Volcano collapse and tsunami generation in the Bismarck Volcanic Arc, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

During a cruise on the R/V Kilo Moana in 2004, we mapped 12 debris avalanches from volcanoes in the Bismarck volcanic arc, estimated their sizes and computed the size of potential tsunami run-up in major local population centers from these features. We used the towed side-scan instrument HAWAII MR1, the hull-mounted EM120 system for swath bathymetry and backscatter intensity, a shallow penetration chirp system, several bottom camera tows and selected cores. We calibrate our computations with the known tsunami run-up of the Ritter collapse. Even the small collapses may have had significant run-up on near-by coastlines. Had any of the collapses we have identified occurred in modern times each would affect a presently populated region of the coastline to a moderate or significant degree.