5 Tsunami That Could Hit United States

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

Channel: Underworld

Views: 221,599

Rating: 4.8606963 out of 5

Keywords: Underworld, Underworld channel, Top 10, Top 5, Facts, viral, recent discoveries, mystery, scary, 2021, tsunami, weather, natural disaster, tsunamis, tsunami united states, san andreas fault, cascadia subduction zone, huge wave, big waves, natural disasters, natural disasters 2021

Id: -RG_01RRvx8

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021