Tsunami food for thought

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

Here's some food for thought...

Bad as it was, this has't been the worst that the area has experienced with it 
comes to a Tsunami. I've been waiting for some mention of what the explosion of 
Krakatau did to the region in 1883, but it hasn't happened yet... 37m waves 
(120 feet) smashed into Sumatra and the Sunda Strait in Western Java, drowning 
some 36,000, throwing blocks of coral weighing 600 tonnes onto land, and 
transporting steamers 3km inland. Given that the waves were of volcanic orgin, 
they were only locally destructive in Indonesia, though smaller waves were 
recorded throughout the Pacific. The volcano exploded, removing the northern 
2/3rds of the island. As this happened, sea water came flooding into the 
caldera, collapsing the weakened magma chambers below. The water, coming into 
contact with the magma, was then ejected out with tremendous force, producing 
the waves. This same sort of scenario is thought to have led to the end of the 
Minonin civilization on Crete when the Santorini volcano exploded in
 1,650 BCE. It also happened to be the largest explosion witnessed by modern 
man in the last 10,000 years.

Kris
http://hometown.aol.com/saurierlagen/Paleo-Photography.html