This week’s #writephoto prompt has me pondering a major what if
One day… people will go to the beach
One day… the Canary Islands will become the centre of the world. People on those beaches will stare into the sunlit distance unaware that these humble pieces of rock will soon be beyond famous.
One day… La Palma will groan and grumble. It’s volcanic core will, after decades of somnambulance, stretch its shoulders and begin the slow, inexorable movements that will in time fissure and fracture the ground beneath the Atlantic Ocean on which the tiny topmost speck sits.
One day… a team of seismologists will scramble to their screens, running and re-running their models, becoming increasingly frantic.
One day… the warnings will be issued to an unprepared and disbelieving world.
One day… some governments will react with typical reluctance to tell their people what they are hearing.
One day… the internet will flood with speculation.
One day… the conspiracists and fake news outlets will meet the mainstream news channels halfway and they will scratch their heads.
One day… some will head to their own beaches, joining the usual crowds of sun worshippers and sandcastle creators for a day looking out to sea.
One day… La Palma will crack and its side will sheer off as if hit by the equivalent power of multiple Hiroshimas and disappear into the previously benign waters of the eastern Atlantic.
One day… the space previously filled by the mountain that comprises the subsea section of the island will collapse leaving a hole into which the waters of the Atlantic ocean will flood.
One day… inside an hour the rest of the Canary Islands will be inundated.
One day… the western shores of Portugal and Spain and the Northern and western shores of Mauritania, Morocco and the Western Sahara will be hit by a tidal wave travelling at 500 miles an hour and measuring some many metres in height. Possibly as much as one hundred…
One day… all the countries bounding the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic seaboard will scrabble frantically to get the message out that a wall of water never seen before is about to devastate countless towns and cities and other multiple communities.
One day… six to seven hours and three thousand miles away Boston and New York and Miami will wait, equally unprepared but with full knowledge that a thirty metre wall of water is coming..
One day… people will still go to the beach…
TanGental 
Chilling
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When I first heard the theory I thought it can’t be real but it’s entirely possible…
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Yikes! Now how will I sleep at night?
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Yes sorry.
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Several years ago I read a story that used this very idea. Here’s hoping that this idea remains fiction.
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Indeed. Rather like I hope the idea that the seismologists who say Yellowstonre is overdue to pop are also wrong
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Without looking for the details, I think it’s believed something very similar happened a few thousand years ago, possibly accounting for the legend of Atlantis (and probably a few other myths).
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I expect its a common occurrence over time.
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Terrifying thought! I think something similar is believed to be the reason for the inundation of the land bridge between Europe and Great Britain. In the US there would be surfers out there trying to ride the damn wave in.
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There are always crazies
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Scary stuff Geoff.
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You may want to skip your walk to the seafront that day….
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Been there already today Geoff. We’re only five minutes walk from the coast.
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I’d better visit Skegness before it disappears. I’ve heard it is the something to behold!
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There we go!
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Now I wish I had a two-story house.
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I sure you’ll be safe!!
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Whew. Thanks. 🙄
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I’m just glad I live on top of a hill in rural Australia – at 700mtrs above sea level!
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And, I’ve been looking at an atlas, pondering the likelihood of NE Victoria being affected. What state are you in.
If it isn’t one darn thing, it’s another.
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I’m in southern NSW. Thankfully Geoff writes a good story!
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I expect you’ll be okay!!
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If it reaches you we are all in trouble
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I’m sure the surfing will be good, yes?
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Take thr positives, why don’t you, sitting in the middle of a continent!!
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😀 We only worry about an earthquake.
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That so chilling, Geoff. Out here on the west coast of the US, we have the Cascadian Subduction Zone, a fancy name for The Big One, which is almost a century overdue. Scientific speculation regarding potential damage is devastating – on an Atlantean scale! And yet we still go to the beach.
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Of course you go. We are great deniers!!
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*Shivers*
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We were talking about this on Friday morning and I’ve been aware of it for a long time. Luckily it appears that they are re-evaluating the geologic evidence and assumptions (or US govt attempting to reassure citizens)
Sobering, though … 😐 hope it doesn’t happen. Reminds me of On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/news/volcano-watch-canary-islands-mega-tsunami-hypothesis-and-why-it-doesnt-carry
https://www.preventionweb.net/news/volcano-watch-canary-islands-mega-tsunami-hypothesis-and-why-it-doesnt-carry-water
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We were talking about this on Friday morning and I’ve been aware of it for a long time. Luckily it appears that they are re-evaluating the geologic evidence and assumptions (or US govt attempting to reassure citizens)
Sobering, though … 😐 hope it doesn’t happen. Reminds me of On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/news/volcano-watch-canary-islands-mega-tsunami-hypothesis-and-why-it-doesnt-carry
https://www.preventionweb.net/news/volcano-watch-canary-islands-mega-tsunami-hypothesis-and-why-it-doesnt-carry-water
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I can always rely on you to keep me uptodate on the latest of my wild theories! Thanks for the link. I loved Nevil Shute though I found On The Beach a bit hard to like. Not just because it was unremittingly gloomy but also felt a tad implausible. Loved a Town Like Alice though
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I waited before sending it because no-one likes a know-it-all 😀 !
There is a holiday travel company now called On the Beach! Yes, agree, very gloomy. I liked The Far Country and bought a re-issue a few years ago. Was always more interested in Shute’s aviation background, though.
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Yes thats good. Did you read CP Snow at all. Similar writing I thought. The political themes appealled to me
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Wow! What powerful writing, Geoff. Sobering indeed. The video is really interesting, we’ve done the trail up Mount Etna and Vesuvius on holiday and it’s very unnerving seeing the ash and the wisps of steam. It is easy to forget just how powerful mother earth is and how one incident can lead to a devastating chain of events. Thank you so much for joining in with the #writephoto prompt. KL ❤
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It’s scary even if there are contrary voices..
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