31st December 2004, 4:53 PM
Yeah, an earthquake underwater generally only causes tsunami if it's the sort where one plate is suddenly shifted up above another, which raises the entire body of the ocean by EXACTLY the height that the sea floor is shifted, and THAT is the tsunami. If it's another sort of earthquake, like two plates simply grinding beside each other, then it won't cause one.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)