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There has been a recent panic regarding the volcano eruption on La Palma in the Canary Islands. That this volcano might cause a massive tsunami that would kill millions.

Wouldn't a 50 meter tsunami large enough to inundate the eastern seaboard require an immense amount of energy? Such as more than the energy of the collapse of a side of a mountain into the ocean?

The asteroid that is credited with the extinction of the dinosaurs had an estimated energy of 21 to 921 billion Hiroshima A-Bombs for example.

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    $\begingroup$ Looks like someone colored the land that has an altitude less than 50m MSL. But that's not how a tsunami would work. $\endgroup$
    – BowlOfRed
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 20:32
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    $\begingroup$ I would advise you not to pay any attention to far-right conspiracy theorists and white supremacists. Hal Turner isn't exactly known for his scientific mindset. $\endgroup$
    – Mechanic
    Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 4:19
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    $\begingroup$ The purpose of the question was to debunk... $\endgroup$
    – dawg
    Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 0:33
  • $\begingroup$ Please read the updated answer. The original one was wrong $\endgroup$
    – Abdullah is not an Amalekite
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 7:40

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My previous answer was fir the most part nonsense due to incorrect information on continental shelf topography. Here is s more accurate answer.

Water waves store half their energy as kinetic energy in the alternating currents. So to achieve a runup of 50m, we need a 25m wave.

The first obstacle that an approaching tsunami would encounter is the continental shelf, which is bounded by the Ice Age coast sunken under 149m of sea level rise. In the East Coast, this shelf extends about 65km on average.

Most of the shelf is less than 30m deep. Therefore, the tsunami needs a wavelength considerably larger than the width of this shelf in order to pass it without losing much of it's energy to breaking.

Based on the above, we can assume the following parameters as a minimum

Wavelength = 65km

Amplitude = 25m

Span = distance from La Palma × 2π = 40,000km

Wave energy = 2,500 × 65,000 × 40,000,000 × 25² = 4,062.5 quadrillion joules

Thus is the energy of 400 billion tons falling 2km. That amounts to between 67km³ and 133km³ of rock, assuming 100% efficiency

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