Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hawa Yarow
GEOG 1700
Professor Podratz
Utah is known as a desert state with its only defining body of water being called The
Great Salt Lake, due to its salinity. Throughout my childhood I remember going to school and
being required to practice earthquake drills during classes. This went on from elementary, to
middle school, to high school, and even here at Salt Lake Community College. So least to say
Ive spent my whole life knowing to hide under a desk in the event of an earthquake. What I
wanted to know though was if the Great Salt Lake is this huge body of water, and Utah being
overdue for an earthquake, then isnt there a possibility of a tsunami happening in Utah? IF so
then what can we Utahans do to prepare for a disaster like this? From what we have learned in
class tsunamis can be generated from a displacement in water, huge impact hitting the water, and
material being deposited into the water. For this plan, I will be focusing on tsunamis being
The Great Salt Lake is this huge body of water located in Utah. Water levels in the lake
have fluctuated. In 1962 the elevation of the lake was 4,192 ft above sea level with a surface area
of 969 sq miles, and in the early 1980s the Great Salt Lake reached an elevation of 4,212 ft
above sea level with a surface area of 2,300 sq miles (Great Salt Lake). In Joe Baumans work
titled, Utah scientific: Lake could generate tsunami — may have occurred before, he
states that in 1909 an earthquake generated a tsunami that caused the Great Salt Lake to have 12
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foot waves (Bauman). This shows that the Great Salt Lake had a tsunami in the past but could it
happen again. In Matt Canhams piece Salt Lake City prison sites could get hit by tsunami-like
wave he quotes on how University of Utah seismology professor James Pechmann says there is
a possibility of Utah experiencing a tsunami. Pechmanns main concern was for a prison possibly
construction near the lake as it could be faced with the natural disaster of a tsunami from the lake
(Canham). Mathew Francis states that the East Great Salt Lake fault and the Carrington fault
both have potential tsunami effects in his piece name TSUNAMI AND SEICHE RISK
Below is a picture from Mathew Francis piece showing the surface geology of the Greater Salt
Lake vicinity.
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Francis, Mathew, Harry Yeh, David Dinter, Hong Thio, and Susan Olig. Figure 1. Surface
Geology of the Greater Salt Lake Vicinity (UGS, 2000). Digital image. TSUNAMI AND
SEICHE RISK FRAMEWORK FOR THE GREAT SALT LAKE. N.p., n.d. Web.
<https://www.academia.edu/27954474/TSUNAMI_AND_SEICHE_RISK_FRAMEWOR
K_FOR_THE_GREAT_SALT_LAKE?auto=download>.
The area within the tsunami zones of these faults are where this preparedness plan comes
in. Significant damage can be done to these areas in terms of high salt deposits from the lake,
water damage to architecture, and possibly even death. Below are the steps Ive laid out to
According to tsunami plan on the website cwarn.org, people should migrate to areas that
are 100 feet above sea level or two miles inland and, since roads may be blocked from the
Disaster kits are very beneficial during a disaster. Kits can include things such as first
aide materials, foods, flashlight, knives, etc. Having a kit can greatly increase your chances of
survival should the situation get worse. Including an electronic device that can listen to
emergency broadcast will also prove helpful. You also need to make sure that you are able to
carry the kit because there is a chance that you will need to walk during evacuation.
Protecting your possessions is something people tend to forget in the wake of a disaster. I
dont think anyone would focus on their material possessions what with a tsunami coming at
them. Luckily this is what insurance is for and why you should discuss about the protection you
You wont always be around your loved ones every time of the day so planning and
creating a disaster plan will help in reuniting families during or after a disaster faster, and quite
possibly decrease any casualties. So, go over your disaster plan with family to better prepare
A tsunami in Utah is an unusual thing but not an impossible thing. Becoming aware of
this and making a plan to prepare for this are some step you can take to keeping you and your
family safe.
References
Bauman, Joe. Utah scientific: Lake could generate tsunami — may have
occurred before. 3 1 2005.
<http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600102118/Lake-could-generate-
tsunami--may-have-occurred-before.html>.
Canham, Matt. Salt Lake City prison sites could get hit by tsunami-like wave. 17 12
2014. <http://www.sltrib.com/news/1961772-155/salt-lake-city-prison-sites-
could>.
cwarn. n.d. <http://cwarn.org/tsunami/be-prepared>.
Francis, Mathew. TSUNAMI AND SEICHE RISK FRAMEWORK FOR THE GREAT SALT
LAKE. n.d. 4 5 2017. <http://www.easybib.com/cite/eval?url=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.academia.edu
%2F27954474%2FTSUNAMI_AND_SEICHE_RISK_FRAMEWORK_FOR_THE_GREA
T_SALT_LAKE%3Fauto%3Ddownload>.
Great Salt Lake. n.d. 4 5 2017.
<http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/the_land/greatsaltlake.html>.
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