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Runup Distribution for the 1908 Messina Tsunami in Italy: Observed Data versus Expected Curves

Andrea Billi^* and Liliana Minelli

Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università Roma Tre, Largo S.L. Murialdo, 1, Rome, 00146, Italy billi{at}uniroma3.it

Barbara Orecchio

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

Debora Presti

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy

^* Now at CNR-IGAG, Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Rome, Italy.

Now at Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.

Online Material: Tsunami runup data and histograms of statistical parameters.

The source of the catastrophic 1908 Messina tsunami, southern Italy, is studied by best-fitting the available datasets of observed runup with a previously published empirical function (i.e., the expected runup distribution). The maximum runup is 12 m and was measured 30–40 km to the south of the area where the maximum coseismic dislocation and Mercalli–Cancani–Sieberg (MCS) intensities were recorded. The observed runup drops from 12 m to less than 1 m in a few tens of kilometers. The comparison between observed and expected runup distributions suggests that the main cause of the 1908 tsunami was a mass failure, thus supporting previously published evidence including tsunami arrival times, bathymetric maps, and chronicles reporting the interruption of submarine cables. This article adds a significant case history to the very limited database of thoroughly documented runup for landslide tsunamis.