Tsunami 1755

[DaveWalsh]

A tsunami hit W/SW Ireland on 1st November 1755 as a result of an earthquake off Lisbon that morning. I have been able to establish it created the bay we now call Barley Cove in west Cork, and Aughinish Island in NW Clare (flattening Correnroe Castle in the process). I have posted a request for info on this subject before with limited enough result.
Since then, especifically last week reading Brendan McWilliams \"Weather Eye\" in the Irish Times, I read about the Lisbon Earthquake again. To summarise, a guy called Richter devised a scheme in 1935 for measuring the intensity of earthquakes. It was capable of being retrospective. It invented a scale of 0 to 9. The theoretical max was set as some unexperienced and unknown force a smidgen worse than the worst ever earthquake in historic knowledge, the Lisbon Earthquake, which for mathematical relativity was given 8.9. The recent catastrophic earthquake in Kashmir came in at 7.6.
I was inceredulous before that nothing, absolutely nothing, seems to be known about a bad earthquake 250 years ago, but I am now beyond incredulity that nothing is known about the worst ever earthquake, ever.
Surely someone out there has read something sometime about this ?
I have tried every possible word formulation on the www that should surely throw up info on how it affected Ireland (there is lots on what happened to Portugal but I don\'t speak Portugese).
Any info on the worst ever earthquake that produced the worst tsunami Ireland ever ever knew, would be gratefully received.
DWalsh

[DaveWalsh]

ireland tsunami 1755
\"all these words\"
Can anyone suggest better ?
DWalsh

[MartinHodge]

There was a similar event in the Bristol channell in 1607.
http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/1607-flood.shtml

If you get your hands on the paper referred to in the article you might find some useful references.

[ocallaghan]

I\'m sure youve read this but for what its worth try www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1755Lisbon.html....especially for the references.
If you want more information relating to ireland try the Dept. of Geology in UCC. Some student may have done a thesis on this which may not necessarily be on the web. Otherwise a search of local records in the southern communities of Ireland should yield interesting facts on the effect of the event on the people, economics and enviornment at that time, although tsunami or lisbon quake may not be referred to.

[DaveWalsh]

Thanks for all that folks. If there is anything out there I am hot on the trail, but nothing yet. I tried all those suggestions and one thing came up. When I went into UCC Geology, what is their logo but a mountain in Greenland I recognised that we paddled past last year, and more importantly, was climbed by Irish guys last year. I guessed immediately there is an elder lemon Dal Riada type in there somewhere, so I changed direction until I found him. I know all those guys from a generation ago climbing. Anyway I found Ken Higgs so if there is anyone in geology UCC I am sure my old pal will find him. By the by, there was`a reference somewhere to a geology professor in UCG interested in the subject and Gerry Spain is chasing him now. Its who you know gets things done in Ireland .....
Thanks again for the interest and help.
DWalsh

[ND]

Have you tried the geological survey of ireland (www.gsi.ie) and their links (eg earth science: http://www.habitas.org.uk/es2k/) or their britsih peers (british geological society, northern ireland branch etc? good luck - Nic

[ND]

Have you tried the geological survey of ireland (www.gsi.ie) and their links (eg earth science: http://www.habitas.org.uk/es2k/) or their britsih peers (british geological society, northern ireland branch etc? good luck - Nic

[michaelcheers]

Apologies for resurecting this ancient post but it caught my eye whilst I was doing a search for something else.

Here are two papers one from the Journal of Marine Geology (Dawson et al) and another from the journal of Geodynamics (Baptista). Both papers review the historical accounnts of the Lisbon Earthquake.

The 1755 tsunami certainly did hit the UK and was recorded at the tidal gauge at Newlyn Cornwall and had a mean run up height of 2m which arrived at or near high tide in the Scillies Islands and caused extensive flooding and the deposition of sand sheets there.

Some have suggested that the earthquake also triggered a turbidite event ( sort of sub sea landslip ) which could have accentuated the tsunami or caused it in the firstplace.

If it hit Cornwall, the chances are it certainly hit Ireland and if it did so at or near HW it certainly would have had the capacity to erode and re-deposit significant quantities of sediment. Would have to check the tidal diffs between here ans Cornwall.

[michaelcheers]

[file name=lisbon_earthquake.zip size=1422960]http://www.irishseakayakingassociation. ... hquake.zip[/file]
Try again to attach these files

[atlantic]

Hi Dave ,
I believe that Rosscarbery was hit badly and the Sand deposits from the Warren Back to Rosscarbery were as a result . Maybe that wold be a lead .