Hybrid modeling of the mega-tsunami runup in Lituya Bay after half a century

Abstract

The largest mega-tsunami dates back half a century to 10 July 1958, when almost unnoticed by the general public, an earthquake of Mw 8.3 at the Fairweather Fault triggered a rockslide into Lituya Bay. The rockslide impact generated a giant tsunami at the head of Lituya Bay resulting in an unprecedented tsunami runup of 524 m on a spur ridge in direct prolongation of the slide axis. A forest trim line and erosion down to bedrock mark the largest runup in recorded history. While these observations have not been challenged directly, they have been largely ignored in hazard mitigation studies, because of the difficulties of even posing - much less solving - a well-defined physical problem for investigation. We study the mega-tsunami runup with a hybrid modeling approach applying physical and numerical models of slide processes of deformable bodies into a U-shaped trench similar to the geometry found at Lituya Bay. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.