posted on Jan, 3 2006 @ 10:22 PM
Well thats good, because when the canaries collapse the Eintire Eastern Seaboard could be swamped by 500 ft waves or more from the islandslide of the
Canaries. The largest recorded tsunami was 1000ft high in Lituya Bay, Canada, 1958.The island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands off the coast of
North Africa, was discovered to be in great danger of collapsing. The island is volcanic and during an eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in 1949
part of the island slipped a few metres into the sea before stopping. Another eruption could cause the western flank of the island to collapse in the
Atlantic Ocean.
When will it happen?
No one knows. It will happen during an eruption of Cumbre Vieja. It is an active volcano, last erupting in 1949. However the next eruption may not
destroy the island, the next 10 may not. Only on thing is certain - one-day an incredible force will surge through the Atlantic Ocean.
How big would it be?
It would be far bigger than any wave ever seen for thousands of years. 500 billion tonnes of rock are waiting to collapse into the ocean at terrific
speed. The collapse would create nearly 5,000,000,000,000,000 (5 thousand trillion) joules of kinetic energy, which would be converted into a colossal
wave 900 metres high with awesome speed - within ten minutes it would have moved 250 kilometres. The landslide would continue to move underwater,
powering the wave as it goes.
What damage would it cause?
No coastline in the North Atlantic would be spared. Britain, France, Spain and Portugal would all be badly hit North Africa would be hit by 100 metre
waves, but the main wave would travel west. It would storm across the Atlantic in hours, hitting the Caribbean and Brazil badly. However, the real
damage would be to the East coast of the USA.
By the time it had travelled the 4000 miles to America the wave would be lower and wider. It would now be just 50 metres high but many kilometres
long, allowing it to sweep up to 20 miles in land, destroying everything in its path. Boston, New York and Miami would virtually be wiped off the map.
Skyscrapers would be bulldozed as if they weren't there. Bridges would be ripped from their foundations. And virtually every human in these cities
would be killed. (from wikipedia, NOAA, Armeggedon online and USGS)