Seismicity of the Prince William Sound Region for over Thirty Years Following the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake

Abstract

In this paper we present results of body wave-form modeling of 19 earthquakes (generally m b ≥5.7) occurring from 1964 to 1983 in the vicinity and down-dip of the large asperity within the Prince William Sound region that ruptured in 1964. These data are supplemented with source parameters from studies of more recent (post-1980) events. Our results suggest that moderate earthquakes which occurred in the region between 1964 and 1984 were predominantly located in the vicinity of the Prince William Sound asperity and could be assigned to two groups. The first group consists of events occurring above the plate interface within Prince William Sound along reverse faults or low angle thrusts. The second group occurs at 35 to 60 km depth in the region north of Prince William Sound, and represents normal to normal-oblique faulting within the subducted Pacific crust or upper mantle. These earthquakes occur below the northern edge of the 1964 asperity in a region where the subducting plate undergoes a rapid change in strike and dip. A third group of events occurs in Cook Inlet well down-dip of the 1964 asperity and below the plate interface. These events exhibit a variety of mechanisms and many at depths of 50 to 70 km may be associated with complexities in the shape of the downgoing slab. Most of the Cook Inlet events occurred after 1984, whereas a few events of similar magnitude have occurred in the vicinity of the Prince William Sound asperity since 1984.