2007/06/01 by Hermann M. Fritz, Widjo Kongko, Andrew Moore +15 · 167 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #earthquake and tectonic studies #Geological and Geophysical Studies #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena #Geology #Shore #Tsunami earthquake #Tsunami wave #Seismology #Java #Submarine #Submarine pipeline #Oceanography #Submarine landslide #Magnitude (astronomy)
paper · pdf · doi:10.1029/2007gl029404
published in Geophysical Research Letters 34(12) (American Geophysical Union)
openalex publication_date 2007/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
The 17 July 2006 magnitude M w 7.8 earthquake off the south coast of western Java, Indonesia, generated a tsunami that effected over 300 km of coastline and killed more than 600 people, with locally focused runup heights exceeding 20 m. This slow earthquake was hardly felt on Java, and wind waves breaking masked any preceding withdrawal of the water from the shoreline, making this tsunami difficult to detect before impact. An International Tsunami Survey Team was deployed within one week and the investigation covered more than 600 km of coastline. Measured tsunami heights and run‐up distributions were uniform at 5 to 7 m along 200 km of coast; however there was a pronounced peak on the south coast of Nusa Kambangan, where the tsunami impact carved a sharp trimline in a forest at elevations up to 21 m and 1 km inland. Local flow depth exceeded 8 m along the elevated coastal plain between the beach and the hill slope. We infer that the focused tsunami and runup heights on the island suggest a possible local submarine slump or mass movement.