explain what I am missing?

    Also, if it is such a potential threat, why are they not chipping away at it with earth diggers to lessen the possible effects?
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  2. #2
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    ivan, the threat is real, but hardly imminent. Much like the Yellow Stone Super Volcano. It will probably happened but probably not within even a thousand years.

    You can read about some past Atlantic Tsumamis here: http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/e...nami/jan05.htm

    As to La Palma specifically, it has three active volcanoes and as this article explains:
    Based on a study of past landslide deposits and existing geology of the volcano, Ward and Day (2001) suggest that the west flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano may experience catastrophic failure during a future eruption, resulting in a landslide of a block of 15-20 km in width and 15-25 km long into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Computer modeling suggests that such an event could trigger a massive mega-tsunami hundreds of meter in height that would propagate to the north, south, and west. Within 9 hours, an estimated 10-25 meter wave could reach the US east coast (Figure 15, from Ward and Day (2001).


    Now the good news:
    many scientists tend to disagree with massive failure of the western flank of the volcano; rather, they think it would happen in smaller separate events that would not be capable of triggering a mega-tsunami
    ...
    The colossal collapses of Krakatau or Santorin (the two most similar known happenings) generated catastrophic waves in the immediate area but hazardous waves did not propagate to distant shores. Carefully performed numerical and experimental model experiments on such events and of the postulated Las Palma event verify that the relatively short waves from these small, though intense, occurrences do not travel as do tsunami waves from a major earthquake.
    BTW: The Santorin collapse is probably what did in the Minoan empire and may have led to the myths of Atlantis.

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    Stegodon
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    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    How this giant 1958 wave, that reached a maximum of 1,720ft, was generated remains a mystery to scientists to this day. However, they have come up with a combination of disturbances that could have triggered this mega tsunami.
    Scientists have concluded that a simple displacement of water by material is not near enough energy to be the cause of this 1,720ft run-up on the other side of the Gilbert Inlet
    It's obvious the features of the area had a part to play in this, but the Las Palmas landslide will just be falling into the Atlantic. Surely that energy would have dissipated by the time it reached the US shore?
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  5. #5
    Stegodon
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    Quote Originally posted by ivan astikov View post
    It's obvious the features of the area had a part to play in this, but the Las Palmas landslide will just be falling into the Atlantic. Surely that energy would have dissipated by the time it reached the US shore?
    What do you think a tsunami is?

    The 2004 tsunami had effects up to 5,300 miles away; granted, this was a much larger event than anything that would happen at Las Palmas, but the effect would be the same.

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    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    I say we counteract it immediately by sinking Florida into the ocean as a first strike kind of a measure.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  7. #7
    Jesus F'ing Christ Glazer's avatar
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    Hell high tide threatens Florida.
    Welcome to Mellophant.

    We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.

  8. #8
    Living la vida broke-a Revs's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    I say we counteract it immediately by sinking Florida into the ocean as a first strike kind of a measure.
    I concur with this course of action, just give me a little heads up so I can pack.
    Give me whiskey when I'm thirsty,Give me a cold beer when I'm dry, Give me root beer when I'm sickly, Give me a headstone when I die.

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