Slippery Origins of 2011 Japan Tsunami

           

Resulting landscape from 2011 earthquake that sent 30ft tsunami crashing into the coast of Japan

          In 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake was recorded 80 miles off the coast of Japan and 18.6 miles below the ocean floor. The sudden change in the ocean floor sent a series of waves with the largest at 33ft high crashing into the coast of Japan surging as far as 6 miles inland. Scientists now know the exact cause of the largest earthquake in the region on record and the culprit of regional disaster. The earthquake some 18 miles under the ocean floor was caused by a fault slip. A fault slip is the term used when one tectonic plate suddenly slides in relation to the other due to pressure build-up.

A fault slip occurs from a release of built up pressure at a plate boundary and results in a horizontal plate motion.

 

          The slip occurred in the Japan Trench at the boundary of the North American Plate (where Japan is located) and the Pacific Plate. Scientists report that the plate slid as much as 164 feet causing the surrounding water to swell creating the deadly tsunami. Typically slips are minor and don’t result in devastating tsunami; however, the geologic depositions of clay on the ocean floor allowed the fault to become slippery from saturation allowing such a large movement in the boundary to be possible.

 

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