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On the cause of the 1908 Messina tsunami, southern Italy
Author(s) -
Billi Andrea,
Funiciello Renato,
Minelli Liliana,
Faccenna Claudio,
Neri Giancarlo,
Orecchio Barbara,
Presti Debora
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl033251
Subject(s) - seismology , geology , tsunami earthquake , bathymetry , landslide , tsunami wave , underwater , oceanography
A century after the catastrophic event, the sources of the 1908 Messina, Southern Italy, earthquake and tsunami, which caused at least 60,000 deaths, remain uncertain. Through a simple backward ray‐tracing method, we convert the tsunami travel‐time data reported in a 100‐years‐old paper into distances and find that the sources of the earthquake and tsunami are different. Overturning a long‐held assumption, reconsideration of the available tsunami, bathymetric, seismic, and seismological data indicates that the tsunami was generated by an underwater landslide.