What caused the mysterious eighteenth century tsunami that struck the southwest Taiwan coast?

Li, Linlin; Switzer, Adam D.; Wang, Yu; Weiss, Robert; Qiu, Qiang; Chan, Chung-Han

doi:10.1002/2015gl065567

Cited by 42 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The tsunami simulation performance of both NHWAVE and FUNWAVE-TVD was validated against a series of tsunami benchmarks (Tehranirad et al, 2011;Tehranirad et al, 2012). The coupling approach using NHWAVE/FUNWAVE-TVD has been applied to many previous studies related to landslide-generated tsunamis (e.g., Grilli et al, 2015;Grilli et al, 2017;L. Li, Switzer, et al, 2015;Schambach et al, 2018).…”

Section: Tsunami Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tsunamigenic Potential of the Baiyun Slide Complex in the South China Sea

Shi

et al. 2019

JGR Solid Earth

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Baiyun slide complex contains geological evidence for some of the largest landslide ever discovered in the continental slopes of the South China Sea. High‐resolution seismic data suggest that a variety of landslides with varied scales have occurred repeatedly in this area. The largest landslide reconstructed from bathymetric and seismic data has an estimated spatial coverage of ~5,500 km2 and a conservative volume of ~1,035 km3. Here, using geomorphological and geotechnical data, we construct a series of probable landslide scenarios and assess their tsunamigenic capacity. By treating the slides as deformable mudflows, we simulate the dynamics of landslide movements. The simulated landslide motions match the geophysical observations interpreted in previous studies. Particularly, we are able to reproduce the spatial distribution of observed runout, including the distance, shape, and deposit thickness, for the most credible slide scenario. We investigate tsunami impacts generated by different slide scenarios and highlight the importance of initial water depth, sliding direction, and nearshore bathymetry. The worst‐case scenario is capable of producing basin‐wide tsunami, with maximum wave amplitudes reaching ~5 m near Hong Kong and Macau, 1–3 m in western Philippines, and at least 1 m along central Vietnam, southeast Hainan, and southern Taiwan. The most noticeable phenomenon we observed is that the southern Chinese coast is the hardest‐hit region in all the simulated scenarios regardless of the diverse slide features. We conclude that the persistence of high tsunami impact is caused by the unique bathymetric feature of the wide continental shelf in front of southern China.

show abstract

Section: Tsunami Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tsunamigenic Potential of the Baiyun Slide Complex in the South China Sea

Shi

et al. 2019

JGR Solid Earth

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Besides these recent events, some historical events are also believed to be the result of submarine mass failure (SMF). The mysterious tsunami that struck the southwest coast of Taiwan (Li et al, 2015) is an example, which will be simulated later as an example in the present study. 35…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal Green's Functions and the Quick Forecast of Submarine Landslide Tsunami

Chen¹,

Liu²,

Wijetunge³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although tsunamis generated by submarine mass failure are not as common as those induced by submarine earthquakes, sometimes the generated tsunamis are higher than a seismic tsunami in the area close to the tsunami source, and the forecast is much more difficult. In the present study, reciprocal Green's functions are proposed as a useful tool in the 10 forecast of submarine landslide tsunamis. The forcing of the continuity equation due to depth change in a landslide is represented by the temporal derivative of the water depth. After a convolution with the reciprocal Green's function, the tsunami waveform can be obtained promptly. Thus, various tsunami scenarios can be considered once a submarine landslide happens, and a useful forecast can be formulated. When a submarine landslide occurs, the various possibilities for tsunami generation can be analysed, and a useful forecast can be devised. 15 IntroductionA Tsunami is a serious hazard to coastal cities and its forecast is essential for hazard mitigation. Of all tsunami hazards, seismic tsunamis are easier to forecast because earthquake information can be retrieved and broadcast very quickly. With the aid of elasticity theories and regression formula for assessing the length scale of fault ruptures, the tsunami source can be estimated with satisfactory accuracy. Based on Green's function (GF; see, e.g. Wei et al., 2003), reciprocal Green's function 20 (RGF; see, e.g. Chen et al., 2012), or real-time direct simulation, the propagation of tsunami is calculated in a short time. The coastal inundation then can be obtained by real-time direct simulations, analytical solutions (see, e.g., Lin et al. 2014), orpre-calculated inundation maps (see, e.g., Chen et al., 2015). Some of the approaches mentioned above have been integrated and an economical forecast system has been developed to provide both offshore water surface elevation and an inundation map (Chen et al. 2015). The efficiency and robustness of these systematic analyses are superior to real-time equation-solving, 25 as has been shown in previous studies.Besides seismic tsunamis, a few recent events are believed to be closely related to submarine mass failure (SMF). For example, the 1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami (Tappin et al., 2001), the 2007 Chilean Tsunami (Sepúlveda et al., 2010) and the 2018 Sulawesi Tsunami (Heidarzadeh et al., 2019) all occurred after submarine earthquakes. However, in each case the earthquake was not strong enough to generate a big tsunami. The devastating tsunamis following the earthquake were all 30

show abstract

“…A disastrous tsunami hitting the coastal area of southwest Taiwan in 1781 was reported (Chen 1830;Hsu 1983). The origin of the 1781 tsunami was considered to be a submarine landslide in the offshore area of southwest Taiwan (Li et al 2015). In 2006, several submarine landslides triggered by the Pingtung earthquake have induced turbidity currents off southwest Taiwan and destroyed several submarine telecommunication cables off SW Taiwan (Hsu et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Submarine landslides have been studied extensively because they are important geohazards and can jeopardize the submarine infrastructures, such as offshore drilling platforms or submarine telecommunication cables, and can even trigger disastrous tsunamis (Bondevik et al 2005;Hornbach et al 2007Hornbach et al , 2008Hsu et al 2008;Tappin et al 2014;Li et al 2015). Thick sedimentary deposits and inclined seafloor are commonly geological conditions favorable for submarine landslides (Hampton et al 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fangliao Slide — a large slope failure in the upper Kaoping Slope off southwest Taiwan

Chen

Tsai²,

Hsu³

et al. 2018

Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Based on seismic reflection profiles and multi-beam bathymetric data, a large submarine landslide named Fangliao Slide is mapped for the first time off SW Taiwan. The Fangliao Slide occurred on the continental slope to the west of the Fangliao Canyon at water depths between 420 and 900 m. The seafloor of the Fangliao Slide has a gentle slope angle (~1 -2°). The landslide covers an area of ~15 km length and ~10 km width and a volume of ~26 km 3 . The headwall of the landslide has ~30 m vertical offset at the southern flank of mud diapir MD7-1, and the sidewalls are bounded by fault A in the west and faults C and D in the east. The sliding area is composed of five bathymetric terraces, indicating that the slope failures have occurred several times. The Fangliao Slide can be divided into an upper domain and a lower domain, separated at the water depth of ~600 m where the gas hydrate off SW Taiwan becomes dissociate. The initial slope failure of the Fangliao Slide was probably linked to mud diapirism of MD7-1 and the slope failure in the lower domain was probably augmented by the gas hydrate dissociation. The seafloor morphology in the lower domain is therefore more corrugated than in the upper domain.

show abstract

What caused the mysterious eighteenth century tsunami that struck the southwest Taiwan coast?

Cited by 42 publications

References 37 publications

Tsunamigenic Potential of the Baiyun Slide Complex in the South China Sea

Tsunamigenic Potential of the Baiyun Slide Complex in the South China Sea

Reciprocal Green's Functions and the Quick Forecast of Submarine Landslide Tsunami

Fangliao Slide — a large slope failure in the upper Kaoping Slope off southwest Taiwan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About