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Solid Earth
On the cause of the 1908 Messina tsunami, southern Italy
Article first published online: 19 MAR 2008
DOI: 10.1029/2008GL033251
Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
Additional Information
How to Cite
, , , , , , and (2008), On the cause of the 1908 Messina tsunami, southern Italy, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L06301, doi:10.1029/2008GL033251.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 19 MAR 2008
- Article first published online: 19 MAR 2008
- Manuscript Accepted: 18 FEB 2008
- Manuscript Revised: 13 FEB 2008
- Manuscript Received: 15 JAN 2008
Keywords:
- friction;
- strength;
- nondestructive evaluation
[1] A century after the catastrophic event, the sources of the 1908 Messina, Southern Italy, earthquake and tsunami, which caused at least 60,000 deaths, remain uncertain. Through a simple backward ray-tracing method, we convert the tsunami travel-time data reported in a 100-years-old paper into distances and find that the sources of the earthquake and tsunami are different. Overturning a long-held assumption, reconsideration of the available tsunami, bathymetric, seismic, and seismological data indicates that the tsunami was generated by an underwater landslide.