--------------------------------------------------------------------
COSMIC IMPACTS AND TSUNAMI: THE UNDERRATED HAZARD
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The following text is an extract from Edward A. Bryant's new book TSUNAMI: THE UNDERRATED HAZARD, to be published by Cambridge University Press (publication c. July 2001).

0 521 77244 3 Hardback £55.00/$74.95
0 521 77599 4 Paperback £19.95/$27.95

For more details and how to order, please visit the Cambridge University Press (CUP) web-site

- ><><><>< - ><><>< - ><>< - ><><>< - ><><><>< -

Description
In the past decade over ten major tsunami events have impacted on the world's coastlines, causing devastation and loss of life. Evidence for past great tsunami, or 'mega-tsunami', has also recently been discovered along apparently aseismic and protected coastlines. With a large proportion of the world's population living on the coastline, the threat from tsunami can not be ignored. This book comprehensively describes the nature and process of tsunami, outlines field evidence for detecting the presence of past events, and describes particular events linked to earthquakes, volcanoes, submarine landslides and meteorite impacts. While technical aspects are covered, much of the text can be read by anyone with a high school education. The book will appeal to students and researchers in geomorphology, earth and environmental science, and emergency planning, and will also be attractive for the general public interested in natural hazards and new developments in science.

Chapter Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Tsunami as Known Hazards
1. Introduction
2. Tsunami dynamics
Part II. Tsunami-Formed Landscapes
3. Signatures of tsunami in the coastal landscape
4. Coastal landscape evolution
Part III. Causes of Tsunami
5. Earthquake-generated tsunami
6. Great landslides
7. Volcanic eruptions
8. Comets and meteorites
Part IV. Modern Risk of Tsunami
9. Risk
10. Epilogue
References
Index

MORE RECENT EVIDENCE FROM LEGENDS AND MYTHS
By Edward A. Byrant

Deluge Comet Impact Event 8,200 ± 200 years ago (Kristan-Tollmann and
Tollmann, 1992)

If cosmogenically generated tsunami are so rare, certainly within the timespan of human civilisation, then a paradox exists because evidence for such events certainly appears often in the geological record and in human legends. Traditionally, the difficulty in discriminating between fact and fiction, between echoes of the real past and dreams, has discouraged historians and scientists from making inferences about catastrophic events from myths or deciphered records. Yet, common threads appear in many ancient tales. Stories told by the Washo Indians of California and by the Aborigines of South Australia portray falling stars, fire from the sky, and cataclysmic floods unlike any modern event. Similar portrayals appear in the Gilgamesh myth from the Middle East, in Peruvian legends, and in the Revelations of Saint John and the Noachian flood story in the Bible. Victor Clube of Oxford University and William Napier of the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh have pieced together consistent patterns in ancient writings, which they interpret as representing meteoritic showers 3,000-6,000 years ago. One of the more disturbing accounts has been compiled from these legends by Edith and Alexander Tollmann of the University of Vienna, who believe that a comet circling the sun fragmented into seven large bodies that crashed into the world's oceans 8,200 ± 200 years ago. This age is based on radiocarbon dates from Vietnam, Australia and Europe. The impacts generated an atmospheric fireball that globally affected society. This was followed by a nuclear winter characterised by global cooling. More significantly, enormous tsunami swept across coastal plains and, if the legends are to be believed, overwashed the centre of continents. The latter phenomenon, if true, most likely was associated with the splash from the impacts rather than with conventional tsunami run-up. Massive floods then occurred across continents. The event may well have an element of truth. Figure 8.9 plots the location of the seven impact sites derived from geological evidence and legends. Two of these sites, in the Tasman and North Seas, have been identified as having mega-tsunami events around this time. The North Sea impact centre corresponds with the location of the Storegga slides described in Chapter 6. Here, the main tsunami took place 7,950 ±190 years ago. One of the better dates comes from wood lying above tektites in a sand dune along the South Coast of Victoria, Australia. The tektites are associated with the Tasman Sea impact and date at 8,200 ±250 years before present. These dates place the Deluge Comet impact event--a term used by the Tollmanns--around 6200 BC. This event does not stand alone during the Holocene. It has been repeated in recent times--a fact supported by Maori and Aborigine legends from New Zealand and Australia.
Click here for much, much more on Edward A. Byrant’s book at CCNet.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***

Information circulated on the Cambridge-Conference Network is for
scholarly use only. The attached text may not be reproduced
or transmitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.

Dan

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE NETWORK (CCNet)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The CCNet is a scholarly electronic network. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please contact the moderator Benny J Peiser.

Information circulated on this network is for scholarly and educational use only. The attached information may not be copied or reproduced for any other purposes without prior permission of the copyright holders. The fully indexed archive of the CCNet, from February 1997 on, can be found at the Cambridge Conference Network.

DISCLAIMER:
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the articles and texts and in other CCNet contributions do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the moderator of this network.