Thanks for the link. This is both interesting and puzzling.

I have a couple comments. One is on the poorly worded sub-headline: 'Watch never-captured footage of a seismic wave rocking the whole pool at Nevada's famed Devils Hole'. Umm, "never-captured"? Clearly they meant "never-before captured", since if it had been never-captured we wouldn't be seeing this video. How difficult is it for the pros at Scientific American to proofread a story?

The other comment is: Is this truly a 'tsunami' and what is the mechanism by which the seismic energy is released into this pool of water hundreds of miles away from the ocean? It seems to me that if this is truly a tsunami there must be an underground waterway connecting this pool to the ocean -- there must be some process that draws the water out of the visible pool and then causes it to surge back in, as happens to the water at an ocean shoreline when a tsunami arrives.

On the other hand, if there is no waterway connecting this pool to the ocean then the hidden portion of this underground cavern of water must undergo expansion and contraction, sucking the water out of the pool and then forcing it back in. Unfortunately, no explanation is given. It is simply labeled a tsunami and the reader is left on his/her own to fill in the missing part that connects this action to an earthquake thousands of miles away. There isn't even a mention of any related tsunami in the Gulf of California or along the southern California coast.

Years ago (I'm to lazy to look up the year) there was a big quake in Mexico City and the water in swimming pools in Houston ran over the sides of the pools and they had no connection to the ocean (bay really).

It has all to see with inertia

The land moves a littlebit, even below the level we would notice it, but water in pools can't keep up and goes over the edge. (the bigger the pool, the higher the waves)

For the same reason fluid transport tanks are compartimented and have max fill levels, the pressure on the ends would go up to high when breaking or accelerating.

The same is visible in the little cave pool: the big water mass of the aquifier is forced to follow the land mass and in reallity doesn't want to do this. The waves can be devastating.

Just interesting that the effect on 2000 miles distance is still so huge.

What would ancient folks have thought about this: someone went down to fill his water bag and get's surprised by these waves.

This "...never-captured footage..." sub-title is kind of funny. There is a link in the article to a USGS video of a similar event at the same exact location...strikingly similar. It would be quite interesting to get exact times for these known events and correlate them to known seismic events in the surrounding area.

This aquifer is apparently quite active underground. This makes me wonder what is down there...are we only seeing the tip of a vast underground ocean?

Very cool...

p.s. The cave was explored to 435 feet? That's way in excess of the 130 foot mark. That pool doesn't look big enough for any type of rebreather or excessive hard suits. What gives there?

My guess is that it is a hydraulic thing... big piston moves a little, small piston moves a lot. -