Thanks for posting that, Cathryn. We tend to be complacent about the hazard
posed by tsunamis because the U.S. has not historically been greatly affected.
The book - "Tsunamis - the underrated hazard" was the subject of a scathing review
in EOS several months ago by Synolakis. If any of you get that newpaper, you might
want to read that review - it was in November 2001 sometime. Synolakis takes Bryant
to task over a number of "facts" noted in the book such as a supposed tsunami with
the eruption of Tambora, and the idea that hurricanes might trigger tsunamis.
I believe Bryant was trained as a mechanical engineer turned hazard analyst and I believe he
still works at that, but is well known as a hazard analyst as well. One of the most
used books on general hazards is his.
Probably most of the mega-tsunamis were caused by massive meteor impacts. I have
attached a link to a good web site dealing with this subject below. For example, the
meteor which hit in the Yucatan and was probably responsible for the demise of
the dinosaurs (and thus the existence of homo sapiens) 66 million years ago created
a tsunami which left deposits on the Brazos River in northern Texas, several thousand
miles from the impact site.
Anyway, have a look at the link below. This is a fascinating subject for anyone
who is interested in Natural Hazards.
By the way, because natural earthquakes can only be so large because of the
constraints of rock structure and strength, tsunamis formed from earthquakes and
landslides have a limiting size. The largest, I believe in historical record was a
2000 meter splash from a mudslide into Lituya Bay in 1958 which was initially
caused by a Mw 8 earthquake, but tsunamis from other causes could be larger.
still works in the engineering department

• Asteroid tsunamis