Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards
Science Center Objects
Alaska has more large earthquakes than the rest of the United States combined. More than three-quarters of the state’s population live in an area that can experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. Our research provides objective science that helps stakeholders prepare for and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes and tsunamis, which bolsters the economic health and well-being of Alaska and the Nation. The Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards team conducts field-based research to understand how, where, and why earthquakes and tsunamis occur in Alaska. Our research examines earthquake hazards that contribute to societal risk in Alaska and beyond, including earthquake ground motion, fault slip, surface deformation, landslides and liquefaction triggered by strong ground shaking, and tsunamis.
Debris avalanches on bluffs composed of glacial outwash sediment along the Eklutna River.
(Credit: Rob Witter, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.)
Our research team examines major fault systems in Alaska capable of generating large earthquakes, including the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, the Denali Fault system, and the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault system. Many active faults in Alaska are capable of generating large tsunamis that threaten coastal communities in Alaska and beyond. For example, seafloor deformation during historic Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone earthquakes has generated tsunamis that traveled across the Pacific Ocean and impacted densely populated coasts around the Pacific Rim including Hawaii and the mainland U.S. west coast. The Denali Fault and other active faults in Alaska encroach on populated areas and critical infrastructure, including existing and proposed oil and natural gas pipelines. Our investigation of these fault systems reveals the location, magnitude, and frequency of prehistoric earthquakes and tsunamis, and informs probabilistic assessments that forecast future hazards.
The Alaska Earthquake Hazards Project research equips Alaska and Pacific Rim stakeholders and communities with vital information to improve earthquake and tsunami resilience. Remote but fast-moving faults such as the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault system represent scientific frontier areas, where study improves understanding of earthquake processes that occur on slower-moving faults near densely populated urban centers in the contiguous U.S.
Characterizing the Active Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System
Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone Studies
Alaska Seismic Hazard Map
M7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage Earthquake
Recently Completed Research:
- Denali Fault Paleoseismology
- Denali Fault Slip Rate
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Date published: November 2, 2020Status: ActiveEarthquake Hazards in Southeastern Alaska
Over the last 100 years, the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system has produced large-magnitude earthquakes affecting both Canada and the U.S. To fill in missing details about its offshore location and structure, USGS uses sophisticated techniques to truly understand the fault’s hazard potential.
Contacts: Danny BrothersAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: November 5, 2019Status: ActiveM7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage Earthquake
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, on November 30, 2018, at 8:29 a.m. local time (17:29:28 UTC).
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: October 9, 2018Status: ActiveAlaska Seismic Hazard Map
The National Seismic Hazard Maps developed by the USGS show the spatial probability of peak earthquake-driven ground motion levels. Since the last revisions to the map for Alaska in 2007, scientists have made significant advances in understanding active faulting, fault slip rates, and fault behavior.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: October 9, 2018Status: ActiveAlaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone Studies
Our research team is exploring seismic and aseismic slip along the Alaska-Aleutian arc and studying the prehistoric record of megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis along the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone
Seismic and Aseismic Slip: Tectonic tremor and associated slow slip events represent a newly discovered part of the earthquake cycle. This research aims to...
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: October 9, 2018Status: ActiveCharacterizing the Active Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System
This research aims to better characterize the earthquake potential of the southern Fairweather Fault in order to provide more accurate fault source data for the USGS National Seismic Hazard Map. Our approach interrogates lidar data and satellite imagery, applies paleoseismological methods to examine earthquake history, and leverages partnerships with USGS scientists from Colorado and...
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: April 26, 2018Status: ActiveHazards in Alaska
A major goal of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to reduce the vulnerability of the people and areas most at risk from natural hazards. Working with partners throughout all sectors of society, the USGS provides information, products, and knowledge to help build more resilient communities. This site provides important links to a number of hazard related internet sites that provide important...
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
A maximum rupture model for the central and southern Cascadia subduction zone—reassessing ages for coastal evidence of megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis
A new history of great earthquakes (and their tsunamis) for the central and southern Cascadia subduction zone shows more frequent (17 in the past 6700 yr) megathrust ruptures than previous coastal chronologies. The history is based on along-strike correlations of Bayesian age models derived from evaluation of 554 radiocarbon ages that date...
