This project will assess tsunami hazard from the above mentioned and other relevant tsunami sources recently studied in the literature and model the corresponding tsunami inundation in affected US East coast communities. We will combine ocean scale simulations of transoceanic tsunami sources, such as Lisbon 1755 like or Puerto Rico Trench co-seismic events, and CVV collapse, with regional scale simulations of these events, along with the regional scale SMF events, in order to establish the relative degree of hazards for East Coast communities. Detailed inundation studies will be conducted for highest-risk East Coast communities, and results of these studies will be used to construct a first-generation of tsunami inundation maps for the chosen communities.

Delaware and surrounding areas experienced an earthquake event on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 23, 2011. According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck at 1:51 p.m. in central Virginia, in an area referred to as “the Central Virginia Seismic Zone” because of its relatively active earthquake activity for the region. The epicenter was located five miles south-southwest of Mineral, Virginia, with the quake was focused at a depth of 6 km (3.7 miles) below the surface (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/se082311a.html). The Virginia Geological Survey reports that this is the largest Virginia earthquake known in historic times. A few small aftershocks have occurred in the hours afterward.

During the last two decades, storms such as Hurricanes Katrina and Ike along the Gulf of Mexico and Floyd and Hugo along the Atlantic Coast of the United States have resulted in significant loss of life, injuries, and property damages exceeding well over 100 billion dollars. Much of the damage associated with these and other tropical and extra-tropical weather systems is associated with severe coastal flooding. The purpose of this project is to develop a real-time coastal flood monitoring and warning system for the coastal communities in Kent County, Delaware. This system will serve as a prototype for similar early-warning systems, which may then be applied along the entire Delaware coast.

Maps and resources for real-time M1+ earthquakes.

The DGS maintains its own network of seismometers to detect local earthquake activity. Following an earthquake swarm in 1972, the DGS established its first seismometer station in Newark. The network now consists of five seismic stations spread across the state: three stations in the Newark-Wilmington area, one at the DEMA office in southern New Castle County, and one at the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center.

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Sussex County Emergency Operation Center (SCOM) Seismic Station. The seismometer, located on the property of the Sussex County Emergency Operation Center, is positioned on the Beaverdam Formation. The Beaverdam Formation is a very coarse sand with beds of fine to medium sand. It is interpreted to be a Pliocene fluvial to estuarine deposit.

Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) Seismic Station. The seismometer, located at the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, is located on the Columbia Formation. The Columbia Formation is a fine to coarse, feldspathic quartz sand with varying amounts of gravel. It is primarily a body of glacial outwash sediment deposited in a cold climate during the middle Pleistocene.

White Clay Creek State Park (NED) Seismic Station. The seismometer, located in White Clay Creek State Park, is positioned on the Wissahickon Formation. The Wissahickon Formation is an extensive sequence of pelitic and psammitic gneisses interlayered with amphibolites. With few exceptions, most of the amphibolite layers are less than 30 feet thick. The rocks have been metamorphosed to upper amphibolite facies and isoclinally folded. The formation is located within the Wilmington North, Kennett Square, West Grove, Newark West, and Newark East U. S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute quadrangles.

Brandywine Creek State Park (BWD) Seismic Station. The seismometer located at Brandywine Creek State Park is positioned on the Wissahickon Formation. The Wissahickon Formation is an extensive sequence of pelitic and psammitic gneisses interlayered with amphibolites. With few exceptions, most of the amphibolite layers are less than 30 feet thick. The rocks have been metamorphosed to upper amphibolite facies and isoclinally folded. The formation is located within the Wilmington North, Kennett Square, West Grove, Newark West, and Newark East quadrangles.

Bellevue State Park (BVD) seismic network station. The seismometer located at Bellevue State Park is placed on the Brandywine Blue Gneiss. The Brandywine Blue Gneiss is the new name given to the granulite-facies felsic gneisses in the Wilmington Complex. Informally called the “blue rocks,” this unit is a medium- to coarse-grained, lineated (pinstriped), two-pyroxene gneiss with variable quartz content and thin, discontinuous mafic layers, pods, and schlieren. The pinstriping and the massive nature of the rock suggest the rock is intrusive; however, deformation and recrystallization have obscured original igneous features.

Natural hazards are those events in the physical environment that present risks to human life or property. The DGS identifies and investigates natural hazards to help understand the earth systems that present the hazards and determine strategies to prepare for or mitigate the risks. We are active in advising emergency management agencies on natural hazards, and are included in the Delaware Emergency Operations Plan as an agency having a vital role in dealing with floods, northeaster/extratropical storms, droughts, earthquakes, sinkholes, and dam failures.

Earthquakes occur in northern Delaware and adjacent areas of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. Over 550 earthquakes have been documented within 150 miles of Delaware since 1677, and 69 earthquakes have been documented or suspected in Delaware since 1871.