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Prince William Sound, Alaska 1964

"The Great Alaskan" Earthquake And

The Richter and Mercalli Scales

61.02 -147.65

By William Olson

Period 3

11/12/14

Second largest recorded earthquake.

To Simplify...

At the time the Plate Tectonic Theory was just being developed, and after detailed investigating George Plafker concluded. "The Great Alaskan Earthquake" was a "megathrust" earthquake. Occurring where an oceanic plate goes under a continental plate. The slip between the two tectonic plates is called a subduction zone.

What are Earthquakes?

  • Earthquakes can be caused when two tectonic plates slip by each other. Plate boundaries.

Bibliography

Mercalli Scale

Richter Scale

The Richter scale is the most common standard of measurement for an earthquake. It was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter. The scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake, or the amount of energy the earthquake released. To determine what the earthquake was on the scale they use a seismograph to help gather the seismic waves of the earthquake. The Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning a level 8 earthquake is 10 times greater that a level 7 earthquake, also a level 7 earthquake would be 100 times greater than a level 5 earthquake because it is two levels greater.

The Mercalli Scale was originally developed by Italian vulcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli in 1884. It was later expanded to 12 degrees of intensity in 1902 by Adolfo Cancani. Today it is known as the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. The scale measures the intensity of an earthquake by observing its effect on people, earth's surface, and the environment.

Here in Prince William Sound, Alaska,"The Great Alaskan Earthquake" happened in 1964.

The Basics

"The Great Alaskan Earthquake" occurred at Prince William Sound, Alaska. It was a magnitude 9.2 on the Richter Scale. Also, It happened on Good Friday March 27, 1964. The earthquake was felt throughout Alaska, Canada, and some parts of Washington. It was one of largest recorded earthquakes. The earthquake caused massive property damage and mainly wrecked havoc on the towns of Valdez and Anchorage.

Earthquake epicenter was in the middle of two towns, Valdez and Anchorage.

More Information

The earthquake was felt around the world, the seismic waves made the whole world ring like a bell. It was so powerful it even caused the Space Needle to sway. Also, the earthquake caused a tsunami that effected towns on the Gulf of Alaska. 11 aftershocks occurred that day alone with at least 6.0 magnitudes.

With the earthquake, came vertical displacement over an area of about 520,000 square kilometers. The greater are of uplift trended northeast, all from Kodiak Island to Prince William Sound. It also trended east-west to the east of the Prince William Sound. Vertical displacements ranged from 11.5 meters of uplift to about 2.3 meters of subsidence relative to sea level.

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