Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T17:29:30.778Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abe, K., 1979. Size of great earthquakes of 1837–1974 inferred from tsunami data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 84, 1561–1568.Google Scholar
Aigner, J., 1977. Anangula: an 8,500 B.P. coastal occupation in the Aleutian Islands. Quartär 27/28, 65–102.Google Scholar
Amante, C., Eakins, B.W., 2009. ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24. NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Marine Geology and Geophysics Division, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Arcos, M.E.M., LeVeque, R.J., 2015. Validating velocities in the GeoClaw tsunami model using observations near Hawaii from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. Pure and Applied Geophysics 172, 849–867.Google Scholar
Berger, M.J., George, D.L., LeVeque, R.J., Mandli, K.T., 2011. The GeoClaw software for depth-averaged flows with adaptive refinement. Advances in Water Resources 34, 1195–1206.Google Scholar
Black, R., 1974. Geology and ancient Aleuts, Amchitka and Umnak Islands, Aleutians. Arctic Anthropology 11, 126–140.Google Scholar
Black, R., 1975. Late-Quaternary geomorphic processes: effects on the ancient Aleuts of Umnak Island in the Aleutians. Arctic 28, 139–169.Google Scholar
Butler, R., Burney, D., Walsh, D., 2014. Paleotsunami evidence on Kaua‘i and numerical modeling of a great Aleutian tsunami. Geophysical Research Letters 41, 6795–6802.Google Scholar
Butler, R., Frazer, L.N., Templeton, W.J., 2016. Bayesian probabilities for M w 9.0+ earthquakes in the Aleutian Islands from a regionally scaled global rate. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 121, 3586–3608.Google Scholar
Clawpack Development Team, 2014. Clawpack Software, Version 5.3.1 (accessed July 1, 2017). http://www.clawpack.org.Google Scholar
Cross, R.S., Freymueller, J.T., 2008. Evidence for and implications of a Bering plate based on geodetic measurements from the Aleutians and western Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 113, B07405.Google Scholar
DeMets, C., Gordon, R.G., Argus, D.F., 2010. Geologically current plate motions. Geophysical Journal International 181, 1–80.Google Scholar
Freymueller, J.T., Woodard, H., Cohen, S., Cross, R., Elliott, J., Larsen, C., Hreinsdottir, S., Zweck, C., 2008. Active deformation processes in Alaska, based on 15 years of GPS measurements. In: Freymueller, J.T., Haeussler, P.J., Wesson, R., Ekström, G. (Eds.), Active Tectonics and Seismic Potential of Alaska. Geophysical Monograph 179. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, pp. 1–42.Google Scholar
Friday, D.Z., Taylor, L.A., Eakins, B.W., Carignan, K.S., Love, M.R., Grothe, P.R., 2012. Digital Elevation Model of Kauai, Hawaii: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. Prepared for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Tsunami Research. NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Marine Geology and Geophysics Division, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution, 2013. Cleveland (311240). In: Venzke, E. (Ed.), Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.6.0 (accessed July 6, 2017). http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=311240.Google Scholar
Goto, K., Hashimoto, K., Sugawara, D., Yanagisawa, H., Abe, T., 2014. Spatial thickness variability of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami deposits along the coastline of Sendai Bay. Marine Geology 358, 38–48.Google Scholar
Griswold, F.R., La Selle, S., Richmond, B.M., Jaffe, B.E., Gelfenbaum, G.R., Chague-Goff, C., LeVeque, R.J., Bellanova, P., Sugawara, D., Nelson, A.R., 2016. Summary of paleotsunami investigations in Aliomanu, Anahola, Kauai. In: 2016 Fall Meeting. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA, abstract no. NH43A-1815.Google Scholar
Hayes, G.P., Wald, D.J., Johnson, R.L., 2012. Slab1.0: a three-dimensional model of global subduction zone geometries. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 117, B01302.Google Scholar
Higman, B., 2007. Parsing the Sandy Onshore Deposits of Modern Tsunamis. PhD dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST). 2014. Post-tsunami Survey Field Guide. 2nd ed. IOC Manuals and Guides No. 37, UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Johnson, J.M., Tanioka, Y., Ruff, L.J., Satake, K., Kanamori, H., Sykes, L.R., 1994. The 1957 Great Aleutian earthquake. Pure and Applied Geophysics 142, 3–28.Google Scholar
Kanamori, H., 1977. The energy release in great earthquakes. Journal of Geophysical Research 82, 2981–2987.Google Scholar
Kitamura, S., Kodaka, T., Kataoka, J., 1961. Geological survey on the Chile Earthquake Tsunami affected areas in the Sanriku coast, northeast Japan. [In Japanese with English abstract.] Contributions from the Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Tohoku University 52, 1–40.Google Scholar
Lander, J.F., 1996. Tsunamis Affecting Alaska 1737–1996. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
La Selle, S., Richmond, B., Arcos, M., Jaffe, B., Lunghino, B., Kane, H., Bishop, J., Habel, S., 2016. Searching for a paleotsunami record in the Hawaiian Islands. In, 2016 Fall Meeting. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA, abstract no. NH34A-1820.Google Scholar
Laughlin, S., Laughlin, W., McDowell, M., 1975. Anangula Blade site excavations, 1972 and 1973. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 17, 39–48.Google Scholar
LeVeque, R.J., George, D.L., Berger, M.J., 2011. Tsunami modeling with adaptively refined finite volume methods. Acta Numerica 20, 211–289.Google Scholar
