What caused the mysterious eighteenth century tsunami that struck the southwest Taiwan coast?

• Main Authors: Li, Linlin, Switzer, Adam Douglas, Wang, Yu, Weiss, Robert, Qiu, Qiang, Chan, Chung-Han, Tapponnier, Paul
• Other Authors: Asian School of the Environment
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: South China Sea; Historical tsunami; Megathrust earthquake; Submarine mass failure; Numerical model
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/81101; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/39069
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Several different historical records allude to a disastrous tsunami on the southwestern Taiwan coast sometime between 1781 and 1782, with a reported death toll of more than 40,000. Despite consistent reports from southwest Taiwan, no corroborative information exists for neighboring shorelines in sou...