%0 Journal Article
%A Álvarez Gómez, José Antonio
%A Aniel Quiroga, Íñigo
%A González, M.
%A Otero Díaz, Luis José
%T Tsunami hazard at the Western Mediterranean Spanish coast fromseismic sources
%D 2011
%@ 0921-030X
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44279
%X Spain represents an important part of the tourismsector in theWestern Mediterranean, which has been affectedin the past by tsunamis. Although the tsunami risk at theSpanish coasts is not the highest of the Mediterranean, thenecessity of tsunami risk mitigation measures should not beneglected. In the Mediterranean area, Spain is exposed totwo different tectonic environments with contrasting characteristics.On one hand, the Alboran Basin characterisedby transcurrent and transpressive tectonics and, on the otherhand, the North Algerian fold and thrust belt, characterisedby compressive tectonics. A set of 22 seismic tsunamigenicsources has been used to estimate the tsunami threat over theSpanish Mediterranean coast of the Iberian peninsula andthe Balearic Islands. Maximum wave elevation maps andtsunami travel times have been computed by means of numericalmodelling and we have obtained estimations of threatlevels for each source over the Spanish coast. The sources onthe Western edge of North Algeria are the most dangerous,due to their threat to the South-Eastern coast of the IberianPeninsula and to theWestern Balearic Islands. In general, theNorthern Algerian sources pose a greater risk to the Spanishcoast than the Alboran Sea sources, which only threatenthe peninsular coast. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanishprovinces of Almeria and Murcia are the most exposed, whileall the Balearic Islands can be affected by the North Algeriansources with probable severe damage, specially the islands ofIbiza and Minorca. The results obtained in this work are usefulto plan future regional and local warning systems, as wellas to set the priority areas to conduct research on detailedtsunami risk.
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