Pacific tsunami threat greater than expected, Professor Shennan’s research reports

(29 July 2009)

A research team led by Professor Ian Shennan has reported in Quaternary Science Reviews that the potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought. Their study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast indicates that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond those generated by the 1964 Alaskan earthquake. The researchers gauged the extent of earthquakes over the last 2,000 years by studying subsoil samples and sediment sequences. Ian Shennan said: "Our radiocarbon-dated samples suggest that previous earthquakes were fifteen per cent bigger in terms of the area affected than the 1964 event. This historical evidence of widespread, simultaneous plate rupturing within the Alaskan region has significant implications for the tsunami potential of the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific region as a whole".

The findings have received wide international media coverage. Some of the highlights include:

International

• USA Today online (largest newspaper by circulation in the USA): http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20090721/blline21_st.art.htm
• Yahoo news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090720/sc_nm/us_quake_usa_tsunami
• The National Science Foundation's website front page: http://news.science360.gov/archives/20090721.aspx
• MSNBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32041515/ns/technology_and_science-science/
• Virgin Media: http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/world/2009/07/20/experts_warn_of_alaska_tsunami_risk
• Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534260,00.html
• SBS Australia: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1054977/latest-from-wire/
• The Portland Tribune: http://www.portlandtribune.com/us_world_news/story.php?story_id=TRE56J4U9

Others include: BBC World Service News, Reuters, SABC, the Press Association and numerous other newspaper and international websites Professor Ron Bruhn (University of Utah) has also been asked for interviews on: Radio Australia, CBS, and talk shows in Vancouver and local NPR in the USA.

National

• The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1201072/Earthquake-unleash-devastating-tsunami-west-coast-America-scientists-warn.html
• The Express: http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/115250/Experts-warn-of-Alaska-tsunami-risk/

Regional

Durham FM

A round-up of further coverage can be seen at: http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=durham+university+tsunami&cf=all&scoring=d