An expert warns of a potential tsunami risk in the Red Sea

Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami, has discovered during a research trip that in the Gulf of Aqaba, in the Red Sea, there was an underwater landslide and associated tsunami 500 years ago and now there would be a risk that it will be repeated, as reported Europe Press.

The professor spent four weeks on the research vessel OceanXplor investigating the region. After a raid, his partner and he were ascending from a depth of 1,000 meters when Purkis observed that there was a rupture in the seabed. This surprised him as something unexpected in the Red Sea, although not impossible, since this sea was formed by the separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates 30 million years ago.

“I immediately realized that what we were seeing was the result of some geological force that had broken up the seabed“, Purkis explained in a release. After making this discovery, he returned to the place to investigate that abyss and took samples of the rock. Thanks to this, he discovered that this rupture had arisen from a landslide that probably occurred 500 years ago.

The entire Gulf of Aqaba on alert

During that scientific trip he also found evidence of sediments in the north of the abyss, which could mean that that landslide was followed by a tsunami. The study, which has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Lettersexplain what If the seabed moves again in the future, tsunamis could occur again in the Gulf..

Therefore, the countries surrounding the Red Sea, such as Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, must ensure that there are early warning systems for both tsunamis and earthquakes. “Just one small move in the wrong place and the entire wall could collapse, triggering a much larger tsunami than the one that occurred 500 years ago.Purkis assured.

“That area of ​​Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, which is urbanizing so rapidly, has certain hazards that were previously unrecognized, but must be recognized to prevent future catastrophe“, he concluded. Precisely, it has been a company that develops the coast of Saudi Arabia, Neom, which has financed the entire scientific trip of OceanXplorer.