Meteorite impacts in the ocean: the danger of tsunamis on the coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
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Meteorite impacts in the ocean: the danger of tsunamis on the coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina Iael Perez1,2 · Stefania Wörner1,2,3 · Walter Dragani1,2,3,4 · Guido Bacino1,5 · Rubén Medina6,7 Received: 31 October 2019 / Accepted: 21 May 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Comets, meteorites, or asteroids impacting against the Earth are not unusual events. Such impacts on the ocean could produce tsunamis which can reach coastal areas. This paper aimed to analyze the tsunami wave heights on the coast of Buenos Aires Province produced by a meteorite impact in the South Atlantic Ocean. This subject is carried out using a simplified analytical model based on the energy flux conservation. The worst scenario was obtained in the case of the meteorite falling at the deepest continental slope edge, on a transect orientated normally to Mar del Plata coast (around 42° S–54° W). The hazard would quickly decrease if the meteorite impacted farther this location. It was also inferred that, if the meteorite fell on the Patagonian or Brazilian continental shelves, or in the Pacific, Indian or North Atlantic oceans the dangerousness would be drastically reduced. Finally, the possible implementation of this simple analytical model is analyzed in different regions of the World Ocean. Keywords Tsunami · Meteorite · Analytical model · Long-wave approximation · Energy flux conservation · Buenos Aires coast * Walter Dragani [email protected] 1
Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, Av. Montes de Oca 2124, C1270ABV Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Instituto Franco‑Argentino Para el Estudio del Clima y Sus Impactos (UMI IFAECI/CNRS‑CONICET/CIMA/UBA), Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino, Av. General Paz 5445, B1650WAB Pcia. de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires (IGeBA), Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Departamento de Agrimensura, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. Las Heras 2214, C1127AAR Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Natural Hazards
1 Introduction Since the early days of civilization, the use of coastal areas as a natural resource system has been crucial, and it has increased dramatically during the twentieth century (Nicholls et al. 2007). Many of the world’s natural coastal landscapes have converted into urban or economic activities areas. Approximately 625 million people live in coastal areas located close to the mean sea level. Considering the worst population growth scenarios forecast, in 2050, one billion people would be living in lowland areas (Merkens et al. 2016). The most significant expansion was the population settlement,
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