"One of the rock chunks that slid down the mountain is over 16 miles wide. That's larger than the island of Lanai. Scattered away from it are relatively smaller rock chunks. This pattern shows the dispersion of debris as it landed on the seafloor, just like a snowball crashing into the ground."
"Likely a huge earthquake caused by the sudden release of built up pressure from the hotspot below. This earthquake could have literally been off the richter [scale]. But, of course, there's no way of knowing for sure."
"Some of the biggest surges are formed from landslides. Like, for instance, the biggest-ever tsunami on record at 1,720 feet in Lituya Bay, Alaska from 1958. And the size of this million-year-old tsunami. Hard to tell."
The Nu'uanu Slide occurred around one million years ago, splitting Oahu and generating a massive tsunami. This landslide sent enormous amounts of sediment into the ocean, with tsunami waves estimated to exceed 500 feet. Remnants of the landslide, including rock blocks larger than Lanai, are still visible today. The event was likely triggered by a significant earthquake due to pressure release from a hotspot beneath the island. The dispersion of debris from the landslide resembles a snowball crashing into the ground.
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