Tectonics - Boxing Day Tsunami

Question 1

date

Answer 1

26th december 2004

Question 2

wave height

Answer 2

32 meters (some of highest ever recorded)

Question 3

wave distance

Answer 3

2km inland

Question 4

speed of onset

Answer 4

2 hours

Question 5

seafloor vertical movement

Answer 5

3 metres upwards

Question 6

richter scale

Answer 6

9 - megathrust

Question 7

plate margin

Answer 7

convergent destructive
Indian plate (O) subducting under Sunda plate (C)

Question 8

depth of water column displacement

Answer 8

5km

Question 9

wave direction

Answer 9

split directions:
larger waves - sri lanka ands africa
smaller waves - thailand, more destructive as closer

Question 10

floodwaters

Answer 10

coastal towns totally destroyed
flimsy wooden buildings on stilts

Question 11

maldives

Answer 11

low lying coral islands rendered inhabitable

Question 12

coastal mangrove forests

Answer 12

protected with dense root network buffer

Question 13

coral reefs

Answer 13

corals of Indian Ocean under stress from El Nino warming in 1997-98
double blow of damage from force of incoming waves and backwash