Ancient Tsunami

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19 November 2010

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Ancient Tsunami

Devastated Eastern Seaboard

According to oceanographers, a huge wave

crashed into the New York City region 2,300 years ago

The Indian Ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 killed more than 150,000 people. According to National Geographic “The earthquake that generated [it] is estimated to have released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs...” The tidal waves travelled across the ocean at the speed of a jet airliner and struck the coastlines of 11 countries.

Tidal waves are rare in the Atlantic Ocean, but scientists say one hit New York and New Jersey about 2,300 years ago.

Core Samples Tell a Story

Dr. Steven L. Goodbred of Vanderbilt University noticed some unusual layers of sediment while studying shellfish populations in Great South Bay, Long Island. He thought they might be the result of a catastrophic tidal wave in ancient times.

He and his team took core samples from more than 20 sites in New York and New Jersey in order to study 20cm deep layers of sand and gravel.

According to BBC News “Their age matched that of wood deposits buried in the Hudson riverbed and marine fossils in a New Jersey debris flow in cores gathered by other researchers.” The samples date to about 300 BCE.

Huge Wave Thought to Have Tossed Debris

According to Dr. Goodbred, a high velocity of water would be needed to throw the fist-sized gravel to where he found it on Long Island. That would indicate waves of three or four metres in height; not as big as the Indian Ocean tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 but big enough to cause serious coastal damage.

It’s possible the debris was left behind by a massive storm or hurricane, so more research is being carried out to determine the exact cause.

Grand Banks Tidal Wave of 1929

While unusual, Atlantic Ocean tidal waves are not unknown. On November 18, 1929 a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 250 km south of Newfoundland, along the southern edge of the Grand Banks.

It was felt as far away as Montreal and New York City. Some chimneys fell of houses on Cape Breton Island and a few landslides blocked highways. The real damage was down by the tidal wave that followed.

About two-and-a-half hours after the quake a tsunami struck the southern tip of the Burin Peninsula. There were three main waves causing local sea levels to rise between two and seven metres.

Natural Resources Canada reports, “At the heads of several of the long narrow bays on the Burin Peninsula the momentum of the tsunami carried water as high as 13 metres. This giant sea wave claimed a total of 28 lives - 27 drowned on the Burin peninsula and a young girl never recovered from her injuries and died in 1933…

“More than 40 local villages in southern Newfoundland were affected, where numerous homes, ships, businesses, livestock, and fishing gear were destroyed…Total property losses were estimated at more than $1 million 1929 dollars (estimated as nearly $20 million 2004 dollars).”

So, the research of Dr. Steven L. Goodbred and his colleagues and experience says that what happened before could happen again.

Sources

“The Deadliest Tsunami in History.” National Geographic News, January 7, 2005

“Ancient Tsunami Hit New York.” Molly Bentley, BBC News, May 9, 2009.

This house was swept away in the tidal wave, towed back, and restored.

Waves of Destruction - PBS

“On one of the Canary Islands lies a major global catastrophe in the making, a natural disaster so big that it could flatten the Atlantic coastlines of Britain, Europe, North Africa, and the United States of America.”

That grim warning comes from Ian Gurney, writing in the Daily Express in 2004.

Gurney says the side of a volcano on La Palma is so unstable it could break off and plunge into the ocean during the mountain’s next eruption.

That might toss 20 cubic kilometres of rock into the water causing a tidal wave as much as 100 metres high to whip around the entire Atlantic Ocean seaboard.