Nelson, Alan; Duross, Christopher; Witter, Robert C.; Kelsey, Harvey M.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Mahan, Shannon A.; Gray, Harrison J.; Hawkes, Andrea D.; Horton, Benjamin P.; Padgett, Jason S.
Ground failure triggered by shaking during the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake
We developed an initial inventory of ground failure features from the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake. This inventory of 153 features is from ground-based observations soon after the earthquake (December 5–10) that include the presence or absence of liquefaction, landslides, and individual crack traces of lateral spreads and...
Grant, Alex R. R. ; Jibson, Randall W.; Witter, Robert C.; Allstadt, Kate E.; Thompson, Eric M.; Bender, Adrian M. Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018
Investigation of ground failure triggered by the 2018 Mw">MwMw 7.1 Anchorage earthquake showed that landslides, liquefaction, and ground cracking all occurred and caused significant damage. Shallow rock falls and rock slides were the most abundant types of landslides, but they occurred in smaller numbers than global models that are...
Jibson, Randall W.; Grant, Alex R. R. ; Witter, Robert C.; Allstadt, Kate; Thompson, Eric M.; Bender, Adrian The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake
The Mw">Mw 7.1 47 km deep earthquake that occurred on 30 November 2018 had deep societal impacts across southcentral Alaska and exhibited phenomena of broad scientific interest. We document observations that point to future directions of research and hazard mitigation. The rupture mechanism, aftershocks, and deformation of the...
West, Michael E.; Bender, Adrian; Gardine, Matthew; Gardine, Lea; Gately, Kara; Haeussler, Peter; Hassan, Wael; Meyer, Franz; Richards, Cole; Ruppert, Natalia; Tape, Carl; Thornley, John; Witter, Robert Wetland stratigraphic evidence for variable megathrust earthquake rupture modes at the Cascadia subduction zone
Although widespread agreement that the Cascadia subduction zone produces great earthquakes of magnitude 8 to 9 was reached decades ago, debate continues about the rupture lengths, magnitudes, and frequency of megathrust earthquakes recorded by wetland stratigraphy fringing Cascadia’s estuaries. Correlation of such coastal earthquake evidence along...
Nelson, Alan R.; Witter, Robert C.; Englehart, Simon; Hawkers, Andrea; Horton, Benjamin P. Neotectonics of interior Alaska and the late Quaternary slip rate along the Denali fault system
The neotectonics of southern Alaska (USA) are characterized by a several hundred kilometers–wide zone of dextral transpressional that spans the Alaska Range. The Denali fault system is the largest active strike-slip fault system in interior Alaska, and it produced a Mw 7.9 earthquake in 2002. To evaluate the late Quaternary slip rate on the...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Matmon, Ari; Schwartz, David P.; Seitz, Gordon G.
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
We map the 385-kilometer (km) long surface trace of the right-lateral, strike-slip Denali Fault between the Totschunda-Denali Fault intersection in Alaska, United States and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. In Alaska, digital elevation models based on light detection and ranging and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data...
Bender, Adrian M.; Haeussler, Peter J. Alternative source models of very low frequency events
We present alternative source models for very low frequency (VLF) events, previously inferred to be radiation from individual slow earthquakes that partly fill the period range between slow slip events lasting thousands of seconds and low-frequency earthquakes (LFE) with durations of tenths of a second. We show that VLF events may emerge from...
Gomberg, Joan S.; Agnew, D.C.; Schwartz, S.Y. Evidence for shallow megathrust slip across the Unalaska seismic gap during the great 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska
We reassess the slip distribution of the 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake in the eastern part of the aftershock zone where published slip models infer little or no slip. Eyewitness reports, tide gauge data, and geological evidence for 9–23 m tsunami runups imply seafloor deformation offshore Unalaska Island in 1957, in contrast with previous...
Nicolsky, D. J.; Freymueller, J.T.; Witter, Robert C.; Suleimani, E. N.; Koehler, R.D. Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Current models used to assess earthquake and tsunami hazards are inadequate where creep dominates a subduction megathrust. Here we report geological evidence for large tsunamis, occurring on average every 300–340 years, near the source areas of the 1946 and 1957 Aleutian tsunamis. These areas bookend a postulated seismic gap over 200 km long...
