In the Gulf of Aqaba, a branch of the Red Sea, an earth scientist from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found evidence of an ancient undersea landslide and related tsunami that should serve as a warning for many Middle Eastern countries.
Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences, spent four weeks aboard the OceanXplorer research vessel in the region. Purkis discovered an unexpected breach in the seabed as he and a fellow scientist were climbing from 3,000 feet during a submersible dive.
It was a surprising discovery, but not unheard of for the Red Sea, which was created when the African and Arabian tectonic plates split 30 million years ago.
“Immediately, I realized that what we were looking at was the result of some geological force, which had broken the seafloor,” said Purkis.
Purkis then set out on a scientific investigation to understand more about the chasm. He collected rock samples and discovered that a landslide that most likely took place 500 years ago was responsible for its creation. Sediment found north of the chasm also provided evidence that the landslide most likely caused a tsunami to occur.
The study, “Tsunamigenic Potential of an Incipient Submarine Landslide in the Tiran Straits,” published February 3, 2022 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), predicts that future movement of the seabed might trigger more tsunami in the Gulf.
Therefore, the nations along its coasts including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel need to ensure that early warning systems are in place for both earthquakes and tsunami.
“Just a little shake in the wrong place and the whole wall could fail, leading to a much larger tsunami than occurred 500 years ago,” Purkis said. “That area of Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, which are urbanizing so rapidly, have certain hazards which haven’t been previously recognized, but they need to be, to avoid a future catastrophe.”
The entire OceanXplorer research voyage was funded by Neom, a company developing the Saudi Arabian coastline.
