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Tsunami-based evidence for large eastern Aleutian slip during the 1957 earthquake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2018

Frances R. Griswold ,
Breanyn T. MacInnes  and
Bretwood Higman
Frances R. Griswold
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 627 N. Pleasant St., 233 Morrill Science Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
Breanyn T. MacInnes*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Central Washington University, 400 E. University Way, Ellensburg, Washington 98926-7418, USA
Bretwood Higman
Affiliation:
Ground Truth Trekking, PO Box 164, Seldovia, Alaska 99663-0164, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Geological Sciences, Central Washington University, 400 E. University Way, Ellensburg, Washington 98926-7418, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.T. MacInnes).
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Abstract

The Aleutian subduction zone is capable of generating magnitude ~9 earthquakes that have local impact and broadcast their destructive power across the Pacific through tsunamis. Field surveys of the tsunami from the 1957 Great Aleutian earthquake (reported Mw 8.6) indicate a tsunami amongst the largest of the twentieth century. In the eastern half of the rupture zone, stranded logs record up to 18 m run-up in the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM) and 32±2 m on Unalaska Island. In conjunction with archaeological studies in the region, these observations show the potential impact of tsunamis on the ancient peoples in the IFM. Simulation of the near-field tsunami produced from the published slip distribution of 1957 is almost an order of magnitude smaller than all field observations. Increasing the earthquake magnitude and amount of eastern slip used in forward models of the tsunami demonstrate that run-up observations can be achieved throughout the eastern Aleutians if the earthquake was more than twice as large—at least Mw 8.8 earthquake with 10–20 m of eastern slip. Additionally, up to five possible IFM paleotsunami deposits agree with the regional picture of regular large events, illustrating the circum-Pacific tsunami hazard from the east-central Aleutians.

Keywords

TsunamiTsunami modeling1957 Aleutian earthquake
Type
Aleutians Special Issue
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 1045 - 1058
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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