Tsunamis in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Tsunamis affecting the British Isles are rare, and there have only been two confirmed cases in recorded history. However, meteotsunamis are somewhat more common, especially on the southern coasts of England
around the English
and Bristol Channels
.
was struck by a 70 feet (21 m) high tsunami around 6100 BC, during the Mesolithic period. The wave was caused by the massive underwater Storegga slide
off Norway, which dates from around the same time. The tsunami even washed over some of the Shetland Islands
. Tsunamite (the deposits left by a tsunami) dating from this event can be found at various locations around the coastal areas of Scotland, and are also a tourist feature in the Montrose Basin
, where there is a layer of deposited sand about 0.6 metres (2 ft) thick.
At the time, what became the east coast of England was connected to the areas of modern Denmark
and the Netherlands
by a low-lying land bridge
, now known to archaeologists as Doggerland
. The area is believed to have had a coastline of lagoons, marshes, mudflats, and beaches, and may have been the richest hunting, fowling and fishing ground in Europe then available. Much of this land would have been inundated by the tsunami, with a catastrophic impact on the local human population.
to have occurred in western Britain
, from the coast of Cumbria
around to Kent
, on 28 September 1014. This has been attributed to a tsunami, possibly caused by a comet
impact
. William of Malmesbury
stated that "A tidal wave... grew to an astonishing size such as the memory of man cannot parallel, so as to submerge villages many miles inland and overwhelm and drown their inhabitants." The event was also mentioned in Welsh bardic chronicles.
.
A contemporary French account states “in the city of Calais such a horrible and terrible earthquake came to pass that a great part of the houses fell, and even the sea overflowed into the city and did ruin and drown a great number of houses, and numerous persons perished, and a great multitude of beasts lost which were at pasture outside this city.”
In recent years it has been suggested that these waves were a tsuanami, and not seiches. It is unlikely that the earthquake was strong enough to rupture the sea bed to trigger a tsunami, but it appears sufficiently powerful to have caused an undersea landslide that is quite capable of generating a tsunami as tragically happened in Papua New Guinea in 1998, killing around 2500 people.
, which happened on the morning of January 30, 1607 (New style
), are suggested to be a tsunami either caused by an earthquake, a landslide from the Irish coast or a freak combination of high tides and a storm surge
. There is historical evidence suggesting a tsunami, such eyewitness accounts describe a wave as "mighty hilles of water" - with sparks - and a wave that travelled so fast that not even a greyhound could escape it. There is an ancient, large faultline off the Southern Western tip of Ireland, which scientists say could have possibly have triggered a tsunami in the Irish Sea. The continental shelf of Ireland is also very steep, with a drop of about 100 metres, and scientists believe the 1607 tsunami might have been triggered by a landslide here, if not an earthquake. Scientists and geologist
s say that after studying the disaster they are more convinced that it was a tsunami, rather than a simple storm surge.
was hit by a three metre high tsunami on 1 November 1755, at around 14:00. The waves were caused by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
. The tsunami took almost four hours to reach the UK. The tsunami was also observed along the south coast of England and on the River Thames
in London. Contemporary reports say that there were three of these tsunami waves, and that the sea receded very quickly, then rose up. At St Michael's Mount
, the sea rose suddenly and then retired; ten minutes later, it rose 6 feet (1.8 m) very rapidly, then ebbed equally rapidly. The sea rose 8 feet (2.4 m) in Penzance
and 10 feet (3 m) at Newlyn
; the same effect was reported at St Ives and Hayle. Although there is no record of the overall death toll, the 19th century French writer, Arnold Boscowitz, claimed that "great loss of life and property occurred upon the coasts of Cornwall".
The tsunami also reached the city of Galway
in Ireland, at a height of two metres, and caused some serious damage to the "Spanish Arch
" section of the city wall.
travelling along the English Channel.
concluded that it was unlikely to have been caused by a submarine landslide and was probably a meteotsunami
.
volcano
in La Palma
, off North Africa
in the Canary Islands
could pose a tsunami risk to Britain, as it is seemingly unstable. They concluded that a future volcanic eruption will result in the mass of rock alongside the volcanoes breaking off and falling into the sea as a massive landslide
. This in turn will generate a huge tsunami, which will surge into the Atlantic Ocean
and hit Spain
, Portugal
, the east coast of the United States
, France
, and the south coast of England
. It is estimated that the waves will take around 6 hours to reach England, and that when they do they will be around 10 metres (30 ft) high. Britain would be badly hit, and it is believed by some that if nothing is done, thousands of lives will be lost. However, there is considerable controversy about the accuracy of these predictions. Researchers at the Dutch Technical University at Delft found the island to be much more stable than was widely believed, estimating that it would take at least another 10,000 years for the island to grow enough for there to be a danger.
