An unstable island volcano in Spain’s Canary Islands could splinter and fall into the sea, creating a monstrous “megatsunami” that could wipe out the US East Coast within hours, a scientist warned.
However, when — or even if — such a disaster will strike remains an open scientific question.
Volcanologist Professor Bill McGuire has been monitoring Cumbre Vieja a volcano, which has the potential to create a deadly transatlantic tsunami, according to an article he published in BBC Science Focus.
The growing concern centers on a massive wall of rock, also known as a “flank,” slowly inching toward the sea that would displace a biblical amount of water if it collapses, McGuire said.
“Based on extensive studies, I expect this part of the flank will eventually crash into the North Atlantic, launching a megatsunami in the process,” he wrote.
“There has been huge debate and discussion, sometimes quite heated, about the level of expected destruction, and — in particular — whether devastating waves will reach the coast of North America.”
To support the ocean-crossing potential of such waves, researchers point to massive, out-of-place boulders deposited along coastlines in the Bahamas.
Geologists believe prehistoric Canary Island tsunamis carried those rocks across the Atlantic, leaving physical evidence that the effects of flank collapses can reach across the ocean.
The worst-case scenario would be waves up to 65 feet high that could reach the eastern seaboard within nine hours in the event of the flank collapsing, according to McGuire’s computer simulations.
Crucially, experts stress that an Atlantic catastrophe is not imminently lurking around the corner.
While the wave itself would travel at jetliner speeds once generated, the collapse itself may not occur for centuries or even millennia.
“I have no doubt this will be a cataclysmic event, but have no idea when it will happen — it could easily be centuries or even millennia down the line,” McGuire noted.
