GEOL Essay Project

Introduction
Tsunami is known by many as the devastating wave that has no remorse. The wave that has devastated many countries and has such power to practically destroy all of Japan in 2011, which was the most popular tsunami viewed by society as a whole. Through this paper we will research what a tsunami is, how does a tsunami start, the dangers of tsunamis, most common places a tsunami is known to hit, ways to predict a tsunami, and will be ending with a closing statement with my view point on a tsunamis. As a reader you should take away a leaning experience’s about tsunamis and the power that it has on whatever coastline its devastating blows will be delivered to.
What is a Tsunami?
A tsunami is described as a series of super waves known as a wave train made in the ocean with longer than usual wave lengths. This wave reaches all the way to the sea floor moving an entire water column as it drives through the ocean (McNamara) A tsunami starts beneath the water and is normally caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. The size of a tsunami wave length from crest to crest can be from 6 miles to 311 miles long (McNamara). Tsunami was named by the Japanese, which had the meaning of Harbor wave. They are also known as tidal and seismic waves (BOM, 2015). Tsunamis are feared by many when its impact hits the coastline and the effects are devastating to the civilians that it hits.
How Tsunamis start
A tsunami is caused by movement of the ocean floors tectonic plates. The movement of these tectonic plates are cause by earth quakes, volcanoes, or underwater landslides. An earth quake is the most common factor to cause tsunamis and this is when the tectonic plates shift under the ocean causing the water to move by being pushed up or dropped down when these plates shift. This is how the trough is formed in the tsunami.
Underwater landslides is another natural event that can cause a tsunami to take place. An underwater landslide is when a large piece of the ocean floor breaks loose forcing it down a slope, which can draw the water down starting the effects of a tsunami (Geoscience Australia). Such landslides can happen when a nearby earth quake takes place on land or water. The least likely natural event to cause a tsunami is a volcanic eruption (Geoscience Australia). The volcano can contribute to a tsunami event because of the collapse of the coastline, or underwater volcanic eruption which would result in a landslide. Also volcanic eruption that has the side results of hot blocks, pumice, ash and gas, would fall down the volcanic slopes of a volcano causing the water to be pushed outward, which would cause a disruption in the sea floor resulting in a tsunami.
A tsunami can travel across the ocean up to the speeds of 500 mph (National Geographic). Tsunamis most likely occur in ocean depths that are around 13,000ft deep (Geoscience Australia). The surge of a tsunami is the chain reaction of super waves in a wave train that hit the coastline one after another. A visual aid to know a tsunami is going to hit is the water of the coastline will begin to withdraw from the coastline into the ocean at unusual rates causing very low tides in water up to 8 ft. deep.
Dangers of Tsunamis Tsunamis have devastated more countries and coastline regions to a point of absolute destruction to be named the most dangers natural disaster. Tsunamis destroy any coastline it hits with its mass amount of waves and water that it floods it targets. Sometimes these waves that hit the coastlines can reach up to 100 feet tall. The surge of water on the coastline over flows its creeks and rivers causing mass amount of current to rush through the region or country such as Japan has experienced in the past.
A tsunami gains its power as it reaches shallow water of the coastline (Jessa 2009). The reason why this event occurs is because its mass waves that reach all the way to the sea floor combine and compress as they reach shallower waters causing the effect of a massive wave. However as the wave goes onto the coast it does loose its momentum and power.
One of the deadliest tsunamis to occur took place on December 24, 2004 and it took 300,000 to 350,000 people’s lives in Indonesia, India, Madagascar, and Ethiopia (Jessa 2009). The event that caused such a destructive tsunami was a 9.1 earthquake that had occurred off the Island of Sumatra. The dangers of the tsunami wave is not the initial first wave that hits but the surges of waves that come afterwards that cause such a devastating blow to the coastline.
Most common places for Tsunamis
The most common place for a tsunami to occur is called the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean (National Geographic). Roughly 80 percent of the world’s tsunamis occur in the Ring of Fire. This area is subjected to tsunamis because of the active tectonic plates that shift caused by earthquakes and volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is known for its high seismic activity. Other areas that are prone to tsunamis are the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Black Sea.
The Ring of Fire is a 25,000 mile wide horse shoe shape area, which accommodate 452 volcanoes (National Geographic). The Ring of Fire also holds 81 percent of the world’s earth quakes. The Ring of Fire location is in the Pacific Ocean on the southern tip of South America going along the coast of North America across from Bering Strain all the way down through Japan into New Zealand (National Geographic).
Ways to predict Tsunamis The Japanese government has invested billions of dollars to protect their people from the devastation that a tsunami can cause (Pendick). The Japanese government wants to be able to warn their people of a tsunami so they can do the best emergency plan to protect themselves and get out of harm’s way of the natural disaster to come onto its coastland. The Japanese and United States government have been using a warning system that predicts when a tsunami is occurring and the system is known as seismometer (Pendick).
The seismometer looks for large or small size earthquakes that are occurring in the ocean and the area that could be effected is issued a tsunami warning. Seismometer are buoy markers in the ocean to check for changes in the sea floor caused by earthquakes. However the seismometer has a reputation for issuing a lot of false alarms that result in fraudulent evacuations of the affected area and causes havoc among the people that have to evacuate. To get away from these false alarms the Japanese have implemented sensors on the sea floor that detect a tsunami that is passing over head that allows for more adequate evacuations plans that are necessary. However with this new sensor technology it only gives them a few minutes of warning that a tsunami is approaching the coastline so they still resort to the old style technology seismometer to give the people more of a warning to evacuate effectively.
Closing statement with position on Tsunami As you have read through this information provided in this written essay you as the reader has discovered information about how tsunamis form, the disasters and dangers tsunamis can bring and how people are taking proper steps to predict a tsunami to protect their society. Discovering such information was informative and brought insight on the devastation that such natural disasters known as tsunami can bring to a country or countries as the surge of waves hit the coastline. With that said this has brought me to the position I stand on tsunamis and that is they are the most dangers natural disaster that can occur on earth and the government effected countries need to invest more money, effort and time into predicting such disaster so that people have a chance to survive the impact it brings to its targets. Tsunamis have been famous for wiping out citizens of countries in one blow onto the coastline.

