Quote:
Originally Posted by Saltys
If there was a mile wide whirlpool that was s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g down sea water....where does the water go..does it stay underground now forever and does the ocean level now drop because of the water? Or does it maintain the level of ocean height and filter back into the environment?
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It actually displaces the water, which generates the energy for the tsunami. If you imaging the length of the fault, x the displacement (8ft) all of the displaced water does not go into the crust.
it is a subduction zone, and water circulates down into the earth (crust and mantle) as the ocean floor is subducted under Japan, but it is mostly in the pore spaces of the sediment on the ocean floor and in the cracks in the underlying rocks..
but.. caveat.. I'm a glacial/coastal guy.. not a seismologist!