Abstract
In the historical period, the Eastern Mediterranean has been devastated by several tsunamis, the two most damaging were those of AD 365 and AD 1303, generated by great earthquakes of magnitude >8 at the Hellenic plate boundary. Recently, events of 6–7 magnitude have occurred in this region. As the French tsunami warning center has to ensure the warning for the French coastlines, the question has raised the possibility for a major tsunami triggered along the Hellenic arc to impact the French coasts. The focus is on the Corsica coasts especially, to estimate what would be the expected wave heights, and from which threshold of magnitude it would be necessary to put the population under cover. This study shows that a magnitude 8.0 earthquake nucleated along the Hellenic arc could induce in some cases a tsunami that would be observed along the Corsica coasts, and for events of 8.5 magnitude amplitudes exceeding 50 cm can be expected, which would be dangerous in harbors and beach areas especially. The main contribution of these results is the establishment of specific thresholds of magnitude for the tsunami warning along the French coasts, 7.8 for the advisory level (coastal marine threat with harbors and beaches evacuation), and 8.3 for the watch level (inland inundation threat) for tsunamis generated along the Hellenic arc.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bijwaard, H., Spakman, W., & Engdahl, E. R. (1998). Closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 103(12), 30055–30078.
Dziewonski, A. M., Chou, T.-A., & Woodhouse, J. H. (1981). Determination of earthquake source parameters from waveform data for studies of global and regional seismicity. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth,86, 2825–2852. doi:.
Ekström, G., Nettles, M., & Dziewonski, A. M. (2012). The global CMT project 2004-2010: centroid-moment tensors for 13,017 earthquakes. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors,200–201, 1–9. doi:.
Ganas, A., & Parsons, T. (2009). Three dimensional model of Hellenic Arc deformation and origin of the Cretan uplift. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978–2012), 114(B6).
Gesret, A., Laigle, M., Diaz, J., Sachpazi, M., Charalampakis, M., & Hirn, A. (2011). Slab top dips resolved by teleseismic converted waves in the Hellenic subduction zone. Geophysical Research Letters, 38(20).
Green, G. (1837). On the motion of waves in a variable canal of small depth and width. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society,6, 457–462.
Hébert, H., Heinrich, P., Schindelé, F., & Piatanesi, A. (2001). Far-field simulation of tsunami propagation in the Pacific Ocean: impact on the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,106(C5), 9161–9177.
Hébert, H., Reymond, D., Krien, Y., Vergoz, J., Schindelé, F., Roger, J., & Loevenbruck, A. (2009). The 15 August 2007 Peru earthquake and tsunami: influence of the source characteristics on the tsunami heights. Pure and Applied Geophysics,166(1–2), 211–232.
Hébert, H., Sladen, A., & Schindelé, F. (2007). Numerical modeling of the great 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: focus on the Mascarene Islands. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America,97(1A), S208–S222.
England, P.H., Howell, A., Jaskson, J. & Synolakis, C. (2015). Palaeotsunamis and tsunami hazards in the Eastern Mediterranean. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A273:20140374. doi:.
IOC, IHO and BODC. (2003). Centenary Edition of the GEBCO Digital Atlas, published on CD-ROM on behalf of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the International Hydrographic Organization as part of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, British Oceanographic Data Centre, Liverpool, UK.
Jackson, J., & McKenzie, D. (1988). The relationship between plate motions and seismic moment tensors, and the rates of active deformation in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Geophysical Journal International,93(1), 45–73.
Laigle, M., Hirn, A., Sachpazi, M., & Clément, C. (2002). Seismic coupling and structure of the Hellenic subduction zone in the Ionian Islands region. Earth and Planetary Science Letters,200(3), 243–253.
Mascle, J., & Chaumillon, E. (1998). An overview of Mediterranean Ridge collisional accretionary complex as deduced from multichannel seismic data. Geo-Marine Letters,18(2), 81–89.
McClusky, S., Reilinger, R., Mahmoud, S., Sari, D. B., & Tealeb, A. (2003). GPS constraints on Africa (Nubia) and Arabia plate motions. Geophysical Journal International,155(1), 126–138.
Meier, T., Rische, M., Endrun, B., Vafidis, A., & Harjes, H. P. (2004). Seismicity of the Hellenic subduction zone in the area of western and central Crete observed by temporary local seismic networks. Tectonophysics,383(3), 149–169.
Meijer, P. T., & Wortel, M. J. R. (1996). Temporal variation in the stress field of the Aegean region. Geophysical Research Letters,23(5), 439–442.
Necmioglu, O., & Özel, N. M. (2015). Earthquake Scenario-Based Tsunami Wave Heights in the Eastern Mediterranean and Connected Seas. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 172(12), 3617–3638.
Okada, Y. (1985). Surface deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am, 75, 1135–1154.