References
McNamara, Greg (NA) Tsunamis Fact-Ite, Planet Earth. Retrieved From http://www.gsa.org.au/resources/factites/factitesTsunami.pdf
Australian Government (NA) Tsunamis Fact and Information, Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved From http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/info/index.shtml
SMS Tsunami Warning (NA) Tsunamis: The Effect. Retrieved From http://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-effects#.VPJd4fnF9rF
Jessa, Tega (September 6, 2009) Effects of Tsunamis, Universe Today. Retrieved From http://www.universetoday.com/39319/effects-of-tsunamis/
King, Hobart (NA) Tsunamis Geology- What Causes Tsunamis?, Geoscience News and Information. Retrieved From http://geology.com/articles/tsunami-geology.shtml
Australian Government (NA) What Causes Tsunamis? Geoscience Austria. Retrieved From http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/tsunami/basics/causes
National Geographic (NA) Waves Killer, Tsunamis. Retrieved From http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunami-profile/
National Geographic (NA) Pacific Ring of Fire, Circum- Pacific Belt, Ring of Fire. Retrieved From http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/ring-fire/?ar_a=1
Pendrick, Daniel (NA) Catching Tsunamis in the Act, Waves of Destruction. Retrieved From http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/tsunami/html/sidebar1.html

References: McNamara, Greg (NA) Tsunamis Fact-Ite, Planet Earth. Retrieved From http://www.gsa.org.au/resources/factites/factitesTsunami.pdf Australian Government (NA) Tsunamis Fact and Information, Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved From http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/info/index.shtml SMS Tsunami Warning (NA) Tsunamis: The Effect. Retrieved From http://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-effects#.VPJd4fnF9rF Jessa, Tega (September 6, 2009) Effects of Tsunamis, Universe Today. Retrieved From http://www.universetoday.com/39319/effects-of-tsunamis/ King, Hobart (NA) Tsunamis Geology- What Causes Tsunamis?, Geoscience News and Information. Retrieved From http://geology.com/articles/tsunami-geology.shtml Australian Government (NA) What Causes Tsunamis? Geoscience Austria. Retrieved From http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/tsunami/basics/causes National Geographic (NA) Waves Killer, Tsunamis. Retrieved From http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunami-profile/ National Geographic (NA) Pacific Ring of Fire, Circum- Pacific Belt, Ring of Fire. Retrieved From http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/ring-fire/?ar_a=1 Pendrick, Daniel (NA) Catching Tsunamis in the Act, Waves of Destruction. Retrieved From http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/tsunami/html/sidebar1.html