# Would an oceanic asteroid impact really cause a tsunami?

As far as I know tsunamis are caused by landslides at the bottom of the sea. But an asteroid impacting the sea is a different phenomena. Could it still cause a "tsunami" as in an unstoppable mass of water propagating towards the shores? Is there a need of distinction between these two phenomena, or do they add up to the same thing?

• I found this article interesting. livescience.com/49298-asteroids-causing-tsunamis.html From the article "what would actually happen would be that "a big wave gets made by the impact and it's a very turbulent wave, and it breaks immediately, right next to the impact," Melosh told Live Science. "Very little energy is actually radiated away." – userLTK Oct 2 '16 at 2:03
• If asteroid of 1 km fall into pacific ocean, that would cause tsunami. Because that asteroid clash the bottom of ocean and shake earth. However we have never seen that normal meteorite have shaken the earth and caused tsunami. – Takahiro Waki Oct 3 '16 at 17:19

The energy transferred will depend on the kinetic energy of the asteroid at the moment of impact, this being a function of the mass and velocity of the asteroid; based on the classical equation for kinetic energy: $E_k = 0.5mv^2$.