Study Predicts Chance of 9+ Magnitude Mega-Earthquake in Alaska
There’s a nine percent chance a magnitude 9 or larger earthquake will strike the Aleutian Islands in the next 50 years. That is the prediction offered by scientists from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa — made with the help of a newly designed computer model.
Researchers say an earthquake of that size could send a mega-tsunami in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Aleutian Islands, which stretch toward Russia from the coast of Alaska, sit along a subduction zone at the convergence of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. Scientists say the chance of a dramatic slip along the fault lines that make up the subduction zone is significant.
They detailed the threat of a mega-earthquake in a new paper, published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” lead study author Rhett Butler, a geophysicist at the UHM School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, explained in a news release. “Having no recorded history of mega tsunamis in Hawai’i, and given the tsunami threat to Hawai’i, we devised a model for Magnitude 9 earthquake rates following upon the insightful work of David Burbidge and others.” (Read more from “Study Predicts Chance of 9+ Magnitude Mega-Earthquake in the Aleutians” please click HERE)
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