Assessing the Risk of Landslide-Generated Tsunamis, Using Translatory Wave Theory

Abstract

The conventional opinion of scientists is that tsunamis are usually generated by earthquakes, but the discovery of the huge landslides on the continental shelf of the North Atlantic Ocean and other possible submarine slides, have changed this view considerably. Such tsunamis may be triggered by earthquakes but the dominating force in generating such a tsunami is alandslide, so landslides may be the major threat. Using estimates of slide scar dimensions that can be compiled from bathymetry data, it is possible to estimate this force. For estimating atsunami, a translatory theory previously devised for super floods on land is suggested as an alternative to theories used by Tinti and others. The data on slide scars and slopes areused to estimate the amplitude of a displacement wave from such an event. The amplitudes are used to obtain wave heights ata reference point outside the breaker zone. Energy transmission formulas are used to find the wave height transfer coefficients from the near field (source area) to the far field (reference point), numerical modeling or CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations may be used as well. Tsunami risk from a number of sources ata reference point, are quantified using stochastic processes, and estimations of a hazard curve for the probability of landslide occurrence are carried out. The sensitivity of the hazard curve touncertainties in determining the wave height from the individual sources turns out to be surprisingly high for amplitudes above two meters
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