Megatsunami Alert: Scientists warn collapse of volcano in Canary Islands could trigger massive global destruction

An 800-foot wave triggered the collapse into the seas of Fogo volcano in Cape Verde about 73,000 years ago. The megatsunami is one of the largest in the Earth’s geologic record.

The threat of that event being repeated hangs over the planet because of the young volcanoes in areas such as the Azores, Canary Islands and Hawaii that could result in a repeat of that catastrophe which has “apocalyptic” potential, reports Gizmondo. “The potential energy for a collapse to happen again is there,” says Ricardo Ramalho, co-author of the study published this week in Science Advances.

The study warns that should the Cumbe Vieja volcano in Canary Islands’ LaPalma collapse, it is capable of creating also megatsunamis that could travel the Atlantic and hit the US. “I’m not saying that this is going to happen in Fogo or elsewhere, tomorrow …I’m just saying, this happened in the past, so we need to be vigilant,” points out Ramalho, quotes the Washington Post.

The evidence of the megatsunami is in Cape Verde’s Santiago Island where gigantic boulders and marine fossils are strewn, reaching up to 2,000 feet inland of a plateau which is almost 650 feet above sea level. Those marine rock type boulders that surround Cape Verde are found normally on its shoreline. How it got up in that location is attributed by researchers to the megastsunami.

The event was estimated to have occurred 73,000 years ago based on the helium-3 isotopes concentration outside the boulder. Scientists used cosmogenic techniques based on how Earth was hit by cosmic rays which created unique isotopes on rock surfaces.

Scientists are also keeping an eye on Fogo, one of the world’s biggest and most active island-volcanoes. Besides being ready for a doomsday megatsunami, Gizmondo writes that “We can only hope its days of shedding large chunks into the ocean are long over.”

Otherwise, doomsday forecasters could add the megatsunami on its list of events that could end the world, whether real or perceived. On items on their list proven untrue – but likely would be resurrected on yearends and other occasions – are the combination of the lunar eclipse and blood moon, an asteroid hitting Earth and 15 days of darkness because of the “parallelism between Pluto and Venus. Don’t forget to throw in as well the Mayan calendar!

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