Maritime experts fear the world could be hit by giant tidal waves as the fall out from the row between China and Norway over the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Chinese government is furious that the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committe awarded the Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.
They told the Norwegian ambassador that the prize has been awarded to "a criminal."
Now boffins fear that in a fit of pique, China might well cause serious flooding around the world.
"If they're really angry and they all stamp their feet at the same time, we could be in real trouble," says Dr Jeremy Faceblender of the Institute of Things To Do With The Sea at the University of Thames Valley East.
"We've worked out the effects of the shockwaves with graphs and equations and computers stuff."
