Tsunami Glossary
active volcano
An active volcanois one that haserupted inrecorded historyor is currentlyerupting.
aftershock
Aftershocks aresmallearthquakes thatoccur after alargeearthquake.
avalanche
An avalanche is a alarge mass of fallingand/or slidingmaterial. Avalanchescan be composed of rock, snow,soil, or ice. Volcaniceruptions can causeavalanches.
bathypelagic
Bathypelagicmeans of, pertaining to, or living in the deepocean near the bottom.
buoy
A buoyis afloatingdevicethat istetheredto theseafloor.Buoyscanmark anoffshorelocation,warn of danger,or showa shipwhere anavigablechannelis.
Top of Form
Forward Backward
Bottom of Form
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents. The landmasses are hunks of Earth's crustthat float on the molten core. Theideas of continental drift and theexistence of a supercontinent(Pangaea
) were presented by AlfredWegener in 1915.
The crust of theEarth is broken into plates.
The plates areenormous chunks of rock that float atopthe soft mantle. The plates are moving at aspeed that has beenestimated at 1 to 10cm per year.Continental plates arethicker, older, and lessdense than oceanic plates. These platesare about 125kilometers thick andare made of granitethat is about 3 billionyears old.
continental shelf
Thecontinentalshelf is the part of theocean floor next to eachof thecontinents.The seafloor slopesgraduallyfrom thecontinent toa depth of about 650feet (200m). Beyondthecontinentalshelf thesea floor dropssteeply.
crest
The crest of a waveis its highest point.
The Earth's crust is itsoutermost, rocky layer.
current
A current is anon-periodichorizontalmovement of water. Currentsare caused bywinds,temperaturedifferentials,and other forces. They are NOT caused bytidal forces (thegravitationalforces of theMoon and Sun).Some major currents includethe Gulf Streamin the AtlanticOcean and theHumboldtCurrent in thePacific Ocean.
debrisavalanche
A debrisavalanche is asuddenrock/soil/debrisslide and flowswith great speedfrom a volcano.
drawback
Drawback is a phenomenon inwhich the oceanrecedes before atsunami strikes acoast.
earthquake
An earthquake is asudden, violentmovement of theearth's crust.
epicenter
The epicenter is the point on the Earth'ssurface directlyabove the place thatan earthquakeoccured.
eruption
frequency
The frequency of a wave is thenumber of timesthat a wave is produced withina time period.
guyot
)formed from avolcano.
hotspot
A hot spot is a anarea in the Earth'slithosphere throughwhich magma(molten rock) rises.Volcanoes oftenerupt over hotspots.
Krakatoa
Krakatoa is a compositevolcano located inIndonesia. On August 26,1883 Krakatoa eruptedviolently, destroying mostof the volcano and killingthousands of people. Thiswas one of the biggestvolcanic eruptions in
modern times.
The K-Textinction wasthe massextinction thatoccurred 65million yearsago, at the boundary of theCretaceous andTertiary periods.
lahar
A lahar (alsocalled a mudflowor debris flow) isa moving mixtureof rock, water,and other debristhat falls downthe slopes of avolcano and/or ariver valley.Lahar is anIndonesian word
Lava is moltenrock. It usuallycomes out of eruptingvolcanoes.
magnitude
The intensity of anearthquake is described by anumber in the Richter scale,called the magnitude. Themagnitude of an earthquakeis calculated from thelogarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded byseismographs. A magnitude2.0 or less earthquake iscalled a microearthquake andis not felt by people. Amagnitude 4.5 or moreearthquake can be measured by seismographs all over theworld. Tsunamis can becaused by underseaearthquakes of magnitude7.5 or greater.
maremoto
Maremoto isthe Spanishword for tsunami.
A meteor is a meteoroidthat has entered the Earth'satmosphere, usuallymaking a fiery trail as itfalls. It is sometimes calleda shooting star. Most burnup before hitting the Earth.
A meteorite is ameteor that hasfallen to Earth.Meteorites areeither stone, iron,or stony-iron.
Meteoroids aretiny stones or pieces of metalthat travelthrough space.
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