Tsunamis in Switzerland? They Have Occurred & Will Occur Again

Despite being a landlocked country far away from any ocean, multiple tsunamis have struck Switzerland during the last 500 years. This video will discuss two 17th century tsunamis which occurred in Lake Lucerne (1601 & 1687) along with one which occurred in Lake Geneva in the 6th century (563). All of these tsunamis were triggered by landslides.

A special thanks to the EarthquakeSim YouTube channel for granting me permission to use clips of his footage!
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Sources/Citations:
[1] Fäh, Donat & Giardini, Domenico & Bay, F & Bernardi, Fabrizio & Braunmiller, Jochen & Deichmann, Nicolas & Furrer, M & Gantner, L & Gisler, Monika & Isenegger, D & Jiménez, M. & Kästli, Philipp & Koglin, R & Masciadri, Virgilio & Rutz, M & Scheidegger, Christian & Schibler, Reto & Schorlemmer, D & Schwarz-Zanetti, Gabriela & Woessner, Jochen. (2003). Earthquake Catalogue Of Switzerland (ECOS) and the related macroseismic database. Eclogae Geologicae Heltveticae. Swiss Journal of Geosciences. 96. 219-236. 10.1007/s00015-003-1087-0.
[2] Schnellmann, Michael & Anselmetti, Flavio & Giardini, Domenico & McKenzie, Judith & Ward, Steven. (2004). A recent survey of the sediments beneath a Swiss lake reveals a series of prehistoric temblors. Am. Sci.. 92.
[3] Kremer, Katrina & Gassner-Stamm, Gabriela & Grolimund, Remo & Wirth, Stefanie & Strasser, Michael & Fäh, Donat. (2020). A database of potential paleoseismic evidence in Switzerland. Journal of Seismology. 24. 10.1007/s10950-020-09908-5.

0:00 Tsunamis in Switzerland
0:47 563 Tsunami
1:25 Strong Earthquake
2:03 1601 Tsunami
3:34 1687 Tsunami
4:31 Implications

[amarug]

As a Swiss who loves to travel to Japan regularly, I am pleased to hear that from now I don't need to sit 12h in an airplane to start fearing earthquakes and tsunamis, I can do it right from the comfort of my own home!

[scillyautomatic]

We also didn't expect a hurricane to devastate Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, NC hundreds of miles from the coast. The Earth and its weather are fascinating, but dangerously so.

[Cerbera]

One problem with tsunamis, apart from the fact that people tend not to expect them, is that there is hardly any warning time because everything is so close.

[tomhutchins]

Thanks for covering this! I grew up in Geneva and the mountain tsunamis are fascinating.

[scillyautomatic]

Very interestng video. Thanks! Would you please do a video explaining MMI Shaking and "acceleration"? You've mentioned those point in the last couple of videos.

[johnlord]

All of these shown places, are glacial "U" shaped valleys, which have a high angle of repose valley slopes. They are more prone to landslides that detach from the slope, rushing down into the lower valley, which can be either lakes or flat occupied villages. Tsunamis are then obvious dangerous areas that need to be known, and have mitigation procedures in these areas.

[xwiick]

Thanks for all the hard work on these videos!

[jokerace]

A sudden large movement of one of the various strike slip faults behind building mountains throughout the Alps region might also do it to one or more of the Swiss lakes.

[Farneresque]

Quite interesting.
Never disappointed.

[christopherrosindale]

As a semi-regular visitor to Lake Luzern, this is fascinating to learn about. Are there any records of similar incidents concerning Lake Thun and Lake Brienz? These were originally one lake, but have since been separated into two by deposition of sediments washed down the Lutschine River from the Jungfrau mountain region immediately to the South. The towns of Interlaken, Matten, Unterseen and Bonigen now stand on this intermediate area of ground. Lake Brienz is now slightly higher than Lake Thun, partly due to a large wier in Unterseen, which now supplies a hydroelectric power station beside the River Aare.

[kaoskronostyche]

Didn't know about that lowest elevation. I grew up on the Great Plains of Alberta, Canada at 3400 feet or 1032 metres. Live at sea level now. Really want to go home to the dry, high, clear blue cloud-scaped sky and the Rocky Mountains glittering on high. Thanks for the show. Cheers!

[Hurricane]

Many lakes around the world are vulnerable to tsunamis! Lake Tahoe is considered a dangerous lake for a lake tsunami, since there are active fault lines that run directly under the lake capable of producing major earthquakes. Lake Tahoe is also very vulnerable to large landslides, since mountains surround the lake. There is geological evidence of large tsunamis occurring in Lake Tahoe in the past.

In fact, many large mountain lakes around the world are at risk of a lake tsunami occurring with any kind of landslide or earthquake situation. Any glacial outlet lake is at a high risk of a tsunami as well with glacial calving. Moreover, in Switzerland and France, Lake Geneva is considered a dangerous lake, due to a deadly tsunami that killed hundreds of people in Geneva back in the 5th Century. Some of the popular mountain lakes in Northern Italy, such as Lake Garda, are considered dangerous lakes for the potential of a lake tsunami as well.

[Drianz]

The most beautiful country on the planet, Switzerland.

[steventhompson]

Awesomeness
It would be cool to see this channel explain the yungay debris flow from the 1970 ancash peru earthquake, or armero and nevado del ruis lahar in 1980s

[stevekluth]

I'm curious as to why Olympic-size swimming pools is so often used as a metric. No biggie; you're not the only one who uses it. I just have no idea how much volume an Olympic-sized pool has as I've never been to a swimming competition.

[lh]

I always learn something new on this channel. Were these events archived in church records? Is historical geology a field?

[nufosmatic]

1:02 Been in that Chateau - one of the Valois as I recall… it’s on the other side of the Rhône river…

[juliavanrun-kilic]

I live near the edge of lake Geneva. Interesting information, with regards to possible big earth shifts in the near future. I will definitely remember your advice. Thank you!🙏🏻

[bzduso]

Are you planning to also make a video discussing the Flims landslide in central Switzerland, which occurred ~10'000 years ago and displaced 12 km^3 of material?

[theresemalmberg]

We have a similar phenomenon on the Great Lakes called a seiche, which is related to atmospheric pressure changes.