Abstract
Employing classical tsunami theory and elementary assumptions about the initial shape of impact cavities, we compute tsunami from the Eltanin asteroid collision at 2.15 Ma. An Eltanin impactor 4 km in diameter would have blown an initial cavity as deep as the ocean and 60 km wide into the South Pacific and delivered a 200–300 m high tsunami to the Antarctic Peninsula and the southern tip of South America 1200–1500 km away.New Zealand, 6000 km distant, would have met 60 m waves.Generalizing these results to other size impactors, we fit simplified tsunami attenuation laws to maximum tsunami heights extracted from the full-wave calculations.If Eltanin was 1 km in diameter instead of 4 km, its waves would have been at least five times smaller.An asteroid the size of Chicxulub (10 km diameter), had it fallen into water deeper than 1000 m, would have sent a 100 m tsunami out to 4000 km distance, even if shoaling amplifications are neglected. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.All rights reserved.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
