What causes some tsunamis to be larger and more devastating

Wellington, June 26 (ANI): Researchers have identified a key component in some earthquakes that cause some tsunamis to be larger and more devastating than previous models had forecast.







Earthquakes release this energy - which may have taken tens or thousands of years to accumulate - in anything from a few seconds to several minutes.

Now, it seems, another type of energy release is also involved. This is gravitational potential energy, Dr Simon McClusky, an earth scientist at the Australian National University explains, referring to the energy stored in an object as a result of a change in its vertical position or height, Stuff.co.nz reported.

He said that the centuries of tectonic motion that produced the accumulation of strain energy in the Earth's lithosphere also caused the plates to move vertically - causing gravitational potential energy to build up too.

He added that the release of this energy causes an additional, previously unaccounted for, vertical motion of the sea-floor during these mega-thrust earthquakes.

The new research - led by Cambridge University scientists - concludes that an earthquake's release of these two forms of energy is what contributes to the total destructive power of a tsunami.

The study is published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. (ANI)


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