University of Dayton Chautauqua Course
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Chautauqua
Course DAY-21
Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Alaska 9.2
KRISTINE
J. CROSSEN, Department of Geological Sciences
University of Alaska
Anchorage
June 23-25,
2010 in and near Anchorage,
AK
Apply: DAY
Note: This course is cosponsored by and offered at
the University of
Alaska Anchorage. Applications should be sent to the DAY Field
Center. This course has a course fee of $395 (in
addition to the $100 application fee), which covers field trips, admission to
certain sites, and other course‑related expenses. Optional reduced rate lodging, $40 per night in a single, will be
available to early applicants. Also see course DAY-8 on Glaciers just before this one.
This
course is a three-day classroom and field course on earthquakes and tsunamis in
south central Alaska. It includes an introduction to Alaskan plate
tectonics and earthquakes, and focuses on the 1964 Great Alaskan
Earthquake. The 2002 Alaska earthquakes of magnitudes 6.7 and 7.9
will be discussed as possible.
The
first day will investigate earthquake destruction in Anchorage, including field stops at the
infamous “sensitive clays” that failed during the earthquake, and to the
landslides that resulted from this failure.
The type and cause of motion, as well as subsequent engineering
solutions will be discussed. A second
day will include a visit to the Tsunami
Warning Center
in Palmer, built after the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake to alert the entire Pacific
basin of earthquakes and potential tsunamis.
The last day will include a field excursion to the sites of maximum
subsidence and the “ghost forests” resulting from salt water incursion into the
coastal forests, and will explore a tidal marsh exposure that gives evidence of
additional earlier earthquakes.
Participants
should be prepared for day long outings in inclement weather, including day
packs, warm clothes, hiking boots, and rain gear. Knee high rubber boots or Bean boots are
recommended for the visit to the tidal marsh. The exact schedule is tide
dependent.
Those interested in an optional fourth day can take
a commercial trip from Anchorage
to Resurrection
Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park with other members of the
course on June 19, the day before the Glaciers course begins.
Details of this trip will be discussed with participants prior to the
course.
For college teachers of: any discipline. Prerequisites: none, beyond an interest in the natural
sciences.
Costs for 2010
Application fee: $100
Course fee: $395 [Due in March
2010]
Optional campus lodging: $40
per person per night in a single
Dr. Crossen is a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at
the University of
Alaska Anchorage. She has offered a number of short courses on
glaciers and earthquakes. During her
more than 20 years residence in Alaska she has
investigated numerous earthquake locales in southern Alaska,
and includes them in three field courses she teaches at the University of Alaska.
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University of Dayton Chautauqua Course