Seismic and landslide source of the 1908 Straits of Messina tsunami (Sicily, Italy)

One hundred years ago (December 1908) a devastating tsunami associated with an earthquake struck the Straits of Messina area, causing many casualties. On the basis of seismic data and observed runups and arrival times, we suggest that the tsunami was likely generated by coseismic seafloor displacement coupled with a small submarine landslide triggered by the earthquake. Backwards raytracing using a depth-dependent velocity field, submarine slope analysis and inferences form the main drainage network allowed us to identify possible locations for the source of the submarine landslide. We then performed direct simulations of tsunamis generated by the earthquake and landslides and identified the tsunami source (earthquake plus landslide) that best fits observational data in a small volume submarine landslide (1–5 km3) located offshore Nizza, Sicily.