What Causes a ‘Tsunami’ and How Far Can It Travel?

A tsunami is like a giant wave that travels really fast across the ocean, sometimes for thousands of miles.

Imagine you're in a big bathtub full of water. If you suddenly drop a huge rock into it, the water will splash up and start moving around, this is kind of what happens when there's an earthquake under the sea. A tsunami starts when something really powerful shakes the ocean floor, like an earthquake or a volcano erupting.

A tsunami can travel across whole oceans! Imagine it’s like a superhero wave that doesn’t get tired. It can go from one side of the world to the other, maybe from Asia all the way to North America.

Even though it moves super fast in deep water, when it reaches shallow areas near the coast, it grows really tall and powerful, sometimes crashing onto land with amazing force. That’s why a tsunami can cause so much damage when it finally arrives. A tsunami is like a giant wave that travels really fast across the ocean, sometimes for thousands of miles.

Imagine you're in a big bathtub full of water. If you suddenly drop a huge rock into it, the water will splash up and start moving around, this is kind of what happens when there's an earthquake under the sea. A tsunami starts when something really powerful shakes the ocean floor, like an earthquake or a volcano erupting.