Cumbre Vieja is a Major Threat for a Mega-Tsunami
Cumbre Vieja is a Major Threat for a Mega-Tsunami
By Todd Strandberg
A new eruption has begun at the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, on September 19, 2021. This is the first eruption at the volcano in 50 years.
Social media sites have been buzzing about the possibility that this eruption will cause a large chunk of the western flank of the island to slide into the Atlantic Ocean. The collapse would generate a mega-tsunami that would devastate numerous nations.
The liberal media have been doing everything they can to downplay the danger. News sites are saying a Tsunami reaching the East Coast due to the Spanish volcano is highly unlikely because experts and government leaders said so.
After announcing the eruption on Twitter on Sept. 19, the U.S. Geological Survey said the tsunami threat remained local, debunking users’ claims that a “mega-tsunami” would happen.
According to George Pararas-Carayannis, editor of the journal Science of Tsunami Hazards, “the threat of mega tsunami generation from massive flank failures of island stratovolcanoes has been greatly overstated.”
“Massive flank failures of island stratovolcanoes are extremely rare phenomena, and none have occurred within recorded history,” says Pararas-Carayannis. “Recent numerical modeling studies…have been based on incorrect assumptions of volcanic island slope instability, source dimensions, speed of failure and tsunami coupling mechanisms.”
We’ve never had a super volcano erupt in recorded history, but we know from the Geological and fossil records that they are a very real danger. When Mount St. Helen exploded in 1980, the lateral blast was also a very rare phenomenon. Tell that “rare” story to the people who witnessed super-heated gas come at them at 300 miles per hour.
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was even used to downplay the tsunami. It, which was measured at an 8.4 on the Moment Magnitude scale, created waves that reached across the Atlantic Ocean but didn’t go higher than 3 feet in wave length.
Not all earthquakes cause large tsunamis, so it’s insane to use the Lisbon earthquake as an example. Tsunamis result from a move off land that transfers massive amounts of energy to ocean water. The epicenter of the Lisbon quake could have been several miles below ground.
The danger that we face from Cumbre Vieja dates back to the 1940s. After a 1949 eruption, ruptures were found on the surface of the island. In a 2001 study by Simon Day and various colleagues, the ruptures were seen as “ominous” because they were evidence of a subsurface detachment. In other words, the crack doesn’t stop at the surface.
For about 10 miles, a large portion of the volcano’s western flank slid 13 feet towards to ocean. It has been sliding slowly over the years. This new eruption is very dangerous because it could trigger the flank to finally fail.
The lava under the island of La Palma is generating a massive amount of steam pressure. This pressure on the western flank could be what overcomes the friction that is currently preventing the flank from collapsing.
A block of rock approximately 250 cubic miles would break off, traveling into the sea at a speed of up to 200 miles per hour. The disintegration of the rock would produce a debris-avalanche deposit extending 37 miles from the island. The energy released by the collapse would be equal to the electricity consumption of the entire United States in half a year.
The greatest effects are predicted to occur north, west and south of the Canaries. On the West Saharan shore, waves are expected to reach heights of 300 feet from crest to trough, and on the north coast of Brazil, waves over 80 feet high are anticipated. Florida and the Caribbean, the final destinations in the North Atlantic to be affected by the tsunami, will have to brace themselves for receiving 60-foot-high waves some eight to nine hours after the landslide. Towards Europe, wave heights will be smaller, but substantial tsunami waves will hit the Atlantic coasts of Britain, Spain, Portugal and France.
I am very concerned about the Cumbre Vieja volcano. I’m not worried about my life since I live 175 feet above sea level. Anyone living in Miami would have no place to go if the warning went out that La Palma had failed. The central point of the state is only 17 feet above sea level.
I do think the volcano will trigger a mega-tsunami because I think this type of event is something tailor-made for the tribulation. We have been staying down a likely financial tsunami for 20 years, so La Palma is just one more impending danger to add to the list.
When Jesus returns to earth and generates some type of pulse that will cause every mountain and island to move, the flanks of many islands will certainly collapse into the sea. If La Palma is still standing, it will certainly add to the calamity. His return will be very glorious, but it will also be very terrifying to the lost.
“The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place” – (Revelation 6:14).
– Todd