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A new study reveals the hidden geological mechanism that amplified Japan’s devastating 2011 tsunami. This discovery will help scientists better understand how megathrust earthquakes originate and improve preparedness.
Japan’s tsunami left an indelible mark worldwide.Fifteen years after the devastating earthquake and the tsunami that followed, an international team of scientists has found a key piece of evidence that helps explain why the disaster reached such an extraordinary magnitude.
The finding, published in the journal Science, identifies a thin layer of clay beneath the ocean floor as the element that allowed the fault rupture to reach the seafloor, multiplying the size of the tsunami.
This discovery not only helps explain one of the worst natural disasters of the 21st century, but also opens a new path toward improving forecasts of future megathrust earthquakes and the tsunamis they may trigger in other parts of the world.
A layer of clay hidden beneath the Japan Trench
The study focuses on the Japan Trench, a vast underwater depression located off the country’s northeastern coast. Scientists took part in an expedition aboard the research vessel Chikyu, which is equipped to drill at depths never previously reached.
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The mission succeeded in extracting sediment samples from nearly 8,000 meters below sea level, setting a world record for this type of deep-sea drilling.
It was in those samples that scientists found the thin, 30-meter-thick layer made of extremely fine and highly slippery clay that had slowly accumulated over millions of years.
The “tear line” that triggered
Original Record.
This archived record authored by ‘Dainet Sierra’ at ‘METEORED (Your Weather)’ was recovered from data set:
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