Papadimitriou, E. E., & Karakostas, V. G. (2008). Rupture model of the great AD 365 Crete earthquake in the southwestern part of the Hellenic Arc. Acta Geophysica,56(2), 293–312.
Papadopoulos, G. A. (2003). Tsunami hazard in the Eastern Mediterranean: strong earthquakes and tsunamis in the Corinth Gulf, Central Greece. Natural Hazards,29(3), 437–464.
Papadopoulos, G. (2015). Tsunamis in the European-Mediterranean region: from historical record to risk mitigation. Elsevier.
Papadopoulos, G. A., Daskalaki, E., Fokaefs, A., & Giraleas, N. (2007). Tsunami hazards in the Eastern Mediterranean: strong earthquakes and tsunamis in the East Hellenic Arc and Trench system. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science,7(1), 57–64.
Papazachos, B. C., & Comninakis, P. E. (1971). Geophysical and tectonic features of the Aegean Arc. Geophysical Journal International,76, 8517–8533.
Papazachos, B. C., Karakostas, V. G., Papazachos, C. B., & Scordilis, E. M. (2000). The geometry of the Wadati-Benioff zone and lithospheric kinematics in the Hellenic arc. Tectonophysics,319(4), 275–300.
Reilinger, R., McClusky, S., Paradissis, D., Ergintav, S., & Vernant, P. (2010). Geodetic constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Aegean region and strain accumulation along the Hellenic subduction zone. Tectonophysics,488(1), 22–30.
Reilinger, R., McClusky, S., Vernant, P., Lawrence, S., Ergintav, S., Cakmak, R., & Karam, G. (2006). GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa-Arabia-Eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978–2012), 111(B5).
Reymond, D., Okal, E. A., Hébert, H., & Bourdet, M. (2012). Rapid forecast of tsunami wave heights from a database of precomputed simulations, and application during the 2011 Tohoku tsunami in French Polynesia. Geophysical Research Letters, 39, L11603. doi:.
Salamon, A., Rockwell, T., Ward, S. N., Guidoboni, E., & Comastri, A. (2007). Tsunami hazard evaluation of the eastern Mediterranean: historical analysis and selected modeling. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America,97(3), 705–724.
Schindelé, F., Gailler, A., Hébert, H., Loevenbruck, A., Gutierrez, E., Monnier, A., et al. (2015). Implementation and challenges of the Tsunami Warning System in the Western Mediterranean. Pure and Applied Geophysics,172(3–4), 821–833.
Scholz, C. H., & Campos, J. (1995). On the mechanism of seismic decoupling and back arc spreading at subduction zones. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth(1978–2012), 100(B11), 22103–22115.
Shaw, B., Ambraseys, N. N., England, P. C., Floyd, M. A., Gorman, G. J., Higham, T. F. G., et al. (2008). Eastern Mediterranean tectonics and tsunami hazard inferred from the AD 365 earthquake. Nature Geoscience,1(4), 268–276.
Shaw, B., & Jackson, J. (2010). Earthquake mechanisms and active tectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone. Geophysical Journal International,181(2), 966–984.
Spakman, W., Wortel, M. J. R., & Vlaar, N. J. (1988). The Hellenic subduction zone: a tomographic image and its geodynamic implications. Geophysical Research Letters,15(1), 60–63.
Stiros, S. C. (2010). The 8.5+ magnitude, AD365 earthquake in Crete: coastal uplift, topography changes, archaeological and historical signature. Quaternary International,216(1), 54–63.
Tanioka, Y., Nishimura, Y., Hirakawa, K., Imamura, F., Abe, I., Abe, Y., et al. (2004). Tsunami run-up heights of the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake. Earth, Planets and Space,56(3), 359–365.
Taymaz, T., Jackson, J., & Westaway, R. (1990). Earthquake mechanisms in the Hellenic Trench near Crete. Geophysical Journal International,102(3), 695–731.
Tichelaar, B. W., & Ruff, L. J. (1993). Depth of seismic coupling along subduction zones. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978–2012), 98(B2), 2017–2037.
Tinti, S., Armigliato, A., Pagnoni, G., & Zaniboni, F. (2005). Scenarios of giant tsunamis of tectonic origin in the Mediterranean. ISET Journal of Earthquake Technology,42(4), 171–188.
Vernant, P., Reilinger, R., & McClusky, S. (2014). Geodetic evidence for low coupling on the Hellenic subduction plate interface. Earth and Planetary Science Letters,385, 122–129.
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gailler, A., Schindelé, F., Hébert, H. (2016). Impact of Hellenic Arc Tsunamis on Corsica (France). In: Geist, E.L., Fritz, H.M., Rabinovich, A.B., Tanioka, Y. (eds) Global Tsunami Science: Past and Future, Volume I. Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55480-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55480-8_10
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55479-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-55480-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)