https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/megathrust/ Recent content in Megathrust on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:12:33 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/alaskan-megathrust-fault-more-active-under-kodiak/ Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:12:33 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/alaskan-megathrust-fault-more-active-under-kodiak/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/alaskan-megathrust-fault-more-active-under-kodiak/aeq00007_0.jpg" alt="This road along Womens Bay on Kodiak Island is in an area that subsided nearly 2 meters during the 1964 earthquake. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>This road along Womens Bay on Kodiak Island is in an area that subsided nearly 2 meters during the 1964 earthquake. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library.</figcaption> </figure> <p>In 1964, a magnitude-9.2 earthquake ruptured two segments of the Alaskan megathrust fault along more than 900 kilometers from Prince William Sound to Kodiak Island. Historical and paleoseismic evidence has hinted at previous events in this region in 1788 and about 1100, and now a team working on Kodiak Island has found clues of another large event that struck about 500 years ago. The find makes the recurrence interval for the tsunami-producing fault much shorter, potentially increasing the earthquake and tsunami hazard profile, not only for Alaska, but also Hawaii and California.</p>