seaquake means A hydrostatic pressure disturbance caused by an earthquake or volcano in the seabed. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
seaquake is pronounced /ˈsiˌkweɪk/.
Why “seaquake” is a great word
SEAQUAKE — [Noun] A hydrostatic pressure disturbance in the sea caused by an earthquake or volcanic activity on the seabed. From sea + quake. First attested in 1680 in the writing of C. Ness. Unlike a tsunami, which names the towering, subsequent wave, or an earthquake, which grounds the tremor in the continental crust, a seaquake isolates the moment of rupture beneath the waves. It is the sudden, sub-audible thud through the abyssal plain, the profound concussion that silences a shoal of fish into a silver flare, and the strange heave felt through a ship's hull—a ghost of subterranean rupture, a violence felt in darkness long before any wave announces itself to the shore.
Etymology
From sea + quake.
noun
- A hydrostatic pressure disturbance caused by an earthquake or volcano in the seabed.