Garth tsunami

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The Garth tsunami is a likely

BCE). Its origin is unknown; impact events, earthquakes, and submarine landslides similar to the Storegga Slide 8,100 years ago (6,100 BCE) have been proposed as factors contributing to the event. Evidence suggests a run-up of more than 10 metres (33 ft) in the Shetland Islands. It probably had great impact on coastal communities in the region; mass burials dating approximately to that time in the Shetland and Orkney Islands
have been interpreted to host its fatalities.

Name, chronology and size

The tsunami is named after

Shetland Islands.[3] This tsunami is one of three thought to have hit Scotland during the Holocene[4] although the occurrence of this or a later one are considered uncertain.[5]

Deposits

Deposits from the tsunami have been recovered at Garth,

Orkney Islands, which would be shielded by the Shetland Islands from a tsunami that originated at the Norwegian continental slope.[9] Landscape changes in the Orkney Islands that occurred 5,500 years ago may be a consequence either of the tsunami or of a period of increased storm activity at that time.[10]

Origin

The Garth tsunami may have been generated by an

meteorite impact.[3] A landslide within the backwall of the Storegga Slide that took place 5,700 years ago and the 900 cubic kilometres (220 cu mi) Trænadjupet slide farther north that took place 4,400 years ago, are candidate landslides,[11] while the Afen landslide in the Faroe–Shetland Channel is probably too small,[3] although it cannot be ruled out.[9]

Impact on humans

There is evidence that the Garth tsunami affected communities in the North Atlantic, resulting in significant death tolls.[12] Approximately 5,000–5,500 years ago chambered cairns were built in the Orkney Islands.[13] While the results from radiocarbon dating are uncertain, they imply that these tombs may have been constructed to hold the bodies of a mass fatality event.[14] It is possible that these tombs were constructed for the victims of the Garth tsunami.[15] Some mass burials at Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands may also be mass graves for tsunami victims.[7] Historically, large tsunamis such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed thousands of people, leading to the construction of mass graves for the fatalities.[16] The sudden abandonment of a Stone Age settlement at Hamre, Norway 5,500 years ago and the presence of an overwash deposit is also potentially linked to the Garth tsunami.[17] Evidence of any tsunami impact on Norway is considered questionable.[18]

References

  1. ^ Nielsen 2020, p. 1.
  2. ^ a b Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 732.
  3. ^ a b c d Bondevik et al. 2005, p. 1773.
  4. ISSN 0025-3227
    .
  5. S2CID 133877846
    .
  6. ^ Bondevik et al. 2005, p. 1765.
  7. ^ a b Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 745.
  8. ^ Nielsen 2020, p. 2.
  9. ^ a b Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 733.
  10. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 743.
  11. ^ Bondevik et al. 2005, p. 1772.
  12. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 714.
  13. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 734.
  14. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 735.
  15. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 740.
  16. ^ Cain, Goff & McFadgen 2019, p. 717.
  17. S2CID 128693856
    .
  18. ^ Nielsen 2020, p. 12.

Sources

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