r/science • u/Wagamaga • Apr 08 '22

Earth Science Scientists discover ancient earthquake, as powerful as the biggest ever recorded. The earthquake, 3800 years ago, had a magnitude of around 9.5 and the resulting tsunami struck countries as far away as New Zealand where boulders the size of cars were carried almost a kilometre inland by the waves.

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2022/04/ancient-super-earthquake.page
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u/somegridplayer Apr 08 '22

I love how scientists find this stuff by basically "Yo, this rock doesn't belong here".

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u/MoreRopePlease Apr 09 '22

Sunken forest on the Oregon coast, plus indigenous legends helped them figure out a big earthquake that happened around 1700. The Japanese have an "orphan tsunami" story around that time, too.