A minor tsunami could take place in the Arabian Gulf, an expert has warned.

However, the waves would not be as big as those that hit the South Asian nations following the massive undersea earthquake off Sumatra last year.

Dr Keith Nakanishi, an expert with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, said here yesterday the Arabian geological plate has been slowly moving under the Iranian plate.

This may cause an earthquake that generates tsunamis, he told the Gulf Seismic Forum 2005 at the Hilton Hotel here.

The region has been experiencing movements of plates similar to those that took place off Sumatra, he said.

The movement of the Austral-India plate in the Indian Ocean caused a major earthquake last December. The process released high energy that gave rise to massive tidal waves hitting many countries in South Asia and the east coast of Africa.

Later talking to Gulf News, Dr Nakanishi said the geological stress was very high in the Indonesian quake, and the fault line extended about 1,200 km.

"The stress and the fault line are not big here, but the reaction time in case of a tsunami would be very short due to the smaller size of the Gulf," he said.

In the Indonesian quake the tidal waves took almost two hours to reach the shores of Sri Lanka and India, and eight-and-a-half hours to hit the coast of Somalia, he said.

Dr Nakanishi said the Austral-India plate has been moving at the rate of 60mm a year.

"I am not sure at what speed the Arabian plate has been moving, but it is moving," he said.

The US expert stressed the need for global cooperation and an exchange of data and information on seismic activity.

"Human tragedy can be avoided by effective monitoring and early warning systems," he said.

The three-day forum was organised by the Faculty of Sciences of the UAE University in cooperation with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the United States Geological Survey.

Dr Ben Jordan of the Department of Geology at the UAE University, said the conference intended to continue the process of providing information on the latest research on earthquakes, particularly in the Gulf region.

It also aims to promote sharing of seismic data, collaboration in setting up seismic networks and better communication between seismic laboratories in the region.