Alaskan Seismic Gap Only Partially Filled by 28 February 1979 Earthquake

The Saint Elias, Alaska, earthquake (magnitude 7.7) of 28 February 1979 is the first major earthquake since 1900 to occur along the complex Pacific-North American plate boundary between Yakutat Bay and Prince William Sound. This event involved complex rupture on a shallow, low-angle, north-dipping f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Lahr, J. C., Stephens, C. D., Hasegawa, H. S., Boatwright, John
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1980
Subjects:
Pacific
Yakutat
Alaska
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.207.4437.1351
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.207.4437.1351
Description
Summary:The Saint Elias, Alaska, earthquake (magnitude 7.7) of 28 February 1979 is the first major earthquake since 1900 to occur along the complex Pacific-North American plate boundary between Yakutat Bay and Prince William Sound. This event involved complex rupture on a shallow, low-angle, north-dipping fault beneath the Chugach and Saint Elias Mountains. The plate boundary between Yakutat Bay and Prince William Sound had been identified as a seismic gap, an area devoid of major earthquakes during the last few decades, and was thought to be a likely site for a future major earthquake. Since the Saint Elias earthquake fills only the eastern quarter of the gap, the remainder of the gap to the west is a prime area for the study of precursory and coseismic phenomena associated with large earthquakes.

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