Biggest Roll Tide Ever.........

[Spot Dailey]

I was sitting here at lunch with the missus watching the Science Channel. It's usually the least offensive TV and doesn't incite bad digestion.
Anyway, it was about earthquakes and giant sunamis. There was a bit of info I wanted to share with you. Bear with me, it's the offseason.....LOL.

Just off Hawaiian Islands are many geological structures called underwater sea mounts. The largest of these is off the big island and is called The Tuscaloosa Sea Mount. This sea mount used to be part of the island until, at some point in ancient times, fell off into the sea. The voice over said, and demonstrated with some animated graphic effects, that probably one of the largest sunamis in history was generated by that geological event and may have sent tidal waves to all corners of the Pacific, including the Pacific Northwest as far up as Alaska and further west to Japan.
There was evidence that the tidal waves went many miles inland in most locations.
It occured to me, this being the Tuscaloosa Sea Mount we're talking about, that it was the largest Roll Tide in history.

 

[theBIGyowski]

He's not kidding. And that...is amazing.

See...God really is an Alabama fan.

 

[Alanbama27]

Okay, this is a Jeff Foxworthy moment.

"You might be a redneck if"...You think that a Tidewave named after Tuscaloosa is the biggest Roll Tide ever! FOTFLMAO!

I'm just kidding but that's the first thing that hit me! I love the fact that you tied the two together and actually do wonder...why it was named Tuscaloosa? After all, Tuscaloosa means "Black Warrior" and I don't see how a Tidal Wave was named after the term "Black Warrior", which for us is a River.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Could be black volcanic material that the mtn is made of

 

[silentsam74]

Here's a little info on the subject. Still cant find the reason for the name 'Tuscaloosa.'

Seamount

A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of 1,000 - 4,000 meters depth. They are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least 1,000 meters above the seafloor. The peaks are often found hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface, and are therefore considered to be within the deep sea.[1] An estimated 30,000 seamounts occur across the globe, with only a few having been studied.

Honolulu Star Bulletin

Could the Big Island end up like Oahu, with big chunks of it spread across the sea floor?

University of Hawaii scientists Gregory Moore and Julia Morgan hope to begin answering that question next month. Using Columbia University's ship R.V. Maurice Ewing on a three-week cruise beginning Jan. 26, they will generate earthquakes near the ocean surface off the Big Island. A 2-1/2-mile cable will be towed with 160 hydrophones to collect data. Their goal: to try to understand the deep internal structure of Kilauea's thick landslide and the way volcanoes are growing and falling apart. They will also investigate the ocean floor northeast of Oahu where giant blocks -- up to 20 miles across -- remain from an Oahu landslide. A debris avalanche tumbled part of Oahu along the Nuuanu Pali into the sea more than one million years ago, the scientists said. Moore, a geologist-geophysicist, and Morgan, a geologist, want to compare the slow-moving Hilina slump on Kilauea to the ancient Oahu landslide -- believed to be the largest on Earth. The Tuscaloosa seamount is the largest remnant of the Oahu slide in a debris field extending about 14,260 square miles.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Well, the connection is a bit tenuous, at best, but... All of the Hawaiian islands will eventually become sea mounts. As the Pacific tectonic plate rotates, it slides over a "hot spot" in the underlying magma. As it does, the hot spot pokes up volcanoes, which eventually break surface and become real, above surface, islands. Then, as the plate moves on, it takes the islands with it and they gradually wear down and become subsurface sea mounts. Meanwhile, behind them, new volcanoes, and islands, are being born. The big island of Hawaii is the youngest. There is a long chain of sea mounts stretching under the sea all the way from the Hawaiian islands to the Kamchatka peninsula. The further north, the lower and shorter the sea mounts...

 

[Spot Dailey]

Well, the connection is a bit tenuous, at best, but... All of the Hawaiian islands will eventually become sea mounts. As the Pacific tectonic plate rotates, it slides over a "hot spot" in the underlying magma. As it does, the hot spot pokes up volcanoes, which eventually break surface and become real, above surface, islands. Then, as the plate moves on, it takes the islands with it and they gradually wear down and become subsurface sea mounts. Meanwhile, behind them, new volcanoes, and islands, are being born. The big island of Hawaii is the youngest. There is a long chain of sea mounts stretching under the sea all the way from the Hawaiian islands to the Kamchatka peninsula. The further north, the lower and shorter the sea mounts...

My wife spent her jr. high years in Hawaii while her father was teaching at the U of H. She seems to remember that it was named Tuscaloosa Sea Mount because among the team of geologists and oceanographers that mapped that area was a large contingent of University of Alabama grads. I've tried looking it up and haven't had any luck verifying that.
Earle, I know the idea is a stretch but hey...it's so dead around here one is reduced to trivial persuits.

