CHR Foreign Staff | New Delhi
A new research by Nature Magazine suggests that climate change could lead to massive underwater landslides in Antarctica, resulting in catastrophic tsunamis that could impact regions as far away as New Zealand, South America, and Southeast Asia. An international team of researchers has been drilling into sediment cores deep beneath Antarctica’s seafloors to uncover clues from previous warming periods, which occurred between 3 million and 15 million years ago.
The sediment cores revealed fossilized, biologically-rich material that formed during periods when sea levels were higher, ice sheets were significantly smaller, and temperatures were up to 3°C higher than they are currently. Buried over 100 meters below the seabed, beneath layers of underwater landslides, these weak sediment layers have made the area more vulnerable to failure in the face of seismic activity, such as earthquakes.
Based on their analysis of past undersea landslides, the researchers believe that these loose sediment layers have previously slipped, generating massive tsunami waves across the Southern Ocean. However, with the Earth currently undergoing another phase of significant climate change characterized by rising sea levels, warmer waters, and shrinking ice sheets, the team concludes that future seismic events off the coast of Antarctica could pose a risk of tsunamis reaching coastlines in South America, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.
Underwater landslides are a major geohazard with the potential to cause devastating tsunamis, resulting in significant loss of life and infrastructure damage, including subsea cables. The far-reaching economic and social consequences of such events highlight the urgent need to enhance our understanding of how global climate change may affect the stability of these regions and the potential for future tsunamis.
Jenny Gales, a lecturer in hydrography and ocean exploration at the University of Plymouth in the UK, emphasizes the importance of this research in understanding the causes of historical landslides in Antarctica and predicting the impact of future events. Gales highlights the need for further investigation into how global climate change could influence the stability of these regions, emphasizing the urgency of addressing this potential threat and improving our preparedness for future tsunamis.
The detailed findings of this study have been published in the journal Nature Communications and can be accessed for further reference.
Link to the study is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38240-y?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100052172&CJEVENT=f134b36efbc911ed80ab19f90a18b8f9
