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2002 Denali Earthquake
The 2002 Denali earthquake occurred at 22:12:41 UTC (1:12 PM Local Time) November 3 with an epicenter 66 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska, United States. This 7.9 Mw earthquake was the largest recorded in the United States in 37 years (after the 1965 Rat Islands earthquake). The shock was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of Alaska. Due to the remote location, there were no fatalities and only one injury. Due to the shallow depth, it was felt at least as far away as Seattle and it generated seiches on bodies of water as far away as Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana. About 20 houseboats were damaged by a seiche on a lake in Washington State. Tectonic setting The Denali-Totschunda fault is a major dextral (right lateral) strike-slip system, similar in scale to the San Andreas fault system. In Alaska, moving from east to west, the plate interactions change from a transform boundary between Pacific and North American plates to a collision zone with a microplat ...
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Moment Magnitude Scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 paper by Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori. Similar to the local magnitude/Richter scale () defined by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, it uses a logarithmic scale; small earthquakes have approximately the same magnitudes on both scales. Despite the difference, news media often says "Richter scale" when referring to the moment magnitude scale. Moment magnitude () is considered the authoritative magnitude scale for ranking earthquakes by size. It is more directly related to the energy of an earthquake than other scales, and does not saturate—that is, it does not underestimate magnitudes as other scales do in certain conditions. It has become the standard scale used by seismological authorities like the U.S. Geological SurveyThe "USGS Ear ...
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Fault (geology)
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep. A ''fault plane'' is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A '' fault trace'' or ''fault line'' is a place where the fault can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault. A ''fault zone'' is a cluster of parallel faults. However, the term is also used for the zone of crushed rock along a single fault. Prolonged motion along closely spaced faults can blur ...
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Trans Alaska Pipeline Denali Fault Shift
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film), a 1998 American film * Trans Corp, an Indonesian business unit of CT Corp in the fields of media, lifestyle, and entertainment ** Trans Media, a media subsidiary of Trans Corp *** Trans TV, an Indonesian television network *** Trans7, an Indonesian television network Literature * '' Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities'', a 2016 book by Rogers Brubaker * '' Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality'', a 2021 book by Helen Joyce Music * ''Trans'' (album), by Neil Young * ''Trans'' (Stockhausen), a 1971 orchestral composition Places * Trans, Mayenne, France, a commune * Trans, Switzerland, a village Science and technology * Trans effect in inorganic chemistry, the increased lability of ligands that are trans to certain o ...
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Supershear Earthquake
In seismology, a supershear earthquake is an earthquake in which the propagation of the rupture along the fault surface occurs at speeds in excess of the seismic shear wave (S-wave) velocity. This causes an effect analogous to a sonic boom. Rupture propagation velocity During seismic events along a fault surface the displacement initiates at the focus and then propagates outwards. Typically for large earthquakes the focus lies towards one end of the slip surface and much of the propagation is unidirectional (e.g. the 2008 Sichuan and 2004 Indian Ocean earthquakes). Theoretical studies have in the past suggested that the upper bound for propagation velocity is that of Rayleigh waves, approximately 0.92 of the shear wave velocity. However, evidence of propagation at velocities between S-wave and compressional wave (P-wave) values have been reported for several earthquakesArchuleta,R.J. 1984A faulting model for the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake J. Geophys. Res., 89, 4559–4585. ...
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Surface Rupture
In seismology, surface rupture (or ground rupture, or ground displacement) is the visible offset of the ground surface when an earthquake rupture along a fault affects the Earth's surface. Surface rupture is opposed by buried rupture, where there is no displacement at ground level. This is a major risk to any structure that is built across a fault zone that may be active, in addition to any risk from ground shaking. Surface rupture entails vertical or horizontal movement, on either side of a ruptured fault. Surface rupture can affect large areas of land. __TOC__ Lack of surface rupture Not every earthquake results in surface rupture, particularly for smaller and deeper earthquakes. In some cases, however, the lack of surface effects is because the fault that moved does not reach the surface. For example, the 1994 Northridge earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.7, caused major damage in the Los Angeles area, occurred at below the Earth's surface, but did not cause surfa ...
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Susitna Glacier
Susitna Glacier is an alpine or valley glacier in the Alaska Range. Susitna Glacier flows over a seismically active area. The 7.9-magnitude 2002 Denali earthquake struck the region in November 2002. The earthquake initiated with thrust movement on the previously unrecognized Susitna Glacier fault. See also * Susitna River * Matanuska-Susitna Valley * 2002 Denali earthquake The 2002 Denali earthquake occurred at 22:12:41 UTC (1:12 PM Local Time) November 3 with an epicenter 66 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska, United States. This 7.9 Mw earthquake was the largest recorded in the United States in 37 year ... References Glaciers of Alaska Glaciers of Denali Borough, Alaska Glaciers of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska Glaciers of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska Glaciers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska {{Alaska-glacier-stub ...
