TY - JOUR
T1 - Landslide and tsunami 21 November 2000 in Paatuut, West Greenland
AU - Dahl-Jensen, Trine
AU - Larsen, Lotte Melchior
AU - Pedersen, Stig A. Schack
AU - Pedersen, Jerrik
AU - Jepsen, Hans F.
AU - Pedersen, Gunver
AU - Nielsen, Tove
AU - Pedersen, Asger Ken
AU - von Platen-Hallermund, Frants
AU - Weng, Willy
N1 - Funding Information:
A large part of this project was funded by the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, Nuuk, Greenland. Arktisk Station, Qeqertarsuaq, is thanked for use of their research vessel Porsild and for support during the field work. The police in Ilulis-sat and personnel at Arktisk Station gave us copies of their photographs of the slide. Arctic TV, Ilulissat, provided us with footage of the video taken by Birthe Eriksen, Saqqaq. Frederik Mathiassen, former resident of Qullissat, told us about the tsunami in Qullissat in 1952. Published with the permission of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - A large landslide occurred November 21, 2000 at Paatuut, facing the Vaigat Strait onthe west coast of Greenland. 90 million m3 (260 million tons) of mainly basalticmaterial slid very rapidly (average velocity 140 km/h) down from 1,000–1,400 maltitude. Approximately 30 million m3 (87 million tons) entered the sea, creatinga tsunami with an run-up height of 50 m close to the landslide and 28 m at Qullissat,an abandoned mining town opposite Paatuut across the 20 km wide Vaigat strait. Theevent was recorded seismically, allowing the duration of the slide to be estimated tocirca 80 s and also allowing an estimate of the surface-wave magnitude of the slideof 2.3. Terrain models based on stereographic photographs before and after the slidemade it possible to determine the amount of material removed, and the manner ofre-deposition. Simple calculations of the tsunami travel times are in good correspondencewith the reports from the closest populated village, Saqqaq, 40 km from Paatuut, whererefracted energy from the tsunami destroyed a number of boats. Landslides are notuncommon in the area, due to the geology with dense basaltic rocks overlying poorlyconsolidated sedimentary rocks, but the size of the Paatuut slide is unusual. Based onthe observations it is likely at least 500 years since an event with a tsunami of similarproportions occurred. The triggering of the Paatuut slide is interpreted to be caused byweather conditions in the days prior to the slide, where re-freezing melt water inpre-existing cracks could have caused failure of the steep mountain side.
AB - A large landslide occurred November 21, 2000 at Paatuut, facing the Vaigat Strait onthe west coast of Greenland. 90 million m3 (260 million tons) of mainly basalticmaterial slid very rapidly (average velocity 140 km/h) down from 1,000–1,400 maltitude. Approximately 30 million m3 (87 million tons) entered the sea, creatinga tsunami with an run-up height of 50 m close to the landslide and 28 m at Qullissat,an abandoned mining town opposite Paatuut across the 20 km wide Vaigat strait. Theevent was recorded seismically, allowing the duration of the slide to be estimated tocirca 80 s and also allowing an estimate of the surface-wave magnitude of the slideof 2.3. Terrain models based on stereographic photographs before and after the slidemade it possible to determine the amount of material removed, and the manner ofre-deposition. Simple calculations of the tsunami travel times are in good correspondencewith the reports from the closest populated village, Saqqaq, 40 km from Paatuut, whererefracted energy from the tsunami destroyed a number of boats. Landslides are notuncommon in the area, due to the geology with dense basaltic rocks overlying poorlyconsolidated sedimentary rocks, but the size of the Paatuut slide is unusual. Based onthe observations it is likely at least 500 years since an event with a tsunami of similarproportions occurred. The triggering of the Paatuut slide is interpreted to be caused byweather conditions in the days prior to the slide, where re-freezing melt water inpre-existing cracks could have caused failure of the steep mountain side.
KW - Cause of landslide
KW - Landslide
KW - Run-up height
KW - Seismic record of landslide
KW - Tsunami
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=2342621491&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000020264.70048.95
DO - 10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000020264.70048.95
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 277
EP - 287
JO - Natural Hazards
JF - Natural Hazards
SN - 0921-030X
IS - 1
ER -