January 15, 2013

Ancient tsunamis of Europe

In red the tsunami sediments
Measures: height of the wave at each location
A huge tsunami probably hit the northern parts of Doggerland (the emerged landmass of what is now the North Sea) some 8000 years ago. The evidence from this catastrophic event, which probably affected the earliest inhabitants of NW Europe in a catastrophic way comes from an underwater formation off the Norwegian coast known as Storegga, which was partly demolished by the force of the giant wave, as well as from sedimentary layers at various coastal locations. The wave reached more than 20 meters at the Shetlands, where it left a 30cm-thick revealing layer.

Another possible tsunami may have affected the Southwestern coasts of Iberia in the 7th century BCE. This is currently being researched and could be related to the collapse of the semi-mythical city of Tartessos.

Sources: Meteoweb[it], Paleorama[es] (→ link 1, link 2).

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