Tsunami

ocean · natural disaster · waves · geology

Waves from earthquakes. When the ground shakes violently underwater during an earthquake, it shoves huge amounts of water upward, creating tsunami waves that travel across the ocean at speeds over 500 miles per hour.

Volcanoes make tsunamis. When an underwater volcano erupts or collapses, it displaces so much water that it can send massive waves racing toward distant coastlines.

Different from normal waves. Regular ocean waves are made by wind, and tides come from the Moon and Sun pulling on Earth, but tsunamis are special because they're caused by sudden, violent disturbances that move enormous amounts of water all at once.

Glaciers can trigger them. When huge chunks of ice break off glaciers and crash into the ocean, they push water aside hard enough to create tsunami waves that spread outward.

Even meteorites count. A meteorite smashing into the ocean would displace so much water so quickly that it would generate tsunami waves, though this is extremely rare.