Publications

U.S. Geological Survey instrumental seismic studies in the Parkfield-Cholame area consist of three related parts that were undertaken as pilot studies in a program designed to develop improved tools and concepts for investigating the properties and behavior of the San Andreas fault. These studies include: 1. The long=term monitoring of the seismic background on the San Andreas fault in...

Seward, in south-central Alaska, was one of the towns most devastated by the Alaska earthquake of March 27, 1964. The greater part of Seward is built on an alluvial fan-delta near the head of Resurrection Bay on the southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula. It is one of the few ports in south-central Alaska that is ice free all year, and the town’s economy is almost entirely dependent upon...

The great 1964 Alaska earthquake caused considerable ground breakage in the Cook Inlet area of south-central Alaska. The breakage occurred largely in thick deposits of unconsolidated sediments. The most important types of ground breakage were (1) fracturing or cracking and the extrusion of sand and gravel with ground water along fractures in various types of landforms, and (2) slumping...

This report summarizes geometric aspects of approximately 35 instances of historic faulting of the ground surface in the continental United States and adjacent parts of Mexico. This information is of immediate importance in the selection and evaluation of sites for vital structures such as nuclear power plants. The data are presented in a table and graphs which show the quantitative...

The March 27, 1964, Alaska earthquake and its associated aftershocks caused damage requiring several million dollars worth of repair to the Eklwtna Hydroelectric Project, 34 miles northeast of Anchorage. Electric service from the Eklutna powerplant was interrupted during the early phase of the March 27 earthquake, built was restored (intermittently) until May 9,1964, when the plant was...

This is the forth in a series of six reports that the U.S. Geological Survey published on the results of a comprehensive geologic study that began, as a reconnaissance survey, within 24 hours after the March 27, 1964, Magnitude 9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake and extended, as detailed investigations, through several field seasons. The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake was the largest earthquake...

A paleomagnetic and K-Ar dating study of 44 upper Miocene and Pliocene volcanic units from the western United States suggests that the frequency of reversals of the earth's magnetic field during Pliocene time may have been comparable with that of the last 3.6 m.y. Although the data are too limited to permit the formal naming of any new polarity epochs or events, four polarity transitions...

Recent paleomagnetic-radiometric data from six rhyolite domes in the Valles Caldera, New Mexico, indicate that the last change in polarity of the earth's magnetic field from reversed to normal (the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary) occurred at about 0.7 million years ago. A previously undiscovered geomagnetic polarity event, herein named the "Jaramillo normal event," occurred about 0.9 million...

The Copper River Basin area is in south-central Alaska and covers 17,800 square miles. It includes most of the Copper River Basin and parts of the surrounding Alaska Range and the Talkeetna, Chugach, and Wrangell Mountains. On March 27, 1964, shortly after 5:36 p.m. Alaska standard time, a great earthquake having a Richter magnitude of about 8.5 struck south-central Alaska. Computations...

The earthquake of March 27, 1964, greatly affected the hydrology of Alaska and many other parts of the world. Its far-reaching effects were recorded as water-level fluctuations in gages operated on water wells and streams. The close-in effects were even more striking, however; sediment-laden ground water erupted at the surface, and even ice-covered lakes and streams responded by seiching...

The March 27, 1964, earthquake shook the Homer area for about 3 minutes. Land effects consisted of a 2- to 6-foot subsidence of the mainland and Homer Spit, one earthflow at the mouth of a canyon, several landslides on the Homer escarpment and along the sea bluffs, and minor fissuring of the ground, principally at the edges of bluffs and on Homer Spit. Hydrologic effects consisted of at...

Valdez is situated on the seaward edge of a large outwash delta composed of a thick section of saturated silty sand and gravel. The earthquake of March 27, 1964, triggered a massive submarine slide, involving approximately 98 million cubic yards of material that destroyed the harbor facilities and nearshore installations. Waves generated by the slide and subsequent strong seiches did...