La Palma is the largest of the Canary Islands, a territory of Spain located 700 miles off the west coast of Africa. It is a dormant volcano. In 1949 during its last eruption, a huge slab weighing an estimated 500 billion tons sheared loose, slid down a few feet towards the Atlantic Ocean below, and stopped. Today it hangs there precariously, effectively an arrow on a drawn-back bow aimed at the heart of America. A small nuclear detonation in just the right place could set it loose to slide the rest of the way into the Atlantic, with disastrous consequences. As noted by the British Broadcasting Corporation, “What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.”
Can’t happen in America? On a much smaller scale, it already has and you can view the aftermath from a cruise ship. In 1958, a massive landslide in Lituya Bay, Alaska caused a splash that rose over 1700 feet high and a 100 foot high tsunami that inundated over five square miles. Similar events have happened in Hawaii.
In many ways, the British are more aware of the Canary Island mega-tsunami threat to America than the Americans are, and not just because they run an astronomical observatory there. British scientists from the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre, most notably Dr. Simon Day, have researched the geology of La Palma for several years now and have issued numerous warnings in the form of press releases as well as more traditional technical research papers. In Britain these calls for action have resulted in attention from the the UK insurance industry. In America, the threat is virtually unknown.
Before 9/11, a terrorist-triggered mega-tsunami attack on the US could happen only in the pages of science fiction novels such as Icefire. No more. If there are Al-Qaeda terrorist cells in Buffalo, New York, why not on La Palma in Spain?
I interviewed the researchers involved for a poetential science story a while back and they said it would take far too many nukes to set the landslide off to be even remotely dangerous.
Erik Baard
http://www.baard.com
This tsunami threat has been presented to the USA several times on cable TV shows (Discovery Channel, I think) — probably the same BBC production mentioned here. I’m not aware of it being noticed much.
I also agree that a nuclear bomb might not produce enough force to release the landslide, unless it is placed in a way which merely releases and lubricates the fault. A simple airdrop would probably not be enough.
I would feel more comfortable if the USA would do some nuclear engineering to demolish that rock in a less dangerous fashion. Multimegaton bombs (much larger than a terrorist weapon) move a lot of rock, and if necessary several could be used simultaneously. However, the blasts would probably be designed to throw a lot of small rock a great distance (thus reducing the effect of a large mass pushing at one spot), which would produce a “high-fallout” dust-filled cloud. Most of this dust would land in the ocean (by simply scheduling based on suitable weather), but we can expect some impressive sunsets.
Shutting down the Canary Islands airport, evacuating the islands, and urging evacuation of the Atlantic seaboard (in case something goes wrong) would be quite a logistical challenge.
It is more likely that it will simply be left alone, as its collapse can be called a natural event which nobody can be blamed for. Anyone who touches it can be blamed for any later damage, even if they actually managed to reduce the damage which would otherwise have happened.
This is a job for Superman — a man willing to take on superhuman levels of responsibility and make decisions. Or maybe a job for President Bush, when she gets old enough that she can run for the office.
How many nukes are we talking about here? 10, 20, 50? If I were in Al-Qadea I would be talking to Geology experts sympathetic to the Islamist cause and trying to figure out the logistics of this. If I DID have nuclear capabilities via the Pakis, Russians or BOTH I would be holding back attacks on any major American cities for now.
I would think the main problem would be getting the bombs in just the right location(s) within the Island and that may involve mining several hundred feet. La Palma DOES have mines on it and has a history of being rich in minerals, could Al Qaeda fund a bogus “mining” operation in order to dig the nessisary shafts to place the bombs without alerting the Intel community?
If for nothing else, this would make a great Tom Clancy novel!
Natural Disasters Will Become Terrorist Weapons
Washington D.C.(Global Wire News) – According to experts at the Counter-Terrorism Prevention Group based in Washington, D.C., terrorists could turn Mother Nature into a terrorist weapon and completely destroy the United States in a massive coordinated attack which would make a nuclear war look like child’s play in comparison.
Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, of the Counter-Terrorism Prevention Group, has written a document outlining how terrorists could plan terrorist attacks to take advantage of weaknesses in geological formations, structural instability in volcanoes and the transmission of seismic waves through the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“Essentially, terrorists could take advantage of several geologic phenomenons and coordinate a simultaneous attack on the United States using the old Cold War strategy known as “Time on Target”, where several attacks are launched at different times and reach their destination simultaneously” said Dr. Zimmerman.
According to Dr. Zimmerman “terrorists would first need to acquire nuclear weapons and materials from a rogue nuclear state like North Korea or from nuclear armed Pakistan”.
The first target on the terrorists hit list according to Dr. Zimmerman would be the Western flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma which is located in the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain. The terrorists would plant one or two nuclear devices on the Cumbre Vieja volcano and detonate them in order to knock the Western flank of the volcano into the Atlantic Ocean.
The resulting tsunami created by the falling land mass would race across the Atlantic Ocean within a matter of hours and destroy the entire Eastern seaboard of the United States with a 150 foot tsunami. Tens of millions would be killed within seconds.
The second target which would be hit shortly after the atomic detonations on the island of La Palma would be Yellowstone Lake located inside Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Long before the attack, the terrorists would drive a boat into the middle of Yellowstone Lake and submerge a sealed 55-gallon drum containing a nuclear device to the bottom of the lake.
Vulcanologists have discovered a huge “bulge” which is forming at the bottom of the lake which could one day give way, implode the magma chamber underneath it and create what is know as a “Super Volcano”. A nuclear device detonated by the terrorists in Yellowstone Lake would trigger the chain of events leading to the explosion of the “Super Volcano”.
The “Super Volcano” explosion would cause a massive detonation which would destroy much of the landscape in the Rocky Mountain states of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Idaho with superheated pyroclastic flows moving outwards at supersonic speeds to a blast radius of 75 miles. Volcanic magma would shoot 30 miles into the atmosphere during the main explosion.
The massive eruption would bury the entire Great Plains under a massive layer of volcanic ash which would destroy America’s agriculture industry and suffocate tens of millions of people in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. The Midwest would become a modern day version of Pompeii, the Roman city buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
A large portion of America’s strategic nuclear arsenal would be incapacitated because the missile silos located in the Western states would be buried under several feet of hot volcanic ash.
The ash cloud created by the “Super Volcano” would penetrate the stratosphere and trigger a new Ice Age after blocking out the sun over most of the Northern Hemisphere and create the natural equivalent of a “nuclear winter”.
The third target on the terrorists list would be the Southern flank of the Kilauea volcano on the main island of Hawaii. Terrorists would simply submerge nuclear weapons encased in sealed containers off the coast of the main Hawaiian island until they are resting on the southern flank of Kilauea. Once the terrorists detonate the nuclear devices, the South flank of Kilauea would collapse into the Pacific Ocean and create a tsunami which would destroy the West Coast of the United States and kill tens of millions of people in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
“All of these attacks hitting the United States simultaneously would completely overwhelm FEMA, the U.S. Military, the National Guard and all disaster agencies. Up to 150 Million Americans would be killed such a massive attack. A nuclear war would look like child’s play in comparison”.
Copyright 2004 – Global Wire News
Although the idea of a super natural disaster such as this seems like a very practical idea, I just want to let people know not to be worried. The U.S. government wouldn’t allow such information into the hands of the public unless it was secure enough so that these events could not happen. However, if the information was dicovered by an independent party, the United States would take necessary precautions to prevent this from happening. Especially if it is so accessible via the internet.
As plausible or inplausible as this is, think about this: A nuclear bomb would have to be placed perfectly to cause the desired effect, a simple air drop would most likely not cut it. Pulling off an air drop would be hard enough without alerting the coast guard, airforce, and various civilian entities capable of radar detection. They also have to figure out how to perfectly mimic enough seismic activity to cause a tidal wave in a part of the world where no tidal waves have been recorded. The threat of any nuclear attack on American soil is unlikely: Security in America, as much as people debate and bash it, is very tight and thorough. People condemn the patriot act, but it may be the key to preventing shit like this. Also, if there ever was a nuclear terrorist attack, there would be no more excuses for other countries not to get involved. A nuclear terrorist attack would basically put the middle east on the shitty end of a nuclear asswhooping. Remember, America has enough nuclear weapons to kill the worlds population several times over and everybody knows it.