I am a student at Portsmouth University, England and I recently saw a
documentary on large landslides which commented on the unstable of a
shelf of the Hawaiian Island on the flanks of Mount Pele,if there was a
catastrophic failure, what consequences would there be?
Simon Freeman
Dear Simon,
I am more familiar with Hawaii so I will write about it. Large
landslides are part of the evolution of each
Hawaiian island. In the past, large landslides have remove pieces (up to
half) of some of the subaerial parts of Hawaiian volcanoes. As the
landslides move they probably generate large earthquakes that would be
felt across the island and probably across the state. Part of the
volcano and everything on it would disappear below sea level. Since the
landslides are so large they would displace great volumes of water and
generate a tsunami far larger than any ever observed. There are coral
deposits about 1,000 above sea level in Hawaii that were placed there by
tsunami waves. Geologist is Australia proposed that a tsunami from
Hawaii striped about 50 feet of beach sand from the coast about 100,000
year ago. If a large landslide occurs in the near future it will be the
most catastrophic geologic and human event in historic time. Since most
of the people in Hawaii live below 1,000 feet elevation they may fall
victim to the tsunami. Nearly all the cities and towns in Hawaii might
be destroyed. The tsunami may still be incredibly large when it reaches
the coasts around the Pacific, causing addition fatalities and damage.
Fortunately, these large events are rare in geologic history. The
Hawaiian volcanoes are studied in great detail. Perhaps the early stage
of a large landslides will be detected and people will be evacuated to
safe locations.
Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota
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