Tsunami and Paleotsunami Data, Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska, 2014

• Main Author: MacInnes, Breanyn
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2017
• Subjects: Paleotsunami; Islands of the Four Mountains; Tsunami; Pacific; Archipelago; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2696zz30; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2696ZZ30

This dataset contains observations of the inland extent (elevation above and distance inland from the shoreline) of the 1957 Aleutian tsunami, plus stratigraphic information of likely paleotsunami deposits on Chuginadak Island, in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Aleutians, Alaska. All observations will be published in special issue with other collaborators on the project (citation available after publication), or can be obtained from the author at [e-mail] This dataset was collected as part of an interdisciplinary human/ecosystems resilience project in the Islands of the Four Mountains that included the study of hazards caused by earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The Four Mountains island group provide an excellent opportunity to assess the development of prehistoric human adaptations to geological hazards and environmental change because they lie within a zone of high catastrophic potential. As examples, Mt. Cleveland, has erupted explosively more than 20 times in the last decade and during the time of prehistoric human habitation. The Aleutian plate boundary is the site of four earthquakes having a magnitude greater than 8 and dozens with magnitudes greater than 7, and these have generated tsunamis historically and prehistorically. The Four Mountain prehistoric sites are little studied but are highly significant for interpreting the role of geologic hazards on human migration and societal development in the Aleutian archipelago. The 2-year project (2014-2015) included a team of professional and student archaeologists, geologists, ecologists, and zoologists. Extensive datasets, in addition to the tsunami dataset here, include radiocarbon, geological, paleoenvironmental, and cultural data. These data yield novel insights into the record of geological hazards, human coping mechanisms, changing subsistence, and adaptations during the prehistoric and European contact periods. Additionally, assessing the degree to which geological hazards in the Aleutian archipelago disrupted prehistoric human and ecological systems has important lessons for current inhabitants of the northern Pacific Rim.