Tsunami Wave Height Dependence on Landslide Volume

Abstract

— Tsunami generation from submarine landslides depends mainly on the volume of the slide material and also on other factors which include: angle of the slide, water depth, density of the slide material, the speed with which the material moves, duration of the slide, etc. Based on an incomplete data set of volume V of slide versus maximum amplitude H of the resulting tsunami waves, gleaned through available literature, a simple linear regression relationship was developed. Another partial data set was developed also from published literature, on V versus H values, based on numerical models. It was found that the agreement between the results of the numerical simulations and the observations is rather poor. It is not clear why this is so, and which data set is of questionable relevance. This is not to cast doubt on numerical models that do not use volume of the slide in an explicit manner.