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Tsunami Hits Manhattan in 300 B.C., Maybe
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 31, 2008
Modified Dec 31, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 31, 2008
Modified Dec 31, 2008
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No time like New Year's Eve for some End of Days fun! The NY Times looks back at a tsunami that may have hit Fire Island in 300 B.C., saying it "washed over Fire Island and, to the west, waves perhaps as high as 20 feet spilled into Lower Manhattan. The furious onrush of water left sediment a foot and a half deep on the Jersey Shore, and debris cascaded far up the Hudson River." This is all based on reports from a Columbia scientist who, after finding carbon spheres in sediment, believes this was all set off by a meteorite (though until a crater is found in the ocean floor, many skeptics remain). So what should you expect if a meteorite-generated tsunami were to hit NYC today? "Someone at the tip of Lower Manhattan then would probably have seen something coming in. Then you would hear a big bang, maybe a series of bangs, something that sounded like gunfire or cannons. It would be a really, really loud noise. And then you would be knocked to the ground by the air blast. And then you would be inundated by the tsunami." Could it happen? Indeed it could...and has in craft form.
Tagged
300 B.C.
meteorite
tsunami
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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