Witter, Robert C.; Carver, G.A.; Briggs, Richard W.; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; Koehler, R.D.; La Selle, SeanPaul M.; Bender, Adrian M.; Engelhart, S.E.; Hemphill-Haley, E.; Hill, Troy D. Intertidal biological indicators of coseismic subsidence during the Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii, Canada, earthquake
The 28 October 2012 Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii earthquake was a megathrust earthquake along the very obliquely convergent Queen Charlotte margin of British Columbia, Canada. Coseismic deformation is not well constrained by geodesy, with only six Global Positioning System (GPS) sites and two tide gauge stations within 250 km of the rupture...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Witter, Robert C.; Wang, Kelin Focused exhumation along megathrust splay faults in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Megathrust splay faults are a common feature of accretionary prisms and can be important for generating tsunamis during some subduction zone earthquakes. Here we provide new evidence from Alaska that megathrust splay faults have been conduits for focused exhumation in the last 5 Ma. In most of central Prince William Sound, published and new...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Armstrong, Phillip A; Liberty, Lee M; Ferguson, Kelly M; Finn, Shaun P; Arkle, Jeannette C; Pratt, Thomas L.-
Date published: March 4, 2021Low-Temperature Thermochronometric Data along the Fairweather Fault, Southeast Alaska, 2015-2020
This data set provides low-temperature thermochronometric data from 15 rock samples collected along the Fairweather fault in southeast Alaska. These data are from four different analyses used to estimate cooling ages: 1) apatite (U-Th)/He, 2) zircon (U-Th)/He, 3) apatite fission-track, and 4) zircon fission-track.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: October 8, 2020Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018
This dataset provides a digital elevation model mosaic derived from airborne lidar data acquired in 2018 from September 2–3 over eight separate areas along Alaska's Montague Island coast, between Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: December 2, 2019Did You Feel It?
Feel an earthquake? Report it here. View reported earthquakes in your area.
Attribution: Earthquake Hazards Program -
Date published: January 1, 2017Aerial Photo Orthomosaics (1979-1989) Associated With Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada
This data set provides 13 digital air photo orthomosaics that cover ~90% of the surface trace of the Eastern Denali Fault between the Alaska-Yukon international border and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: January 1, 2017
Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015
This dataset provides four digital elevation models derived from airborne lidar data acquired over four separate areas along and adjacent to the Fairweather Fault along the remote Gulf of Alaska coast within Glacier Bay National Park. In 1958, the Fairweather Fault in southeast Alaska ruptured over 260 km between Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound, producing the magnitude 7.8 Lituya Bay earthquake....
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: January 1, 2017
Digital Linework (1979-2008) Associated With Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada
This data set provides the first detailed (1:2,000 to 1:10,000) digital map of the ~385 km long surface trace of the right-lateral strike-slip Denali Fault from the Totschunda-Denali Fault intersection in central interior Alaska, USA to the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: January 1, 2017
Photogrammetric Digital Elevation Model (1979-1989) Associated With Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada
This data set provides a photogrammetry-based digital elevation model (DEM) that covers ~90% of the surface trace of the Eastern Denali Fault between the Alaska-Yukon international border and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. The DEM has an average resolution of 4 m/pixel.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center
Evidence of turbidity currents in Eklutna Lake
USGS scientists, working with researchers from the University of Ghent, probed the floor of Eklutna Lake, Anchorage Borough, Alaska, for evidence of turbidity currents triggered by strong shaking during the 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage earthquake. In this photo, USGS scientist Peter Haeussler points to a dark layer at the top of a sediment core taken from the floor of Eklutna Lake
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Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault Study Area
Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault study area offshore the west coast of Canada, and Southeast Alaska . A: Red line is the QueenCharlotte-Fairweather Fault. Box indicates area of map C. B. Location map. C. Water depths offshore in study area.
USGS scientist investigates cracks along Trunk Road in Wasilla, AK
A USGS scientist investigates cracks along Trunk Road in Wasilla, Alaska. Extensional crack and damage to roadway along S Trunk Rd. No visible compressional zone or displacement at the toe of the landslide was observed. These cracks were among many that opened across the Anchorage and Mat-Su region due to strong shaking during the November 30 2018 Anchorage earthquake.
