Tsunamis effects at coastal sites due to offshore faulting

T. Miloh*, H. L. Striem

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Unusual large waves (tsunamis) triggered by submarine tectonic activity, such as a fault displacement in the sea bottom, may have considerable effect on a coastal site. The possibility of such phenomena to occur at the southern coast of Israel due to a series of shore-parallel faults, about 20 km offshore, is examined in this paper. The analysis relates the energy or the momentum imparted to the body of water due to a fault displacement of the sea bottom to the energy or the momentum of the water waves thus created. The faults off the Ashdod coast may cause surface waves with amplitudes of about 5 m and periods of about one third of an hour. It is also considered that because of the downward movement of the faulted blocks a recession of the sea level rather than a flooding would be the first and the predominant effect at the shore, and this is in agreement with some historical reports. The analysis here presented might be of interest to those designing coastal power plants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)347-356
Number of pages10
JournalTectonophysics
Volume46
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Apr 1978
Externally publishedYes

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