Another tsunami geologists believe will hit Britain would be caused by a huge earthquake on a fault off the coast of Portugal
; the same fault that caused the massive 1755 Lisbon earthquake
(see above). Strain has been accumulating on that fault, which will eventually result in the fault breaking again, creating another megathrust earthquake, which could be as big as the 1755 earthquake (which was an estimated magnitude 9). When the earthquake happens, the south coast of England
will most likely be affected by a tsunami, as it was in 1755. If it follows the same pattern as the 18th century quake, it will probably take around 4 hours for the tsunami to reach Cornwall
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
around the English
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and Bristol Channels
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
.
6100 BC Scotland tsunami
The east coast of ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was struck by a 70 feet (21 m) high tsunami around 6100 BC, during the Mesolithic period. The wave was caused by the massive underwater Storegga slide
Storegga Slide
The three Storegga Slides are considered to be amongst the largest known landslides. They occurred under water, at the edge of Norway's continental shelf , in the Norwegian Sea, 100 km north-west of the Møre coast, causing a very large tsunami in the North Atlantic Ocean...
off Norway, which dates from around the same time. The tsunami even washed over some of the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
. Tsunamite (the deposits left by a tsunami) dating from this event can be found at various locations around the coastal areas of Scotland, and are also a tourist feature in the Montrose Basin
Montrose Basin
The Montrose Basin is part of the estuary of the South Esk forming a tidal basin near to the town of Montrose, Angus, on the north-east coast of Scotland....
, where there is a layer of deposited sand about 0.6 metres (2 ft) thick.
At the time, what became the east coast of England was connected to the areas of modern Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
by a low-lying land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...
, now known to archaeologists as Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...
. The area is believed to have had a coastline of lagoons, marshes, mudflats, and beaches, and may have been the richest hunting, fowling and fishing ground in Europe then available. Much of this land would have been inundated by the tsunami, with a catastrophic impact on the local human population.
England and Wales, 1014
A widespread flood was reported in the Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAnglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
to have occurred in western Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, from the coast of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
around to Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, on 28 September 1014. This has been attributed to a tsunami, possibly caused by a comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
impact
Impact event
An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant...
. William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
stated that "A tidal wave... grew to an astonishing size such as the memory of man cannot parallel, so as to submerge villages many miles inland and overwhelm and drown their inhabitants." The event was also mentioned in Welsh bardic chronicles.
1580, Dover Straits Earthquake
On 6 April 1580, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred with its epicentre on the sea bed close to Calais. Giant waves were reported at the time and hundreds of people were killed when ships were sunk by the waves and the low-lying coastal land around Calais was inundated by the sea. In Dover, part of the chalk cliff collapsed taking with it part of Dover CastleDover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history...
.
A contemporary French account states “in the city of Calais such a horrible and terrible earthquake came to pass that a great part of the houses fell, and even the sea overflowed into the city and did ruin and drown a great number of houses, and numerous persons perished, and a great multitude of beasts lost which were at pasture outside this city.”
In recent years it has been suggested that these waves were a tsuanami, and not seiches. It is unlikely that the earthquake was strong enough to rupture the sea bed to trigger a tsunami, but it appears sufficiently powerful to have caused an undersea landslide that is quite capable of generating a tsunami as tragically happened in Papua New Guinea in 1998, killing around 2500 people.
Bristol Channel, 1607
The Bristol Channel floodsBristol Channel floods, 1607
The Bristol Channel floods, which occurred on 30 January 1607 , resulted in the drowning of a large number of people and the destruction of a large amount of farmland and livestock...
, which happened on the morning of January 30, 1607 (New style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
), are suggested to be a tsunami either caused by an earthquake, a landslide from the Irish coast or a freak combination of high tides and a storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
. There is historical evidence suggesting a tsunami, such eyewitness accounts describe a wave as "mighty hilles of water" - with sparks - and a wave that travelled so fast that not even a greyhound could escape it. There is an ancient, large faultline off the Southern Western tip of Ireland, which scientists say could have possibly have triggered a tsunami in the Irish Sea. The continental shelf of Ireland is also very steep, with a drop of about 100 metres, and scientists believe the 1607 tsunami might have been triggered by a landslide here, if not an earthquake. Scientists and geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s say that after studying the disaster they are more convinced that it was a tsunami, rather than a simple storm surge.
