Tsunamis in the Gulf of Aqaba

The discovery of a 500-yearold underwater landslide could indicate that there will be more tsunami in the Gulf of Aqaba.

Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami, spent four weeks aboard the OceanXplorer research vessel in the region. As he and a fellow scientist were ascending from 1,000 metres during a submersible dive, he noticed a chasm in the seabed. Further research revealed that it had been created by a landslide that likely spawned a tsunami. The resulting paper predicts that future movement of the seabed might trigger more tsunami in the Gulf and calls on nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to put early-warning systems in place.