Plate tectonics and tsunamis?

Question

If one plate pushing under another (can't remember name) can cause a Tsunami, can 2 plates moving away from each other cause a Tsunami?

I know plates move around and collide but i believe that the euro and nrth US plate are moving apart, thats why i asked

Answer 1

Tsunamis are created by the plate pushing under another plate next to it (subduction) - there is a big subduction zone off Indonesia and India, and that's why we have a lot of tsunamis occurring around there.

Where the plates move apart they cause a ridge to form, and we have these both on land i.e. Africa, and submarine i.e. mid-Atlantic. Ridges don't cause tsunamis.

If you see a map of the plates you'll notice that one side will be forming a ridge while the other side will be a subduction zone (while the two remaining sides are shearing zones that 'slide' past each other causing earthquakes). Therefore when there is activity at the ridge we know that pretty soon there'll be subduction at the opposite side of that plate, which will cause a tsunami, though the timing of this can't yet be predicted.

Answer 2

Tsunamis are created when water is displaced. You can observe this when you drop an ice cube in a glass of water. If one plate is subducting under another (sliding under another) this movement is not smooth but occurs in small slips. The two plates lock together until the pressure is to great and one slips rapidly causing an earth-quake. If the water column is displaced up or down by this slipping a wave will form. At the ocean ridge the movements are more gradual and therefore tsunamis are less likely. However if part of the mid-ocean ridge undergoes an undersea landslide this can cause a tsunami

Answer 3

Plate tectonics are a bunch of plates under the surface of the earth. They are all fit together in different ways all over the planet. They are also constantly shifting. So when the plates bump into eachother, slide over/under one another, or move around, they can cause earthquakes and tsunamis. I think tsunamis happen when one plate slides over another and pushes the water up and out of place...

Answer 4

A Tsunami occurs when an earthquake strikes in shallow ocean water.Tectonic plates move on the order of 1 to 10 centimeters a year. Sure, earthquakes are caused by tectonic motion, but it is the sudden release of built up stresses that trigger earthquakes. It is like saying automobile accidents are caused by driving. Many miles are traveled without accidents, but the attention is given to collisions, not to the many miles driven without accidents.

Answer 5

no, they cannot creat tsunamis by going away from eachother, and plate tectonics are when the earths underlying plates move and collide with eachother creating earth quakes and minor volcanic eruptions, (mostly under the sea)

a tsunami is caused by changes in teh pressure of the climate eg extremely hot to cold, creats convectional currents which collide with eachother and create higher pressure, resulting in storms, and hurricanes. hope that helped,

Mat

Answer 6

any shift (into or away from the other)of the continental plates causes a fault activity and if in the oceans also results in a trsaumi. but remember the greater the fault activity/quake the bigger the wave. so there are always minor faults happening and are not just significant to matter or cause an aalrm to go off.it's the big quakes that led to tsaumi flooding disasters.

Answer 7

The tectonic plates are moving in three ways.They are
Extensional where the plates are moving away from each other,second is compressional they are moving one over another this types of movements causes the Tsunami another one is transform that moves the plate in side ways. To know more on this subject visit my slide show at
My Community in Orkut
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=26068261
Presentation slides
http://asia.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/quake

http://photos.yahoo.com/quakealert_no1