Images

Photograph taken in 1964 of the main part of the Chenega village site in Alaska. Pilings in the ground mark the former locations of homes swept away by tsunami waves. The schoolhouse on high ground was undamaged.

Uplifted sea floor at Cape Cleare, Montague Island, Prince William Sound, in the area of greatest recorded tectonic uplift on land (33 feet). The very gently sloping flat rocky surface with the white coating which lies between the cliffs and the water is about a quarter of a mile wide. It is a wave-cut surface that was below sea level before the earthquake.

During the earthquake fundamental changes in the level of the earth's crust occurred in south-central Alaska and adjacent off­ shore areas. Uplifted dock on Hinchinbrook Island, Prince William Sound. Land in this area rose about 8 feet during the earthquake, and the dock can now be used only at extremely high tides. 

At many places along the mountain front bordering Turnagain Arm, earthquake­ triggered avalanches buried the Seward Highway and the main line of The Alaska Railroad. In this slide the railroad is on top of the embankment at the foot of the mountain; "the highway is at the foot of the embankment, at the edge of the mud flats.

The waterfront at Seward a few months after the earthquake, looking north. Note the "scalloped" shoreline left by the underwater landslides, the severed tracks in the railroad yard which dangle over the landslide scarp, and the windrow-like heaps of railroad cars and other debris thrown up by the tsunami waves.

This highway embankment fissured and spread (lurched). The road was built on thick deposits of alluvium and tidal estuary mud along Turnagain Arm near Portage, Alaska. Failure of railway and highway embankments by fissuring and spreading, and by subsidence of the embankments into underlying, earthquake-weakened, unconsolidated deposits.

The rails in this approach to a railroad bridge near the head of Turnagain Arm were torn from their ties and buckled laterally by channelward movement of the riverbanks during the earthquake. The bridge was also com­ pressed and developed a hump from vertical buckling.

1964 aerial photograph of St. Mary's Residence and the nearby Four Seasons Apartment Building (#25 on map), Anchorage, Alaska. copyright: Air Photo Tech - NV5 Geospatial

The marquee of the Denali Theater, which was in the graben of the Fourth Avenue landslide in Anchorage, subsided until it came to rest on the sidewalk in front of the theater, which was on ground not involved in the landslide.

Alaska Earthquake March 27, 1964.

A subsidence trough (or graben) formed at the head of the L Street landslide in Anchorage during the earthquake. The slide block, which is virtually unbroken ground to the left of the graben, moved to the left. The subsidence trough sank 7 to 10 feet in response to 11 feet of horizontal movement of the slide block.

Collapse of Fourth Avenue near C Street, Anchorage, due to a landslide caused by earthquake. Anchorage, Anchorage District, Cook Inlet Region, Alaska. (Photo by U.S. Army). Published as Figure 45 in U.S. Geological Survey. Professional Paper 541. 1966.

Anchorage municipal wharf area shortly after the earthquake at low tide. The main dock was only slightly damaged, but the older Army dock (upper left) was ruined. Vibration and ground fractures damaged some structures in the port area, including the petroleum tank (lower right). Photo by U.S. Army.

Native Hospital landslide in Anchorage, showing graben and pressure ridge. The scar of an older landslide is transected by the slide of March 27.

Wreckage of Government Hill School in Anchorage, as viewed from the playground, looking west. The graben in the foreground is about 12 feet deep. The water tower is undamaged.

Warehouses at the toe of the Fourth Avenue landslide in Anchorage were destroyed by compressional buckling and foreshortening that are illustrated in slides 49 and 50.  Much of the supply of food and drink for the city of Anchorage was stored in these buildings, and they were guarded by Eskimo units of the Alaska National Guard.

Destructive landslides and damage in Anchorage: graben at the head of the L Street landslide.
Anchorage District, Cook Inlet Region, Alaska, 1964.
Photo by A. Grantz.
Published in U. S.Geological Survey. Circular 491, Figures 18A & 18B, p.31. 1964.

Alaska Earthquake March 27, 1964.
Compare the damage sustained by the Hillside Apartment Building and the adjacent three-story wood-frame dwelling with the tall chimney. In general, wood frame buildings in Anchorage sustained little damage from seismic vibration.

View of damage to the Mt. McKinley Apartments in Anchorage, Alaska caused by the March 27, 1964 earthquake. Image includes automobiles, people, and power lines. Yellow sign on building reads fallout shelter. Sign on building reads Blue mirror bar lounge. Sign on building, lower right, reads Physicians optical guild opticans.

Damage to building from seismic vibration. The Fifth Avenue Chrysler Center in Anchorage was constructed of pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete roof T's which rested on concrete block walls in most parts of the building. However, in the showroom area the roof T's rested on reinforced concrete columns.

Damage to building from seismic vibrations. The Alaska Sales and Service building in Anchorage, which was under construction, partially collapsed during the earthquake. The building was constructed of pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete roof "T"s which rested on pre-cast reinforced-concrete T-columns, and it had pre-cast reinforced-concrete walls.