Tsunami generation by landslides : From laboratory experiments to geophysical events
Tsunami waves can arise from significant geological events such as the collapse of a mountain flank or a volcano into a lake or an ocean. We reproduce this situation at the laboratory scale. The landslide is modeled by the sudden release of a rectangular granular column, which then impacts a still water layer and generates a wave. Through experiments varying both the column dimensions and the initial water height, different regimes of nonlinear waves of different shapes are observed.