1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake
UTC time | 1957-03-09 14:22:33 |
---|---|
ISC event | 886030 |
USGS-ANSS | ComCat |
Local date | March 9, 1957 |
Local time | 04:22:33 |
Magnitude | 8.6–9.1 Mw[1][2] 8.1–8.3 Ms[3][2] 9.0 Mt[4][a] |
Depth | 25 km (16 mi)[1] |
Epicenter | 51°30′N 175°38′W / 51.5°N 175.63°W[1] |
Fault | Aleutian Trench |
Type | Megathrust |
Areas affected | Aleutian Islands & Hawaii |
Total damage | $5 million[6] |
Max. intensity | MMI VIII (Severe)[6] |
Tsunami | 23 m (75 ft)[7] |
Casualties | 2 dead (indirect) |
The 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake occurred at 04:22 local time on March 9 with a moment magnitude estimated between 8.6 and 9.1 and a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). It occurred south of the Andreanof Islands group, which is part of the Aleutian Islands arc. The event occurred along the Aleutian Trench, the convergent plate boundary that separates the Pacific Plate and the North American plates near Alaska. A basin-wide tsunami followed, with effects felt in Alaska and Hawaii, and strong waves recorded across the Pacific rim. Total losses were around $5 million (equivalent to $54,241,706 in 2023).
Tectonic setting
The Aleutian Islands lie between
Earthquake
The seismic intensity peaked at VIII (Severe) on the
Tsunami
Location | Recorded height (m) |
---|---|
Hāʻena, Kauai County, Hawaii, Hawaii | 16.1 |
Wainiha, Hawaii, Hawaii | 11.6 |
Pololu Valley, Hawaii | 9.8 |
Oahu, Hawaii | 7.0 |
Fagasā, American Samoa | 1.5 |
Crescent City, California | 0.7 |
San Diego, California | 0.2 |
Tsunami waves were reported in far way places such as in Chile.[21] The tsunami's strength led to suspicion that a landslide may have contributed to its severity, but there is no evidence of a landslide.[19] A submarine landslide is considered inconsistent with the wave patterns recorded, and the high wave heights could be explained by large amounts of near trench slip.[19]
Alaska
Wave heights were the highest in Alaska. On
Hawaii
On the island of
California
Elsewhere
At
Damage
Prompt warnings from the Seismic Sea Wave Warning System were credited with preventing major damage or loss of life.[14] The earthquake caused severe damage to roads and buildings on Adak including a crack 4.5 m (15 ft) in size,[6] however there were no deaths.[14] Two bridges and some oil and fuel-related structures at a dock were also destroyed there.[14] On Umnak, a concrete mixer and some docks were lost.[14] At Chernofski,[24] Trappers Cove, and Vsevidof, strong waves drowned sheep.[22] Oil pipelines were damaged at Sand Bay.[22] Many boats were damaged from strong waves.[22]
The tsunami caused twice the damage the tsunami of the 1946 earthquake did.
See also
- List of earthquakes in 1957
- List of earthquakes in Alaska
- List of earthquakes in the United States
- Mount Vsevidof
Notes
References
- ^ a b c International Seismological Centre. On-line Bulletin. Thatcham, United Kingdom. [Event 886030].
- ^ a b Kanamori 1977.
- ^ a b c d Brockman, Espinosa & Michael 1988.
- ^ a b Abe 1979.
- ^ a b c Sykes 1971.
- ^ a b c Stover & Coffman 1993.
- ^ a b c d "Tsunami Historical Series: Aleutian Islands - 1957 Dataset | Science On a Sphere". sos.noaa.gov. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Aleutian Trench". Archived from the original on February 25, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
- ^ a b Yeats 2012.
- ^ Lay et al. 2017.
- ^ a b c Doser 2012.
- ^ a b c d Johnson et al. 1994.
- ^ a b Tape & Lomax 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Lander & Lockridge 1989.
- ^ Hwang & Kanamori 1986.
- ^ Davies et al. 1981.
- ^ a b Witter et al. 2019.
- ^ Boyd & Jacob 1986.
- ^ a b c Witter et al. 2016.
- ^ a b Nicolsky et al. 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Salsman 1959.
- ^ a b c d Lander 1996.
