HR: 17:30h
AN: S24A-07 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: The Potential for Giant Tsunamigenic Earthquakes in the Northern Bay of Bengal
AU: * Cummins, P R
EM: phil.cummins@ga.gov.au
AF: Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
AB: The Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 came as a surprise to most of the earth science community. While it is now widely recognised that the risk of another giant earthquake is high off central Sumatra, just east of the 2004 earthquake, there seems to be relatively little concern about the subduction zone to the north, in the northern Bay of Bengal along the coast of Myanmar. It is shown here that similar indicators suggest the potential for giant earthquake activity is high: (1) the tectonic environment is similar to other subduction zones that experience giant megathrust earthquakes; (2) stress and crustal strain observations indicate the seismogenic zone is locked; and, (3) historical earthquake activity indicates that giant tsunamigenic earthquakes have occurred in the past. These are all consistent with active subduction in the Myanmar subduction zone, and it is hypothesized here that the seismogenic zone there extends beneath the Bengal Fan. The results suggest that giant earthquakes do occur off the coast of Myanmar, and that a very large and vulnerable population is thereby exposed to a significant earthquake and tsunami hazard.
DE: 0468 Natural hazards
DE: 1242 Seismic cycle related deformations (6924, 7209, 7223, 7230)
DE: 1744 Tectonophysics
DE: 4564 Tsunamis and storm surges
SC: Seismology [S]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting