ALBERT

Description: This paper is a contribution to a better understanding of tsunamigenic potential from large submarine earthquakes. Here, we analyse the tsunamigenic potential of large earthquakes occurred worldwide with magnitudes around Mw 7.0 and greater, during a period of 1 year, from June 2013 to June 2014. The analysis involves earthquake model evaluation, tsunami numerical modelling, and sensors' records analysis in order to confirm the generation or not of a tsunami following the occurrence of an earthquake. We also investigate and discuss the sensitivity of tsunami generation to the earthquake parameters recognized to control the tsunami occurrence, including the earthquake magnitude, focal mechanism and fault rupture depth. A total of 23 events, with magnitudes ranging from Mw 6.7 to Mw 8.1 and hypocenter depths varying from 10 up to 585 km, have been analyzed in this study. Among them, 52% are thrust faults, 35% are strike-slip faults, and 13% are normal faults. Most analyzed events have been occurred in the Pacific Ocean. This study shows that about 39% of the analyzed earthquakes caused tsunamis that were recorded by different sensors with wave amplitudes varying from few centimetres to about 2 m. Some of them caused inundations of low-lying coastal areas and significant damages in harbours. On the other hand, tsunami numerical modeling shows that some of the events, considered as non-tsunamigenic, might trigger small tsunamis that were not recorded due to the absence of sensors in the near-field areas. We also find that the tsunami generation is mainly dependent of the earthquake focal mechanism and other parameters such as the earthquake hypocenter depth and the magnitude. The results of this study can help on the compilation of tsunami catalogs.