1964 Alaska Earthquake Essay For Geology

Alaska Earthquake 1964 Have you ever experienced an earthquake? Perhaps you have felt a small tremor or a large one. Whatever the case, you are not alone. Many people have experienced an earthquake at some point in their lives. It is an interesting experience and hard to forget. It can also be frightening as well, especially if you are caught off guard. Imagine going about your daily life when all of a sudden the ground starts to shake. Things fall and buildings collapse. What goes on in one 's mind? It almost feels as if the end of the world has come. That is how residents felt in Alaska when it was struck by an earthquake. The earthquake caught many residents off guard, caused a lot of damage, and left a lasting impression of Mother Nature’s power. Alaska was struck with an earthquake on March 27, 1964 on a Good Friday (Walker, 1982, p. 20). According to the United States Geologic Survey, the earthquake registered at a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale ("The Richter magnitude scale," 2009). The Richter scale, created by Charles F. Richter, is a scale that measures how much energy an earthquake releases (Walker, 1982, p. 33). The Alaska Earthquake Information Center states that this earthquake was "the second largest earthquake ever recorded in the world" ("The great Alaska earthquake of 1964," 2002). According to the scale, earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.3 are moderate, and if they have a magnitude of 6.3 or above they are strong earthquakes ("The Richter magnitude scale," 2009). Earthquakes occur when tectonic plates move and crash into one another, releasing energy ("The science of earthquakes," 2009). That energy then travels as waves, and is then recorded using an instrument called a seismograph ("The science of earthquakes," 2009). When one looks at the recording of the earthquake, it appears as if it is nothing more than a bunch of squiggly lines. However, those squiggly lines are important. They allow seismologists to determine the

References: The great Alaska earthquake of 1964. (2002). Alaska Information Earthquake Center.