Expert Warns Of Giant Tidal Wave

Kieckerjan writes "Forget about asteroids and start worrying about the unassuming Cumbre Vieja volcano. According to prof. Bill McGuire of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre, if this mountain erupts, it could cause a tidal wave that would wipe out America's east coast. Google news has the same story over and over again. (This makes you wonder: how much would it take to trigger an eruption for one bent on destruction?)"

Comments

Clearly.

[Ieshan]

Yes, clearly. Americans need to be afraid of MORE things. Since cancer, terrorism, guns, murder, disease, nuclear (nuk-you-lar) war, security levels blue through hot pink, killer bees, and France aren't scary enough.

Large Explostion to set off volcano

[justanyone]

I believe they thought of doing mining (as in for minerals, not data) in the 1950's and 1960's using nuclear explosives.

While this was a great incomplete theory, it left out the crucial detail of environmental damage and subsequent release of radiation to the ore, the slag, and the mined-out areas. Of course, in that day-in-age it wasn't well known what the long term effects of radioactive byproducts of nuclear explosions were.

There's also the crucial political perspective of Eisenhower's use of 'Atoms for Peace' to give political cover to the Atomic Energy Commission's mandate / goals of limiting proliferation. Basically, we promised the world that if they would NOT develop nuke bombs, we would give them reactors for free power. I am not "up" on the issue, I'd defer to some Ph.D.'s who do nonproliferation studies for a living. However, I'd wager there's a tradeoff between the lives saved by not having too many nukes out there vs. the lives lost in long term radiation exposure due to waste from 3rd world reactors.

Regardless, this builds up to the idea that if you're a terrorist, and you're going to try to set off a volcano, you're going to need lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of conventional explosives, or one medium- to large-sized nuclear bomb. And, if you have a medium to large nuke, you're not going to use it on an off-the-wall gambit like an underwater or underground explosion.

Geologists, please comment on any demonstrated effects of the use of explosives in the triggering of volcanic eruptions (if any) ?? I would suspect very few experiments, am I right?

Motives?

[martyb]

Let's look at the source:

On the front page of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre web site is this interesting statement:

BHRC is sponsored by Benfield, the world's leading independent reinsurance intermediary and risk advisory business. Benfield's customers include many of the world's major insurance and reinsurance companies as well as Government entities and global corporations. Benfield employs over 1,700 people based in over 30 locations worldwide.

<sarcasm>Why would an insurance company post such an article?</sarcasm>

Re:Whole or in pieces, same effect

[Engineer-Poet]

The tsunami is created by the rolling motion caused by the material sliding down the slope of the Cumbre Vieja and the rest of the island.

One big splash would dissipate and not create a tsunami...

That's not what people who've studied the phenomenon say. I quote:

The initial deformation is assumed to be fully and instantaneously transmitted to the sea surface, where, through restoring gravity forces, tsunami waves begin to propagate across the sea.

The remnant of the historical landslide off California mapped here doesn't show any evidence of rolling motions required to create wave trains (that looks like one slump, like an avalanche in air); the water will do that by itself. All you have to do is drop a pebble in water and watch the ripples moving outward to prove to yourself that a sharp event will cause an oscillation - and if such events didn't cause waves, why are we concerned about asteroid impacts in the water?

Re:Guns?

[Martin Blank]

Karl Marx, to my knowledge, never called for the imprisonment, execution, and/or disappearance of millions who chose not to toe the line. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and others chose those policies.

Solution

[j_w_d]

Go to volcanic island. Locate large slipping rock. Make gravel and dispose of gradually filling pot holes in Italian roads and New York's city streets.