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Tsunamis

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 22 Accesses

Synonyms

Seismic sea wave; Tidal wave (erroneous)

Definition

  • Tsunami: Japanese “harbor wave.”

  • Tsunami: long-length waves in a body of water (usually large lake or sea), generated by the substantial displacement of water.

Introduction

Human populations have long shown a preference for settling in coastal zones. The coastline is a meeting point between different resource zones and a doorway to efficient and economical water-based transport for trade. However, this rich and attractive location can also be vulnerable to forces of nature with gradual or rapid disastrous consequences such as sea-level change, hurricanes, storm surges, floods, and tsunamis. Tsunamis occur in a relatively short period of time. The warnings, if recognized, are rarely more than a half day in advance and more likely a matter of minutes to hours. The size of a tsunami varies greatly, ranging from waves that only slightly alter a typical day’s tide gauge record to mega-tsunamis with the potential of wave heights in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moshe Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Beverly N. Goodman-Tchernov

Authors
  1. Beverly N. Goodman-Tchernov
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Correspondence to Beverly N. Goodman-Tchernov .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

  2. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Paul Goldberg

  3. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Rolfe D. Mandel

  4. University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Vera Aldeias

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Goodman-Tchernov, B.N. (2023). Tsunamis. In: Gilbert, A.S., Goldberg, P., Mandel, R.D., Aldeias, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_64-1

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