Waves of water do not move horizontally, they only move up and down (a wave does not represent a flow of water). You can see a demonstration of this by watching a floating buoy bob up and down with a wave; it does not, however, move horizontally with the wave.

Tsunamis (sometimes called tidal waves) are different from surface waves; they are usually caused by underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or landslides.

Related Pages:

Tsunami Read about tsunamis: how they form and propagate, what the name tsunami means, and the speed and sizes of tsunamis.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa Color a page of the Great Wave Off Kanagawa by the Japanese painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (from the 1700s).