Natural Hazards and Earth System Science www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net 1561-8633 1684-9981 8 3 2008 10.5194/nhess-8-587-2008 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/587/2008/ http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/587/2008/nhess-8-587-2008.html http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/587/2008/nhess-8-587-2008.pdf 587 601 2008-06-30 Historic tsunami in Britain since AD 1000: a review S. K. Haslett simon.haslett@newport.ac.uk E. A. Bryant Quaternary Research Centre, Department of Geography, School of Science and the Environment, Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Bath, BA2 9BN, UK Science Faculty Office, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia present address: CELT, University of Wales, Newport, Lodge Road, Caerleon, South Wales, NP18 3QT, UK The British coast is not considered at particular risk from tsunami, a view that is supported by a number of recent government reports. However, these reports largely ignore some written historic records that suggest southern Britain has experienced a number of events over the past 1000 yrs. This study briefly assesses these records and recognises four groups of events: 1) sea disturbance and coastal floods in southeast England linked to earthquakes in the Dover Straits (e.g. 1382 and 1580), 2) far-field tsunami reaching the coast of the British Isles, for example, from earthquakes along the Azores-Gibraltar Fault Zone offshore Portugal (e.g. 1755), 3) tsunami associated with near-coastal low magnitude earthquakes (e.g. 1884 and 1892), and 4) a flood event in AD 1014 that has been linked to comet debris impact. 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