32nd International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2010, Shanghai, Çin, 30 Haziran - 05 Temmuz 2010
Mediterranean, the center of civilizations since antiquity, experienced numerous earthquakes and triggered tsunamis. Historical information and distribution of fault zones, volcanoes and other probable tsunamigenic sea bottom deformations show that, there are source areas which may be considered as responsible for tsunamis in Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black sea region. These events affected the coastal structures that led to the loss of the economic power and social life of civilizations since antiquity. One of the probable examples of the earthquake or tsunami effects on the Fethiye town may be the eruption of Thera (also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption). Another example of the earthquake or tsunami effects on the historical structures may be the destruction of lighthouse of Patara (Lykian City) harbor at the South of Turkey. The numerical modeling is one of the efficient tools for understanding the tsunami behaviors in the past. In this study, the historical data of earthquakes and tsunamis are evaluated together with the instrumental data of seismicity in order to select the tsunami source for modeling efforts. In modeling application, the most effective tsunami source among the others in Eastern Mediterranean is selected and simulated in order to better understand its possible effects on Fethiye town and the Patara (Lykian City). In this study, the simulation results are presented and dicussed for these selected regions.