Geologists recently discovered evidence of an underwater landslide in the Red Sea which could have implications for coastline development in the region.

The Red Sea is a geologically active area known as a rift zone, where two plates, the African Plate and the Arabian Plate, are pulling away from each other, causing the Earth’s crust to thin and allowing molten rock to rise. The Red Sea and the Tiran Strait in particular are prone to landslides because the sides of the seabed are steep, tilting over thirty degrees.

The newly discovered landslide happened a blink of an eye ago in geologic time, less than 500 years. And there is further evidence that this landslide spawned a tsunami. Even more worryingly, the slide stalled part of the way down. If it shifts more, it could produce another tsunami which would devastate the countries in the Tiran Strait – Saudi Arabia and Egypt. One city in Saudi Arabia, Sharm El Sheikh, is in particular danger, as it is only 4.5 kilometers from the site of the original landslide. The scientists were able to determine from a simulation that a tsunami from a follow-up landslide could produce a 20-meter high wave, twice as high as that partial landslide a half-millennium ago.

And because this region is geologically active, an earthquake could set off another landslide and cause a slope failure in other areas of the Red Sea, so the study authors advocate for strong early warning systems in the event of an earthquake and tsunami in the region. Because of the relatively narrow width and length of the Red Sea, a tsunami in the region would make landfall quickly, but some warning is better than none and can save lives.

This work was done by a team from the University of Miami and published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters with first author Sam Parkis.

More Information

University of Miami press release

“Tsunamigenic Potential of an Incipient Submarine Landslide in the Tiran Straits,” Sam J. Purkis et al., 2022 February 3, Geophysical Research Letters