Tectonics - Boxing Day Tsunami Flashcards
date
26th december 2004
wave height
32 meters (some of highest ever recorded)
wave distance
2km inland
speed of onset
2 hours
seafloor vertical movement
3 metres upwards
richter scale
9 - megathrust
plate margin
convergent destructive
Indian plate (O) subducting under Sunda plate (C)
depth of water column displacement
5km
wave direction
split directions:
larger waves - sri lanka ands africa
smaller waves - thailand, more destructive as closer
floodwaters
coastal towns totally destroyed
flimsy wooden buildings on stilts
maldives
low lying coral islands rendered inhabitable
coastal mangrove forests
protected with dense root network buffer
coral reefs
corals of Indian Ocean under stress from El Nino warming in 1997-98
double blow of damage from force of incoming waves and backwash