Formation of a landslide Tsunami

Scripps geophysicists develop technologies for monitoring underwater landslides.

Stages of the landslide tsunami

1. The red portion of material will become the landslide and travel down the slope.
2. The material slides down the slope, creating a momentary depression behind it that pulls the water down while simultaneously pushing the water in front of it up as it moves forward.
3. The water that was pulled down propagates seaward as the landslide moves further away from the volcano, and the water is pushed up above where the mass of the landslide now lies.
4. The tsunami created by the landslide travels outward radially, creating the large tsunami waves that break on the coast.
5. Finally, the tsunami returns and dies into the open ocean.