Natural Phenomena
Tsunami
Geological Events
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A series of exceptionally long, fast-moving ocean waves generated by the sudden displacement of a large volume of water, most often by an undersea earthquake but also by a volcanic eruption, submarine landslide or, rarely, a meteorite impact. In the open ocean a tsunami may be barely a foot high, but as it reaches shallow coastal water it slows and rises dramatically, sometimes to tens of feet, inundating coastlines with little warning.
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Most destructive tsunamis are generated directly by large undersea earthquakes that vertically displace the seafloor and the water column above it.
A landslide entering a body of water, especially a submarine or coastal slide, can directly generate a tsunami by displacing a large volume of water, as documented at Lituya Bay in 1958.
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