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The coast of CornwallCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
was hit by a three metre high tsunami on 1 November 1755, at around 14:00. The waves were caused by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by fires and a tsunami, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and...
. The tsunami took almost four hours to reach the UK. The tsunami was also observed along the south coast of England and on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in London. Contemporary reports say that there were three of these tsunami waves, and that the sea receded very quickly, then rose up. At St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount is a tidal island located off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish and is united with the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water....
, the sea rose suddenly and then retired; ten minutes later, it rose 6 feet (1.8 m) very rapidly, then ebbed equally rapidly. The sea rose 8 feet (2.4 m) in Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
and 10 feet (3 m) at Newlyn
Newlyn
Newlyn is a town and fishing port in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Newlyn forms a conurbation with the neighbouring town of Penzance and is part of Penzance civil parish...
; the same effect was reported at St Ives and Hayle. Although there is no record of the overall death toll, the 19th century French writer, Arnold Boscowitz, claimed that "great loss of life and property occurred upon the coasts of Cornwall".
The tsunami also reached the city of Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
in Ireland, at a height of two metres, and caused some serious damage to the "Spanish Arch
Spanish Arch
The Spanish Arch in Galway city, Ireland was originally an extension of the city wall from Martin's Tower to the bank of the Corrib, as a measure to protect the city's quays, which were located in the area once known as the Fish Market...
" section of the city wall.
1929 Meteotsunami
On 20 July 1929 a wave reported as being between 3.5 and 6 metres high struck the south coast including busy tourist beaches at Brighton, Hastings and Folkestone. Two people drowned and the wave was attributed to a squall lineSquall line
A squall line is a line of severe thunderstorms that can form along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front. It contains heavy precipitation, hail, frequent lightning, strong straight-line winds, and possibly tornadoes and waterspouts....
travelling along the English Channel.
2011 South coast tsunami
A small tsunami with a peak wave height anomaly of 40 cm occurred on 29 June 2011 along the South coast of England. The tsunami was described as mild and there were no records of injuries or damage. Video footage clearly showed the tsunami and there were reports of fish leaping out the water and hair lifting up because of a static charge. Initial media speculation attributed the event to an underwater landslide, as no earthquakes were recorded at the time. However the British Geological SurveyBritish Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS headquarters are in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, but other centres...
concluded that it was unlikely to have been caused by a submarine landslide and was probably a meteotsunami
Meteotsunami
A meteotsunami or meteorological tsunami is a tsunami-like wave phenomenon of meteorological origin. Tsunamis and meteotsunamis propagate in the water in the same way and have the same coastal dynamics. In other words, for an observer on the coast where it strikes the two types would look the same....
.
Possible future tsunamis
In the 1990s, geologists realised that the Cumbre ViejaCumbre Vieja
Cumbre Vieja is an active volcanic ridge on the volcanic ocean island of Isla de La Palma in the Canary Islands.This ridge trends in an approximate north-south direction and covers the southern third of the island. It is lined by several volcanic craters....
volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
in La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
, off North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
could pose a tsunami risk to Britain, as it is seemingly unstable. They concluded that a future volcanic eruption will result in the mass of rock alongside the volcanoes breaking off and falling into the sea as a massive landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
. This in turn will generate a huge tsunami, which will surge into the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and hit Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the east coast of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and the south coast of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is estimated that the waves will take around 6 hours to reach England, and that when they do they will be around 10 metres (30 ft) high. Britain would be badly hit, and it is believed by some that if nothing is done, thousands of lives will be lost. However, there is considerable controversy about the accuracy of these predictions. Researchers at the Dutch Technical University at Delft found the island to be much more stable than was widely believed, estimating that it would take at least another 10,000 years for the island to grow enough for there to be a danger.
Another tsunami geologists believe will hit Britain would be caused by a huge earthquake on a fault off the coast of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
; the same fault that caused the massive 1755 Lisbon earthquake
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by fires and a tsunami, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and...
(see above). Strain has been accumulating on that fault, which will eventually result in the fault breaking again, creating another megathrust earthquake, which could be as big as the 1755 earthquake (which was an estimated magnitude 9). When the earthquake happens, the south coast of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
will most likely be affected by a tsunami, as it was in 1755. If it follows the same pattern as the 18th century quake, it will probably take around 4 hours for the tsunami to reach Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
See also
- List of earthquakes in the British Isles
- List of natural disasters in the British Isles