Tsunami in the Gulf? It Could Happen Again

(KMDL-FM) As the late Jerry Lee Lewis, a Louisiana native, might say, there's been a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Of course, the Killer's shaking and the kind of shaking Louisiana and the Gulf have seen lately are two totally different things.

READ MORE: Earthquake Confirmed in the Gulf - Did You Feel It?

If you did not hear over the weekend, there was a magnitude 3.9 earthquake that was centered under the waters of the Gulf. For the most part, I don't think any of us felt the shaking along Louisiana's I-10 corridor.

Louisiana Has Experienced a Lot of Seismic Activity Lately - Why?

This shaking in the Gulf isn't the only seismic activity that Louisiana has experienced this month. North Louisiana has had a couple of earthquakes. Most of those earthquakes have a similar magnitude to the one reported in the Gulf. Earlier this month, there was a 4.9 magnitude quake near Coushatta.

While earthquakes on land can certainly be devastating, an earthquake under the ocean can create an even more widespread disaster. In the past couple of decades, there have been two particularly deadly tsunamis that I can recall.

There was one that created a tsunami that struck parts of Southeast Asia, India, and Africa on the day after Christmas 2004. There was also the 2011 earthquake that created a tsunami that devastated portions of Japan.

Those earthquakes were substantially stronger than the Louisiana earthquakes we've described, but still, the question remains: based on the underwater topography of the sea floor, could an earthquake in the Gulf generate enough energy to cause a tsunami?

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Could a Tsunami Happen in the Gulf?

Perhaps a better question would be, "Could a tsunami happen in the Gulf again?" because it has already happened.  An earthquake with an 8,1 magnitude struck off the coast of Haiti in 1946. That created a tsunami wave that swept across the then Gulf of Mexico.

While the potential for a tsunami generated by an underwater earthquake or an earthquake centered near the shore in the Gulf could create a tsunami, most of the scientific community does not see that scenario as "likely".

READ MORE: Could an Earthquake in the Caribbean Sea Cause a Tsunami?

The more likely case for a tsunami in the Gulf would come from an approaching hurricane. Or, there could be a large amount of water "piled up on shore" as the result of strong winds blowing onshore during a strong thunderstorm. That scenario has happened before, too.

The U.S. Geological Survey has actually addressed the question, and their findings seem to back up the "not likely" thinking, at least regarding a major tsunami in the Gulf. But if there is one thing we have learned where Mother Nature is concerned, never say never. I just hope in this case "never" is our outcome.