tsunamis are one of the deadliest forces on earth capable of destroying everything from
cities to entire islands here in the united states we typically associate them with disasters in the
pacific usually around places like indonesia india or japan but is this some false sense of
security is it possible that many of us are in more danger than we realize believe it or not
there are plenty of subduction zones and areas of concern just off of each coast no longer are the
danger zones simply in the pacific ocean where we think all of the volcanoes and earthquakes occur
tsunamis threaten each coast and millions more people than originally thought
here are five potentially massive tsunamis that could hit the united states
typically the most tsunami-prone areas of the united states are the west coast
states washington oregon and california this is because there is a fault line that extends
throughout all of these states making them incredibly prone to powerful earthquakes
as we know tsunamis are commonly caused by sudden slips of tectonic plates that occur at fault lines
what we don't stop to think about is that these fault lines are found in more places than just
the west coast off the eastern coast of the united states lies the continental shelf the edge of our
continental land mass it extends beyond the entire eastern coast of the country from florida to maine
the section of continental shelf off the coasts of north carolina and virginia are only a
couple of hundred miles away from shore here our continental land mass ends sharply dropping off
into the deep ocean it is also here where there is an incredibly high risk of an underwater landslide
these landslides have the potential to displace large amounts of water sending the waves rushing
towards the north carolina and virginia coastlines scientists have studied the risk of tsunamis in
this area and have determined that the wave generated could resemble something like a
storm surge you would see from a category 3 or 4 hurricane however some researchers believe that
much larger waves are possible growing somewhere around 30 to 50 feet tall north carolina's outer
banks would be at greatest risk as they are already prone to erosion it is entirely
possible that some sections of islands or even entire islands would be wiped out by such a wave
when it comes to natural disasters there are theories that are based on scientific fact
and some that are conjecture some say a volcanic eruption on an island 3
500 miles away could push out a wall of water that would destroy much of the east coast of
the united states sounds pretty far-fetched right according to research done by geologists
it is however it hasn't stopped the theory from creeping back into the realm of public discussion
each time tsunamis are mentioned the theory pretty much plays out like this just off of
the african coast and the canary islands of spain sits the island of la palma on that island is the
cumbre vieja volcano which has been known to be incredibly active and prone to large eruptions
one day there could be an eruption so massive that much of the sight of the volcano would
fall into the ocean displacing a huge amount of water and sending a wave across the atlantic
much like a disaster movie of course once it reaches the eastern coast of the united states
a wave would have grown hundreds of feet tall wiping out cities and killing millions
geologists say that it is a very unlikely event but that doesn't make it impossible as a matter
of fact this event has happened before around one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand years ago
it has been confirmed due to the discovery of some landslide deposits on the ocean floor
however these are not frequent events the scientific community is mostly torn on the subject
with some researchers saying more attention should be paid to the possibility for the
moment though this theory appears to be a little too far-fetched to give it too much attention
just off the western coast of canada lies an area known as the cascadia subduction zone it is a 600
mile long fault that runs from the northern shores of california up to british columbia and sits
around 100 miles off the coast it is not known for having many earthquakes as there have been
only 41 in the last 10 000 years however there is another more menacing title that this fault line
has it is also known as the mega thrust fault and is considered by many in the geologic community to
be a ticking time bomb in this area the pacific tectonic plate does not move much against the
juan de fuca plate however when it does end up moving and scraping up against the defuca plate
the energy that is generated is enough to thrust large sections of earth upward in a very quick
sudden motion such thrusts have been the cause of many devastating tsunamis in the past the story
here would be exactly the same california and many of its large cities would feel some effect however
the most at-risk states would be alaska and hawaii waves that could reach over 80 feet high would
strike with incredible force taking thousands of lives and leaving many thousands more homeless
stretching for 2 500 miles off the coast of alaska is the aleutian subduction zone it is the
convergence boundary between the north american tectonic plate and the pacific tectonic plate
and extends from the alaska range to the russian kamchatka peninsula here the pacific plate is
being pushed underneath the north american plate at a rate that changes from 5.1 centimeters per
year to 7.5 centimeters per year it is also here where the greatest threat for a tsunami is
subduction zones much like the cascadia zone are of major concern to geologists and scientists
as one plate pushes underneath another a movement called subducting it starts to create an intense
amount of energy but unlike other subduction zones across the world the aleutian zone
is the most volatile due to its incredible length at 2 500 miles long a sudden mega thrust
could occur leaving most of alaska prone to huge tsunamis however the other deadly feature of
this subduction zone is the direction unlike the cascadia zone this is not a north-south situated
fault it stretches from east to west aiming much of its potential energy in a southerly direction
if a sudden mega thrust were to ever occur in this area the waves would go out in every direction
mostly directed towards the south but as the waves traveled south
they would start spreading out a bit putting not only the western united states at risk
but japan the philippines australia and parts of south america for the time being we can breathe
a sigh of relief as the subduction zone does not see much in the way of seismic activity
situated in the caribbean sea just off the coast of the dominican republic
lies the small island of puerto rico this area does not seem to be on the radar of people who
discuss seismic activity and tsunamis but it very well should puerto rico and the virgin
islands are located on an active plate boundary between the north american plate
and the northeast corner of the caribbean plate making it very prone to earthquakes
near the fault line lies the puerto rico trench which is the deepest part of the atlantic ocean
with depths of over 25 000 feet the only deeper place on earth would be near the mariana trench
in the pacific ocean being next to this enormous trench brings the risk of underwater landslides
just like the risk with the continental shelf off the eastern united states coast however there is
much greater risk here at the puerto rico trench as the area is incredibly prone to earthquakes
the region actually has a history of quakes in 1943 a magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked the island
along with an 8.1 and a 6.9 in 1946 and 1953. also we shouldn't forget the january 12 2010 earthquake
that crippled the country of haiti although far away from puerto rico the risk remains the same
with nearly three million people living on the island and on surrounding islands a sudden
earthquake could trigger an underwater landslide the resulting tsunami would far surpass anything
ever seen in the area but here the impact could be incredibly severe the caribbean sea has thousands
of islands scattered throughout its expanse many of them small should a large enough tsunami occur
some of these islands could disappear not to mention the death toll which would be unlike
anything we have seen before the threats of tsunamis exist in each part of our country
fault lines and underwater trenches can be found in nearly every ocean even though they may not be
active at the moment you can rest assured that our planet does not sleep nor do its dangerous
features so we shouldn't let our guard down to see our video about the latest tsunamis ever recorded
be sure to click the link on screen now as always thanks for watching and we'll see you next time