The Book All About Tsunamis

By Yacine Norris, Jayde Surette and Nehemiah Caradwyn

table of contents
Volcanos........................page 3 Meteorites......................page 1 Landslides......................page 2 Earthquakes.....................page 3-7 Speed and size..................page 8-9 Warnings.........................page 10-11 Safety.............................page 12 Damage............................page 13

By yacine norris, Jayde surette and Nehemiah Caradwyn

Dedicated to all the tsunami survivors -yacine, jayde and nj

Introduction
This book is all about tsunamis. You will learn the events that trigger a tsunami and the speed and size of a tsunami. It will also tell you how to recognize a tsunami, how to keep safe, and the damage they can do.

Under water

Above water

Under water and above water volcanos can trigger tsunamis. When debris slides to the ocean floor, that causes the water pressure to change quickly and form a wall of water. An under water volcano has the same effect because if an under water volcano explodes, the pressure will change quickly.

Some tsunamis are created by a meteorite falling though the atmosphere at tremendous speed. crashing into the ocean causes a ripple effect that sends monster waves to the surrounding areas of the land. This is the most uncommon cause of a tsunami.

Landslides can cause mega tsunamis by debris tumbling into the ocean, causing a splash that sends a gigantic wave across the ocean that can be up to 150 feet tall!
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Even if you cant see tsunamis they may still be there. They are moving under the water at speeds of up to 600 MPH. Thats almost the speed of sound! But you still may not notice it if it passes under your boat because its happening so far under water that it doesn't affect the waters surface.

Under your feet there are giant, flat plates called tectonic plates floating on the liquid inner part of the Earths mantle. Even though you cant see them move, they are moving slowly.

The earthquakes that cause tsunamis happen when the continental plates (the ones under our feet) and the oceanic plates (the ones under the ocean) crash into each other.

As a tsunami comes closer to shore it slows down and and becomes taller and taller until it reaches its maximum hight. this makes it almost impossible to escape a tsunami unless you have an earlier warning.

As the tsunami gets close to the shore all the water gets sucked out of the beach and the tsunami starts grinding up against the ocean floor. That makes the tsunami grow up to 110 feet.

Animals like giraffes and elephants can sometimes sense when a tsunami is coming. There have been times when the animals have started walking towards higher land and no one knew why, but it turned out that they were getting away from approaching tsunamis.

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wave gauge

Marine biologists use D.A.R.T. 2 systems to predict when a tsunami is coming.

The wave gauges and sea floor gauges on the D.A.R.T. 2 system are used to spot sudden rises in sea level or sea pressure.

sea floor gauge

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The first thing you should do if there is a tsunami is figure out where there is higher ground and the fastest way to get to it. You shouldnt go in a car unless you really need to since you would probably get stuck in traffic. These steps will help you stay safe from a tsunami.

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Tsunamis can do extreme amounts of damage in just a few minutes. Tsunamis can destroy buildings, and make towns look like a nuclear war zone. This picture shows the damage from a tsunami that was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. On March 11, 2011 an earthquake in the pacific ocean triggered a tsunami that hit Japan. The earthquake was 8.9 on the Richter scale. Waves 33 feet tall picked up cars and houses and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Over 14,800 people died in this tragic event. (picture not shown.)

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Works Cited Fradin, Judy and Dennis. Tsunamis Witness To Disaster. Washington,D.C: National Geographic Society, 2008. Print. Hawkins, John. Tsunami Disasters. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2012. Print. "How a Tsunami Happens." academic.evergreen.edu. N.p., 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. <http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/springle/>. "Tsunami." EnchantedLearning.com. Enchanted Learning, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/tsunami/>.