Lim, E., Eakins, B.W., Wigley, R., 2011. Coastal Relief Model of Southern Alaska: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-43. NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Marine Geology and Geophysics Division, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Lynett, P., Weiss, R., Renteria, W., De La Torre Morales, G., Son, S., Arcos, M.E.M., MacInnes, B.T., 2012. Coastal impacts of the March 11th Tohoku, Japan Tsunami in the Galapagos Islands. Pure and Applied Geophysics 170, 1189–1206.Google Scholar
MacInnes, B.T., Gusman, A.R., LeVeque, R.J., Tanioka, Y., 2013. Comparison of earthquake source models for the 2011 Tohoku event using tsunami simulations and near-field observations. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 103, 1256–1274.Google Scholar
MacInnes, B.T., Pinegina, T.K., Bourgeois, J., Razhigaeva, N.G., Kaistrenko, V.M., Kravchunovskaya, E.A., 2009. Field survey and geological effects of the 15 November 2006 Kuril tsunami in the middle Kuril Islands. In: Cummins, P.R., Satake, K., Kong, L.S.L. (Eds.), Tsunami Science Four Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, pp. 9–36.Google Scholar
Major, J.J., Pierson, T.C., Dinehart, R.L., Costa, J.E., 2000. Sediment yield following severe volcanic disturbance—a two-decade perspective from Mount St. Helens. Geology 28, 819–822.Google Scholar
Mandli, K.T., Ahmadia, A.J., Berger, M.J., Calhoun, D.A., George, D.L., Hadjimichael, Y., Ketcheson, D.I., Lemoine, G.I., LeVeque, R.J., 2016. Clawpack: building an open source ecosystem for solving hyperbolic PDEs. PeerJ Computer Science 2, e68.Google Scholar
Morton, R.A., Gelfenbaum, G., Jaffe, B.E., 2007. Physical criteria for distinguishing sandy tsunami and storm deposits using modern examples. Sedimentary Geology 200, 184–207.Google Scholar
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2017. Nikolski, AK - Station ID: 9462450 (accessed July 2017). https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/stationhome.html?id=9462450.Google Scholar
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), 2017. NGDC/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database (accessed July 2017). https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsu_db.shtml.Google Scholar
Nicolsky, D.J., Freymueller, J.T., Witter, R.C., Suleimani, E.N., Koehler, R.D., 2016. Evidence for shallow megathrust slip across the Unalaska seismic gap during the great 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Geophysical Research Letters 43, 10328–10337.Google Scholar
Okada, Y., 1985. Surface deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 75, 1135–1154.Google Scholar
Okal, E.A., Synolakis, C.E., 2004. Source discriminants for near-field tsunamis. Geophysical Journal International 158, 899–912.Google Scholar
Oliver, J., Murphy, L., 1971. WWNSS: seismology’s global network of observing stations. Science 174, 254–261.Google Scholar
Pan, W., Wang, S., Cai, S., 2010. Numerical simulations of the coastal effects of tsunami waves caused by the 1993 Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology 28, 1029–1039.Google Scholar
Peterson, J.R., Hutt, C.R., 2014. World-Wide Standardized Seismograph Network: A Data Users Guide. Open-File Report 2014-1218. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.Google Scholar
Ramalho, R.S., Quartau, R., Trenhaile, A.S., Mitchell, N.C., Woodroffe, C.D., Ávila, S.P., 2013. Coastal evolution on volcanic oceanic islands: a complex interplay between volcanism, erosion, sedimentation, sea-level change and biogenic production. Earth-Science Reviews 127, 140–170.Google Scholar
Ryan, H.F., von Huene, R., Wells, R.E., Scholl, D.W., Kirby, S., Draut, A.E., 2012. History of earthquakes and tsunamis along the eastern Aleutian-Alaska megathrust, with implications for tsunami hazards in the California continental borderland. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1795-A, 1–31.Google Scholar
Salsman, G.G., 1959. The Tsunami of March 9, 1957, as Recorded at Tide Stations. U.S. Department of Commerce, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Technical Bulletin No. 6. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Scott, W.E., Nye, C.J., Waythomas, C.F., Neal, C.A., 2010. August 2008 eruption of Kasatochi volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska—resetting an island landscape. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 42, 250–259.Google Scholar
Strover, C.W., Coffman, J.L., 1993. Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised). U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1527. USGS, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Sykes, L.R., Kisslinger, J.B., House, L., Davies, J.N., Jacob, K.H., 1980. Rupture zones of great earthquakes in the Alaska-Aleutian arc, 1784 to 1980. Science 210, 1343–1345.Google Scholar
Wesson, R.L., Boyd, O.S., Mueller, C.S., Bufe, C.G., Frankel, A.D., Petersen, M.D., 2007. Revision of Time-Independent Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Maps for Alaska. Open-File Report 2007-1043. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.Google Scholar
Witter, R., Briggs, R., Koehler, R., Gelfenbaum, G., Engelhart, S., Nelson, A., Carver, G., Bender, A., Hemphill-Haley, E., 2014. Evidence for high tsunamis in the Fox Islands implies repeated Aleutian megathrust earthquakes in the Unalaska seismic gap. In: Seismological Research Letters, Vol 85. Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, Anchorage, AK, pp. 441.Google Scholar
Witter, R.C., Carver, G.A., Briggs, R.W., Gelfenbaum, G.R., Koehler, R.D., La Selle, S., Bender, A.M., Englehart, S.E., Hemphill-Haley, E., Hill, T.D., 2016. Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust. Geophysical Research Letters 43, 76–84.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Griswold et al. supplementary material

Griswold et al. supplementary material 1

Download Griswold et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 2.8 MB