Show LARGEST 0 OF KNOWN WAVES ced caused C ed by r tha 1 ices atseff at sea and yoma times eslay laishl hasty ix tr feet in might height while we usually think of earthquakes as taking laking p place aee on land they do occur with equal devastation in the ocean that point in the earth at which the explosion or breaking takes place is called the earthquake focus and from it what are known as earthquake waves pass to the surface says st nicholas take a basin full of water and dip clip a glass tube into it blow through the tube and you will see bubbles r rising ising to the surface and circular waves passing out the disturbance at the bottom of the basin corresponds with the explosion or snapping of the crust a at t the earthquake focus with the difference that instead of water baies waves the latter produces earth waves passing through the ground when the city of lisbon portugal was destroyed the earthquake took place in the bottom of the sea fifty miles west odthe of the cily yet et it so agitated the water that a wave sixty sixt y feet high dashed over lisbon destroying s tr oy ying ng it and its inhabitants in the space of six minutes another earthquake e occurring just off the c coast of peru made such a gigantic wave wa ve that a large vessel was thrown several miles inland these are called call ed earthquake waves they are the largest known waves and are caused by the heaving and rocking of the bed of the sea in deep water such waves are not very high but their motion extends far down into the ocean when they reach shallower water however they heap up like a gigantic wall and with a force more terrible terrial than khan fire or sword swo rd they sweep on bearing bearing destruction with them huge ships are arc tossed like straws s far inland or mingle their ruin with that of a harbor town |