Numerical simulations of submarine-landslide-induced and sea-floor-collapse-induced tsunami along coastline of South China

Submarine landslides have recently been identified as one of the major causes for several destructive tsunami, including the 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami killing over 2,000. According to the published literatures (Mak & Chan, 2007; Zhou & Adams, 1988) and the official record of the State Oceanic Administration of China (SOAC), the number of tsunamis occurred in China is about 15 over the last 2000 years. However, Chau (2008) recently re-reviewed all tsunami data compiled by Lu (1984) and discovered that there are 220 tsunami of unknown origin (no storms, earthquake, or rains were reported during these events), and six of these killing over 10000. It is postulated that some of these devastating historical tsunami events might have been caused by submarine landslides. This paper summarizes the evidence of submarine-induced-tsunami in South China, reports some of huge ground collapses in the form of tiankeng in China and their implications on sea floor collapses, and finally presents some numerical simulation on tsunami on China coastline using TUNAMI-N2.