Scientists explained that the tsunami, which originated during the eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga, was caused by the shears of submarine or shock waves in the water. This is reported in a press release on the Phys.org website.
According to experts, it is likely that the earlier eruption of January 14 led to water intake inside the extremely hot taper. When an eruption of a volcano magma, rising to the surface of the earth’s crust, causes the release of volcanic gases, which are then pushed out from under the ground. If gases reach water, it expands in water vapor, creating even greater pressure.
The force of the explosion indicates that a large amount of hot gas rose in Zherla. As a result, during contact with water, the shock waves propagating water could occur, which led to the occurrence of tsunami. However, the main version lies in the fact that the exposive eruption caused a landslide affected by the underwater part of the volcano. According to another version, the most role in the catastrophe was played that the upper part of the volcano was on the surface of the ocean, which could also contribute to the tsunami.