Tsunami hazard at the Western Mediterranean Spanish coast from seismic sources

Abstract

Abstract. Spain represents an important part of the tourism sector in the Western Mediterranean, which has been affected in the past by tsunamis. Although the tsunami risk at the Spanish coasts is not the highest of the Mediterranean, the necessity of tsunami risk mitigation measures should not be neglected. In the Mediterranean area, Spain is exposed to two different tectonic environments with contrasting characteristics. On one hand, the Alboran Basin characterised by transcurrent and transpressive tectonics and, on the other hand, the North Algerian fold and thrust belt, characterised by compressive tectonics. A set of 22 seismic tsunamigenic sources has been used to estimate the tsunami threat over the Spanish Mediterranean coast of the Iberian peninsula and the Balearic Islands. Maximum wave elevation maps and tsunami travel times have been computed by means of numerical modelling and we have obtained estimations of threat levels for each source over the Spanish coast.

Extreme storms during the last 6500 years from lagoonal sedimentary archives in the Mar Menor (SE Spain)

“…Different tsunamis occurred on the Spanish coasts, they are more catastrophic and intense on the Atlantic than on the Mediterranean side (Álvarez-Gómez et al, 2011). In the western part of the Mediterranean area, there are historical disastrous tsunami events recorded.…”

“…The western part of the basin has also been reported as tsunamiexposed. Historic events have been reported from the Algerian coast, and tsunami propagation has been modelled (Álvarez-Gómez et al, 2011). Geomorphic evidence of ancient tsunami impacts has also been documented (Maouche et al, 2009).…”

“…The Boumerdes-Zemmouri tsunami did not cause any damage in the province of Murcia and the La Manga sandbar. Álvarez-Gómez et al (2011) identified the hazardous sources and the areas where the impact of tsunamis is greater from numerical simulations. From a set of 22 seismic tsunamigenic sources, the maximum wave elevation was estimated between 0.5 and 1 m along the southeastern Spanish coast.…”

The role of GIS in urban seismic risk studies: application to the city of Almería (southern Spain)

“…Such a devastating event could be a magnitude 7.0 (or above) earthquake related to the rupture of the Carboneras fault or another seismogenic fault located in the Alboran Sea and along the northern African coast. The rupture of offshore fault segments could also generate a tsunami wave that would enhance the damage (Álvarez-Gómez et al, 2011). Probabilistic approaches would include the definition of hazard-consistent earthquake scenarios derived through hazard deaggregation.…”

Perception of the risk of tsunami in a context of high-level risk assessment and management: the case of the fjord Lyngen in Norway

“…The ASTARTE programme examines ten test-sites where tsunamis occurred once or several times in the past: seven on the Mediterranean coast (Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Romania and two in Turkey), two on the Atlantic coast (Portugal and Morocco -the latter a nonEuropean country but nevertheless included in the programme) and one in the Norwegian Sea. Apart from the Lyngen site (Norway), all these sites are exposed to earthquake-related tsunamis (Álvarez-Gómez et al 2011) and several to eruptions of island volcanoes found in the Canaries and Greece. Tsunamis can also occur after underwater or subaerial landslides (Dawson et al 2004).…”