New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Locally generated tsunami along the Kaikoura coastal margin: Part 2. Submarine landslides

Roy Walters¹
Philip Barnes²
Keith Lewis²
James R. Goff¹
Jason Fleming¹

¹National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited
P.O. Box 8602
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: r.walters@niwa.co.nz
²National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited
Private Bag 14 901
Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract An examination of the underwater landscape along the northeast coast of the South Island, New Zealand, identified a substantial potential for a submarine landslide in Kaikoura Canyon. A numerical model was applied to calculate runup and inundation arising from a local tsunami generated by such a landslide. The model is based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation and used a finite element spatial approximation, implicit time integration, and a semi-Lagrangian advection approximation. The results indicate that a landslide-generated tsunami represents a large potential hazard to the area from South Bay to Oaro, South Island, New Zealand, and has the potential to generate large tsunami runup heights along this section of coast. In addition, the tsunami events are characterised by a short time interval between generation and runup.

Keywords Tsunami; submarine landslide; Kaikoura Canyon; New Zealand

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2006, Vol. 40: 17–28
0028–8330/06/4001–0017     © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2006
M05023; Online publication date 31 January 2006Received 28 April 2005; accepted 7 September 2005

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