- ^ a b "1957 Aleutian Tsunami". Earthweb. University of Washington. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ "The 9 March 1957 Aleutian Tsunami" (PDF). Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
Sources
Abe, Katsuyuki (1979). "Size of great earthquakes of 1837–1974 inferred from tsunami data". Journal of Geophysical Research. 84 (B4): 1561–1568. . Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Boyd, Thomas M.; Jacob, Klaus (1 April 1986). "Seismicity of the Unalaska region, Alaska". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 76 (2): 463–481. doi:10.1785/BSSA0760020463 (inactive 31 January 2024). Retrieved 31 December 2022.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link - Brockman, Stanley R.; Espinosa, A.F.; Michael, J.A. (1988). Catalog of intensities and magnitudes for earthquakes in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, 1786-1981 (PDF) (Report). United States Geological Survey. doi:10.3133/b1840. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Davies, J.; Sykes, Lorraine; House, L.; Jacob, Klaus (10 May 1981). "Shumagin Seismic Gap, Alaska Peninsula: History of great earthquakes, tectonic setting, and evidence for high seismic potential". Journal of Geophysical Research. 86 (B5): 3821–3855. . Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Doser, Diane I. (2012). "Revisiting the 1979 St. Elias, Alaska, Aftershock Sequence and Its Regional Significance". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 102 (6): 2392–2404. .
- Hwang, Lorraine J.; Kanamori, Hiroo (December 1986). "Of the May 7, 1986 Andreanof Islands Earthquake source parameters". Geophysical Research Letters. 13 (13): 1426–1429. . Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Johnson, J. M.; Tanioka, Y.; Ruff, L. J.; S2CID 129109233. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
- Kanamori, Hiroo (10 July 1977). "The energy release in great earthquakes". Journal of Geophysical Research. 82 (20): 2981–2987. . Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Lander, James F.; Lockridge, P. A. (1989). United States Tsunamis, (including United States possessions) 1690–1988: Publication 41-2 (PDF). United States Department of Commerce. pp. 44–46, 97.
- Lander, James F. (1996). TSUNAMIS AFFECTING ALASKA 1737-1996 (PDF). United States Department of Commerce. pp. 82, 138.
- Lay, Thorne; Ye, Lingling; Bai, Yefei; Cheung, Kwok Fai; Kanamori, Hiroo; Freymueller, Jeffrey; Steblov, Grigory M.; Kogan, Mikhail G. (December 8, 2017). "Rupture Along 400 km of the Bering Fracture Zone in the Komandorsky Islands Earthquake ( M W 7.8) of 17 July 2017: 2017 Mw 7.8 Komandorsky Is. Earthquake". Geophysical Research Letters. 44: 1–4. S2CID 55917937. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- Nicolsky, D. J.; Freymueller, J. T.; Witter, R. C.; Suleimani, E. N.; Koehler, R. D. (10 September 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 (9): 10328–10337. S2CID 132656278.
- Salsman, Garrett G. (July 1959). The Tsunami of March 9, 1957, as Recorded at Tide Stations (PDF) (Report). United States Government Printing Office. pp. 7, 8.
- Stover, C. W.; Coffman, J. L. (1993). Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised) – U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 29, 54, 55, 63.
- Sykes, Lynn R. (10 November 1971). "Aftershock zones of great earthquakes, seismicity gaps, and earthquake prediction for Alaska and the Aleutians". Journal of Geophysical Research. 76 (32): 8021–8041. . Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Tape, Carl; Lomax, Anthony (2022). "Aftershock Regions of Aleutian-Alaska Megathrust Earthquakes, 1938–2021". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 127 (7). S2CID 249857173.
- Witter, Robert C.; Carver, Gary A.; Briggs, Richard W.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Koehler, Richard D.; la Selle, SeanPaul; Bender, Adrian M.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Hemphill-Haley, Eileen; Hill, Troy D. (16 January 2016). "Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust". Geophysical Research Letters. 43 (1): 76–84. S2CID 131231692.
- Witter, Robert C.; Briggs, Rich; Engelhart, Simon E.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Koehler, Richard D.; Nelson, Alan; la Selle, SeanPaul; Corbett, Reide; Wallace, Kristi (16 November 2019). "Evidence for frequent, large tsunamis spanning locked and creeping parts of the Aleutian megathrust". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 131 (5–6): 707–729. S2CID 134362013. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- Yeats, R. (2012). Active Faults of the World. ISBN 978-0521190855.
External links
- USGS Earthquake Hazards Program – Andreanof Islands, Alaska, Magnitude 8.6
- Tsunami! – 1957 Aleutian tsunami Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
- The March 9, 1957 Aleutian Tsunami – George Pararas-Carayannis
- The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.