Submarine landslide tsunami hazard assessment for the Western Makran based on a deterministic approach

Abstract

The Makran region, which borders southern Iran and Pakistan along the Gulf of Oman, has experienced multiple tsunamis in the last century, with some being triggered by submarine landslides. However, the role played by submarine landslides has been largely neglected in tsunami hazard assessments in the western Makran. In the present study, four different landslide scenarios with volumes of 10-40 km3 are simulated on 25 different locations in the western Makran, resulting in 100 different hypothetical scenarios. The results indicate that Oman’s coastline, a country in the western part of Makran subduction zone, is more vulnerable to the hazard of landslide-generated waves (maximum average of 3.1 m wave height) compared to Iran (maximum average 0.9 m height). Although Chabahar, Iran, and Muscat, Oman, two major cities in the region, experienced severe waves during some scenarios, it can be implied Muscat is more vulnerable to this kind of tsunami due to the significant gap between the maximum and average wave height for all scenarios. We further discuss that applying hypothetical worst-case scenarios can sometimes lead to an overestimation in tsunami hazard assessment. Therefore, more geological, sedimentological, and geotechnical considerations and studies are required for defining submarine landslide worst-case scenarios.

Small-Scale Experimental Evidence On The Use Of Date Palm Forest To Mitigate Tsunami In The Arabian Sea

“…According to Suppasri et al (2016), tsunami waves of 0.3 to 3.5 m high can be produced along the coast of the United Arab Emirates by a subsurface earthquake with a magnitude of 8.3-9.0 Mw and related surface landslides with a volume range of 0.5-1.0 km 2 . Similar research conducted in 2020 by Nouri et al (2020) revealed that waves as high as 24 meters might be produced in Muscat, Oman, by an underwater landslide measuring 4.5 km long, 4 km wide, and 0.6 km thick. The maximum run-up and depth of flow on the Diba coast were 1.16 m and 1.37 m, respectively, from an 8.8 Mw earthquake that originated in the eastern Makran Subduction Zone.…”