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Coulomb Stress Transfer
Coulomb stress transfer is a seismic-related geological process of stress changes to surrounding material caused by local discrete deformation events. Using mapped displacements of the Earth's surface during earthquakes, the computed Coulomb stress changes suggest that the stress relieved during an earthquake not only dissipates but can also move up and down fault segments, concentrating and promoting subsequent tremors. Importantly, Coulomb stress changes have been applied to earthquake-forecasting models that have been used to assess potential hazards related to earthquake activity. Coulomb stress change The Coulomb failure criterion requires that the Coulomb stress exceeds a value σf defined by the shear stress τB, normal stress σB, pore pressure p, and coefficient of friction μ of a failure plane, such that It is also often assumed that changes in pore fluid pressure induced by changes in stress are proportional to the normal stress change across the fault plane. ...
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Foreshock
A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic event (the mainshock) and is related to it in both time and space. The designation of an earthquake as ''foreshock'', ''mainshock'' or aftershock is only possible after the full sequence of events has happened. Occurrence Foreshock activity has been detected for about 40% of all moderate to large earthquakes, and about 70% for events of M>7.0. They occur from a matter of minutes to days or even longer before the main shock; for example, the 2002 Sumatra earthquake is regarded as a foreshock of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake with a delay of more than two years between the two events. Some great earthquakes (M>8.0) show no foreshock activity at all, such as the M8.6 1950 India–China earthquake. The increase in foreshock activity is difficult to quantify for individual earthquakes but becomes apparent when combining the results of many different events. From such combined observations, the increase before the ...
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Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands. Most of the Aleutian Islands belong to the U.S. state of Alaska, but some belong to the Russian federal subject of Kamchatka Krai. They form part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying a land area of 6,821 sq mi (17,666 km2) and extending about westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and act as a border between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Crossing longitude 180°, at which point east and west longitude end, the archipelago contains both the westernmost part of the United States by longitude ( Amatignak Island) and the easternmost by longitude ( Semisopochnoi Island). The westernmost U.S. islan ...
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Destructive Boundary
A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a plane where many earthquakes occur, called the Wadati–Benioff zone. These collisions happen on scales of millions to tens of millions of years and can lead to volcanism, earthquakes, orogenesis, destruction of lithosphere, and deformation. Convergent boundaries occur between oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, oceanic-continental lithosphere, and continental-continental lithosphere. The geologic features related to convergent boundaries vary depending on crust types. Plate tectonics is driven by convection cells in the mantle. Convection cells are the result of heat generated by the radioactive decay of elements in the mantle escaping to the surface and the return of cool materials from the surface to the mantle. These convection cells bring hot ...
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Accretion (geology)
Accretion, in geology, is a process by which material is added to a tectonic plate at a Subduction, subduction zone, frequently on the edge of existing continental Landmass, landmasses. The added material may be sediment, Volcanic arc, volcanic arcs, Seamount, seamounts, oceanic crust or other igneous features. Description Accretion involves the addition of material to a Plate tectonics, tectonic plate via subduction, the process by which one plate is forced under the other when two plates collide. The plate which is being forced down, the subducted plate, is pushed against the upper, over-riding plate. Sediment on the ocean floor of the subducting plate is often scraped off as the plate descends. This accumulated material is called an accretionary wedge (or accretionary prism), which is pushed against and attaches to the upper plate. In addition to accumulated ocean sediments, volcanic island arcs or seamounts present on the subducting plate may be amalgamated onto existing cont ...
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Yakutat Block
The Yakutat Block is a terrane in the process of accreting to the North American continent along the south central coast of Alaska. It has been displaced about northward since the Cenozoic along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system. The Yakutat Block is bounded on the northeast by the Fairweather Fault, and on the north by a system of thrust and possibly strike-slip faults in the Chugach Mountains and St. Elias Mountains. The Yakutat Block is bounded on its southwest side by an as yet undefined underwater geologic feature known as the Transition Zone. Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements indicate that the Yakutat block has a distinctive velocity relative to both the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. Thus it appears to be a terrane in the process of accreting rather than a block already sutured on to the Pacific or North American plate. Relative to North America, the Yakutat Block moves at a rate of about to the north northwest, along the Fairweather ...
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