Mediterranean megaturbidite triggered by the AD 365 cretan earthquake and tsunami

Historian Ammianus Marcellinus documented the devastating effects of a tsunami hitting Alexandria,Egypt, on July 21, AD 365. "The solidity of the earth was made to shake…and the sea was driven away. Thewaters returning when least expected killed many thousands by drowning. Huge ships… perched on theroofs of houses… hurled miles from the shore….". Other settlements around the Mediterranean were hit atroughly the same time. This scenario is similar to that of the recent Sumatra and Tohoku tsunamis. Based ongeophysical surveys and sediment cores from the Ionian Sea we show that the 20–25 mthick megaturbiditeknown in the literature as Homogenite/Augias was triggered not by the Santorini caldera collapse but by the 365 AD Cretan earthquake/tsunami. An older similar megaturbidite was deposited after 14.590680 yr BP, implying a large recurrence time of such extreme sedimentary events in the Mediterranean Sea.