Cumbre Vieja is still an active volcano. If it erupts, scientists say it could send mega-tsunamis toward Africa, Europe, South America, Newfoundland and possibly even the United States. This mega-tsunami may be bigger than the recent one in southeast Asia.

Scientists say that they are dumping water in the volcano. If the volcano erupts, it will boil the water. Then the water would explode, and maybe the heat would be released, and the danger of tsunami would go away. But what would cause a tsunami in the first place?

If it erupts, a massive chunk of the mountain might crash into the water. Scientists say that half a trillion tons of volcanic rock can slip into the ocean when a volcano blows.

After five minutes of the eruption, a giant wall of water about 1,500 feet would rise. It would also go at a speed of about 30-40 mph. Though the wave could weaken, there could still be waves as high as 900 feet.

Forty-five minutes later, there could be waves as big as 150 feet that could hit parts of Europe.

And six more hours later, vigorous waves reaching 60-70 feet would hit South America. Waves as big as 30 feet could hit Newfoundland and waves as big as 70 feet could hit the east coast of the U.S.

Some scientists also believe that the rocks may not fall all at once into the ocean. They say smaller landslides may occur. Not all of the rock would fall at once. If this happened, the resulting tsunami might be 1/4 to 1/2 of the size of the waves that happened in the Indian Ocean.

I am not trying to scare anybody. Nobody knows when or even if this will happen. Scientists are still studying it.

The fact is, that volcano last erupted in 1949 and currently shows no sign of activity. And even if an eruption occurs, it doesn't mean a tsunami would happen.

I'm just letting people know about MY new discovery. I am interested and have picked up many articles online about this. If you would like to know more, Whymail me or search Google with your parents' permission.

Looking forward to reply to those 20 whymails about my last article,
I'm ozzy111 and that's the 411.

Editor's Note: Great report, ozzy111 -- only thing missing is a description of your sources, the newspapers and teachers and so forth where you got your information. You can share that with us in the BBS for this article. Thanks!