I still try to catch up with all the amazing new stories on earthquakes, tsunamis and paleoseismology that made it to the media last week. Here is #2 on a reviewed tsunami database for Australia.
Australian tsunami database updated
A recent article by Goff & Chagué-Goff (2014) has some bad news for our friends down under. The compilation of known tsunamis that hit Australia now includes 145 events. This is a threefold increase of the numbers that were published up to now. The evidence comes not only from reports and historical sources, but also from paleotsunami research. For a tsunami in 1911 the authors report waves as high as 13 m in Victoria. “The largest historical event in the database is now the 17 July 2006, Java, Indonesia, tsunami that had a run-up height of 7.90 m at Steep Point, Western Australia.” (Goff & Chagué-Goff (2014). Here are a few more details on this event, which occurred after a magnitude 7.7. thrust quake off Java.
Shake map of the M7.7 EQ of 17 July 2006. Image courtesy of USGS.
New South Wales has seen the most events, but Tasmania and Queensland also experienced a number of tsunamis. The database is likely to grow when more research is done especially on pre-historic paleotsunami events.
References
Goff, J. & Chagué-Goff, C., 2014. The Australian tsunami database. A review. Progress in Physical Geography 38 (2), 218-240.
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