 

[bama61]

For those who might be interested, here's a site with a transcript of the program:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami_transcript.shtml

 

[TIDE-HSV]

No prob, man. That mid-plate hot spot is fascinating. There's another under Yellowstone which may yet, check that - WILL - cover the entire NW US under a mantle of lava...

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Well, the connection is a bit tenuous, at best, but... All of the Hawaiian islands will eventually become sea mounts. As the Pacific tectonic plate rotates, it slides over a "hot spot" in the underlying magma. As it does, the hot spot pokes up volcanoes, which eventually break surface and become real, above surface, islands. Then, as the plate moves on, it takes the islands with it and they gradually wear down and become subsurface sea mounts. Meanwhile, behind them, new volcanoes, and islands, are being born. The big island of Hawaii is the youngest. There is a long chain of sea mounts stretching under the sea all the way from the Hawaiian islands to the Kamchatka peninsula. The further north, the lower and shorter the sea mounts...

Please tell me this was a joke post.

 

[dvldog]

Well, the connection is a bit tenuous, at best, but... All of the Hawaiian islands will eventually become sea mounts. As the Pacific tectonic plate rotates, it slides over a "hot spot" in the underlying magma. As it does, the hot spot pokes up volcanoes, which eventually break surface and become real, above surface, islands. Then, as the plate moves on, it takes the islands with it and they gradually wear down and become subsurface sea mounts. Meanwhile, behind them, new volcanoes, and islands, are being born. The big island of Hawaii is the youngest. There is a long chain of sea mounts stretching under the sea all the way from the Hawaiian islands to the Kamchatka peninsula. The further north, the lower and shorter the sea mounts...

In other word, What goes around comes around!:biggrin2:

 

[Alanbama27]

No prob, man. That mid-plate hot spot is fascinating. There's another under Yellowstone which may yet, check that - WILL - cover the entire NW US under a mantle of lava...

Isn't that when they actually expect everything from San Francisco west and south just east of L.A.to literally fall into the Pacific Ocean because of the massive crack that will ultimately break off along the San Adreas Fault as well? There is also concern that if "The big one" occurs it will cause ripples so large that it could cause the Owens Valley Fault (which runs West to East connecting to the San Andreas and going east to Nevada just north of L.A. to break that entire area off of the North American Plate thus pushing it into the ocean. Most of the Faults in California connect to other faults and mainly run North and South. If it were big enough, it could actually break almost all of California (not really north of San Francisco, but everything south of it) off.

Hey, just to keep this a sports board...if that happens we won't have to worry about the Pac 10 any longer and USC will be a bad memory. Just kidding, but I had to put something in about sports to keep this thread from being killed!

 

[dvldog]

Hey, just to keep this a sports board...if that happens we won't have to worry about the Pac 10 any longer and USC will be a bad memory. Just kidding, but I had to put something in about sports to keep this thread from being killed!

Would that make it the PAC 7 or something?

 

[Spot Dailey]

As it happens, the myth about California falling off into the ocean is off about 180 degress. Actually the west coast is getting higher as a result of the Pacific plate pushing up under the North American land mass. That's what's caused the Rocky Mountains and the Sierras. I was here for the Northridge quake in '94 and the mountains along the back of the San Fernando Valley rose up a foot higher than the previous day.

 

[Spot Dailey]

Please tell me this was a joke post.

From the BBC link

Underwater lies the debris of ancient Hawaiian collapses. Whole chunks of the islands have fallen onto the sea floor. The biggest section is the Tuscaloosa sea mount, a giant block which fell off the island of Oahu 2 million years ago. This single rock is almost 10 times the volume of Mount Everest. When it hit the water it would have created an unimaginable mega-tsunami. It would have taken 5 hours to travel across the Pacific and strike the west coast of America, but this event was not unique.

ROLL TIDE !!

 

[IH8Orange]

Gosh Spot.

Who'd-a-thunk that you've become a Science Channel geek. :tongue:

 

[TIDE-HSV]

it could actually break almost all of California

Sorry, but Spot is correct. California may move north a bit, well, at least the coastal strip, but it ain't going west and it ain't gonna sink. That's a fairy tale which has no basis in the actual geology...

 

[Spot Dailey]

Gosh Spot.

Who'd-a-thunk that you've become a Science Channel geek. :tongue:

I've been through my share of ground shakes in the time I've been here.
My rule of thumb is "Know Thine Enemy".

 

[IH8Orange]

I've been through my share of ground shakes in the time I've been here.
My rule of thumb is "Know Thine Enemy".

Yup. That's the reason that I watch all of the tornado shows. I almost met my maker on April 3, 1974 and it definitely gave me a respect and awe of what mother nature can do.

 

[TideHead]

Yup. That's the reason that I watch all of the tornado shows. I almost met my maker on April 3, 1974 and it definitely gave me a respect and awe of what mother nature can do.

Is that the Guin tornado? My aunt and uncle were living in Guin at the time. They luckily escaped with minor injuries.