Earthquake
The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America
One winter’s night in the year 1700, a mysterious tsunami flooded fields and washed away houses in Japan. It arrived without warning that a nearby earthquake usually provides. Samurai, merchants, and villagers recorded the event, but nearly three centuries would pass before discoveries in North America revealed the tsunami’s source. The Orphan Tsunami of 1700 tells the scientific detective story through clues from both sides of the Pacific. The evidence uncovered tells of a catastrophe, a century before Lewis and Clark, that now helps guide preparations for future earthquakes and tsunamis in the United States and Canada.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey and University of Washington