Evidence for Cosmogenic Tsunami
by
Ted Bryant
School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, N.S.W., Australia, 2522.

There are four main causes of tsunami: earthquakes, volcanoes, submarine landslides and meteorite impact with the ocean. The latter also includes comets and bolide explosions in the atmosphere. Historically, earthquakes are perceived as the main source for tsunami. Except for isolated volcanic eruptions such as Krakatau, earthquake induced tsunami can account for most of the deposits found on land resulting from this process. Rarely is erosion of sediments or bedrock attributed to tsunami. Reconnaissance along 60% of the Australian coastline has identified a suite of erosional and depositional signatures linked to tsunami. Many of these have been associated elsewhere to catastrophic floods from ice caps in non marine environments. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and submarine landslides can be ruled out as the cause of the tsunami generating many of these features because of their scale and site specific characteristics. Examples of these signatures will be presented for the Australian coastline to show that a cosmogenic cause is the most likely explanation.

Date received: July 18, 2002

Copyright © 2002 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caji-42.