Abstract
Historical reports of an earthquake in Tonga in 1865 November identify it as the only event from that subduction zone which generated a far-field tsunami observable without instruments. Run-up heights reached 2 m in Rarotonga and 80 cm in the Marquesas Islands. Hydrodynamic simulations require a moment of 4 × 1028 dyn cm, a value significantly larger than previous estimates of the maximum size of earthquake to be expected at the Tonga subduction zone. This warrants an upwards re-evaluation of the tsunami risk from Tonga to the Cook Islands and the various Polynesian chains, which had hitherto been regarded as minor.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 164-174 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Geophysical Journal International |
Volume | 157 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2004 |
Keywords
- Historical earthquakes
- Tonga islands
- Tsunami hazard
- Tsunami simulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics
- Geochemistry and Petrology