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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 49 (1965)

Issue: 7. (July)

First Page: 1079

Last Page: 1080

Title: Great Alaskan Earthquake and its After Effects: ABSTRACT

Author(s): J. W. Bedford

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

One of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded struck Alaska on March 27, 1964, causing an estimated 750 million dollars in property damage and the loss of 115 lives.

The earthquake epicenter was located at the Previous HitheadNext Hit of Prince William Sound, 75 miles east of Anchorage. Approximately 12,000 aftershocks had been recorded by October, 1964. Aftershock epicenters extend in a belt 50 to 140 miles wide between Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island, a distance of over 500 miles. Uplifts of as much as 50 feet and horizontal shifting of 10 to 20 feet have been reported along the southeastern portion

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of this belt. A large area toward the northwest subsided as much as 6 feet.

Submarine landslides destroyed the waterfronts of Seward, Whittier, and Valdez. Landslides generated sea Previous HitwavesNext Hit, and tsunamis caused additional damage.

In Anchorage, the jarring action of the earthquake liquefied sensitive sand and clay zones, causing large landslides which destroyed residential and downtown business areas. Long-period surface Previous HitwavesTop caused extensive damage to many large buildings. Detailed geological and soils studies have not been completed by government agencies and consulting firms. Recommendations have been made for future land use and for stabilization of two major slides by a gravel buttress and an underground sand-pile buttress.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists