Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
surface was thrown out onto the beach, including monsters, never seen before, from
2 to 3.5 m long.
31.
1953, September 14, 12 h 17 min.
An earthquake and tsunami took place on the Fiji islands. The earthquake was
accompanied by a large number of weak aftershocks.
Eyewitnesses observed that at the entrance to the harbour of Suva the sea level
started to drop immediately after the seismic shocks. In about 10 s a large brown
'bubble' appeared in between the buoys, indicating the fairway, and the ring-like
wave, caused by this perturbation, rolled onto the reefs. The height of the wave
amounted to 2 m.
NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, SOUTHERN PART OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN
32.
1855, February 14.
Two strong earthquakes occurred in Wellington, the first lasted more than a
minute. A 'terrific' tide gushed onto the shore. Numerous small bubbles of sul-
phurous gas came up from the bottom; there was plenty of dead fish floating.
33.
1866, August 15-21.
A 'striking' movement of water was observed in the harbour of Sidney.
CHILE, PERU, SOUTH ECQUADOR
34.
1604, November 23 or 24, 13 h 30 min.
Peru and the northern part of Chile, an earthquake and tsunami. Shaking em-
braced the coast along 1,650 km.
The ocean was so agitated, that evaporation rose and covered the entire coast.
35.
1633, May 14, at sunset.
The inhabitants of fortress Carelmapu on Chiloe island were woken up by a thun-
derous noise. At the same time a strong earthquake destroyed the port.
The sky became covered by dense clouds; it was dark. For many hours there was
a hailstorm, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed.
36.
1647, May 7 (date unreliable).
Catastrophic earthquake in Santiago and adjacent regions of Chile.
In all ports of this coast fishermen observed strange and unusual movements of
the ocean.
37.
1687, October 20.
Very strong earthquakes in Lima.
A vessel, that was 600 km (!) from the shore at the latitude 12
◦
30
S,
1
experi-
enced such a terrible seaquake, that it nearly perished; several sailors were thrown
out of their hammocks. The usually green water seemed to have whitened. When it
was scooped up, it was seen to be mixed with sand.
According to the testimony of Forster, the captain of the vessel 'Davis', the sea-
quake was felt even at 1,800 km from the shore.
38.
1828, March 20 or 30, 7 h 30 min.
The strongest earthquake in Lima since 1746.
The vessels anchored in Callao felt a strong earthquake. A boom-like distant
thunder was heard. The surrounding sea suddenly started to boil up, bubbles of
hydrogen sulphide rose from the ocean bottom, much dead fish rose to the surface.
1
The depth of the ocean at this point exceeds 4 km (authors' comment).
