Their work published in the Scientific Reports magazine focuses on the Averroes Fault (in the Mar de Alboran) and the area of the coastline that could be affected.

Seismology expert, Ferran Estrada, at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC) explained, “the Averroes at it north-west end has a 5.4m vertical throw which must have been produced by an earthquake of around Mw 7.0″ Although the research covered the last 124,000 years, the last earthquake produced by this fault line could have been around the year 365 AD.

Using a mathematic model, researchers worked out what area would have been affected by such an earthquake, measuring the mass of water generate. The main impact is at the eastern end of the Costa Tropical.

We’re talking about a wall of water about six metres high hitting the Andalusían and Moroccan coast taking between 21 and 35 minutes to reach them. The problem is that such a short time is too brief in order to get an early-warning alert out to the areas in its path.

(News: Andalucia)