A USGS geologist stands in a crack in tide flat sediment, Alaska
A USGS scientist stands in a crack in tide flat sediment that opened during strong shaking in the November 30, 2018 Anchorage earthquake. This upland ground crack near Cottonwood Creek, Palmer Slough had horizontal displacements of ~2.5ft locally and observed maximum depth of ~3ft. The crack was observed ~150ft from the active river channel. This was one of 153 ground
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Measuring a crack in sandy sediment along the Knik River, Alaska
Exposed sand within a extensional crack along the Knik River, Alaska. Measuring a crack in sandy sediment along the south bank of the Knik River. This crack was one of many that opened across the Anchorage and Mat-Su region due to strong shaking during the M7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage earthquake.
2018 Potter Hill landslide 2, Anchorage, AK
Landslide from bluff below rail grade north of Rabbit Creek. Main scarp of slump/flow slide at Potter Hill. Railroad grade is to the left, tidal flat to the right. Note ponded drainage and disrupted slide material.
2018 Anchorage Earthquake
Close up of cracks at the north end of the Port of Anchorage, Alaska
Lateral spread cracks at northern end of Port of Anchorage. These cracks were among many that opened across the Anchorage and Mat-Su region due to strong shaking during the M7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage earthquake.
Cracks at the north end of the Port of Anchorage, Alaska
Lateral spread cracks at the north end of the Port of Anchorage, Alaska. These cracks were among many that opened across the Anchorage and Mat-Su region due to strong shaking during the M7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage earthquake.
Chugiak extensional cracks, Chugiak, AK
Extensional cracking and settling around private residence in Chugiak.
2018 Anchorage Earthquake
Ground crack at Sunset Park, Anchorage, AK
Crack observed in 2018 along headscarp of 1964 Government Hill landslide.
2018 Anchorage Earthquake
2018 Anchorage Earthquake -- Overflight Photo 5 - 12/03/18
Ground cracks present the potential for future slope failure during aftershocks or heavy rainfall. These cracks occur at the top of a steep valley wall on the south side of Potter Creek in south Anchorage.
2018 Anchorage Earthquake -- Overflight Photo 4 - 12/03/18
Sediment vented by earthquake-triggered liquefaction at the mouth of the Little Susitna River.
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Date published: November 30, 20182018 Anchorage Earthquake
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, on November 30, 2018, at 8:29 a.m. local time (17:29:28 UTC). For the most up-to-date information, please visit the USGS event page, and for estimates of casualties and damage, visit the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) website.
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Date published: August 6, 2018Scientists complete mission to map fast-moving fault off Alaska: Data will help coastal communities prepare for risks from earthquakes and tsunamis
Researchers from NOAA, U.S. Geological Survey and their partners have completed the first high-resolution, comprehensive mapping of one of the fastest moving underwater tectonic faults in the world, located in southeastern Alaska. This information will help communities in coastal Alaska and Canada better understand and prepare for the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis that can occur when faults suddenly move.
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Date published: March 12, 2018Laboratory collaboration to study earthquake hazards off southeast Alaska and western Canada
Studying the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault
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Date published: November 18, 2017Return to the Alaska Wilderness: USGS Scientists visit one of North America’s fastest-moving faults
A team of USGS scientists spent two weeks in the isolated Glacier Bay National Park, exploring one of the fastest-moving faults in North America.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: September 7, 2016Uncharted: Exploring one of America’s fastest faults
A team of USGS scientists spent 10 days in the wilderness, exploring one of the fastest-moving faults in America
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Date published: April 30, 2014Can a Creeping Segment of the Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone Generate a Great Earthquake?
The coastal geology of Simeonof Island, the southeastern-most island in the Shumagin archipelago of the Aleutian Islands, suggests the region has not experienced a great megathrust earthquake in at least the past 3,400 years.
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Date published: March 27, 2014Prior Great Earthquakes Unveiled at the Western Edge of the 1964 Alaska Rupture
Ever since the great magnitude 9.2 earthquake shook Alaska 50 years ago today, scientists have suspected that the quake's rupture halted at the southwestern tip of Kodiak Island due to a natural barrier.
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Date published: March 20, 2014
The Science Behind the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami
Why does the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake Matter 50 Years Later? Scientific experts will talk about a half-century of scientific and monitoring advances triggered by the 1964 events.
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Date published: February 24, 2014The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami
On March 27th, 1964, the second largest instrumentally recorded earthquake worldwide rocked southern Alaska for 4 to 5 minutes. In addition to the earthquake, the event triggered a major tsunami that caused casualties and damage from the Kodiak Islands to northern California.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska