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The nonseismic tsunami observed in the Bulgarian Black Sea on 7 May 2007: Was it due to a submarine landslide?
Author(s) -
Ranguelov Boyko,
Tinti Stefano,
Pagi Gianluca,
Tonini Roberto,
Zaniboni Filippo,
Armigliato Alberto
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 - 10.1029/2008gl034905
Subject(s) - landslide , submarine , geology , black sea , submarine landslide , tide gauge , tsunami wave , sea level , bulgarian , seawall , seismology , oceanography , margin (machine learning) , linguistics , philosophy , machine learning , computer science
A tsunami‐like sea disturbance of nonseismic origin was observed on 7 May 2007 on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The maximum wave amplitude was three meters, and the sea oscillations lasted for several hours. The anomalous behaviour was seen in many places of the coast of Bulgaria and was stronger in the north. Several accounts of eyewitnesses as well as reports of local port authorities and three tide‐gauge recordings are available and have been collected and analysed. The tsunami could have been produced by a submarine landslide or by atmospheric pressure pulses. Here, we explore the former hypothesis, i.e., the possibility that the tsunami was induced by a landslide that may have occurred on the shelf margin off Bulgaria. By making use of numerical modelling we find that submarine mass movements taking place within a certain delimited source area off Bulgaria may have generated tsunamis compatible with the observations.