Alaskan Backdrop
Alaska Railroad's Glacier Discovery train is passing a pond near Girdwood Alaska on the trains return trip to Anchorage. The near by snow capped mountains behind the train providing a stunning backdrop for the passengers on their way north back to Anchorage.
The dead trees on the right side of the photo are remnants from the 9.3 Magnitude earthquake that rocked this area back in March of 1964 where this entire area sank as much as 8 feet. The sinking of the ground here allowed salt water from the near by Turnagain Arm to rush in and and essentially mummify the trees nearly instantly killing them and creating a petrified forest of sorts. The Alaska Railroad and the near by Seward Highway both had to be reengineered, reconstructed and raised above the new high tide mark, a process that took roughly 2 years following the earthquake to complete.
This earthquake, which is the strongest ever recorded on the North American Continent, changed much of the landscape of Southern Alaska, causing considerable damage, costing billions of dollars to repair, and responsible for taking the lives of 131 people. The effects of this 4 minute and 38 second event were felt all along the Western North American Coast, sent damaging Tsunamis as far as Hawaii and Japan, and could reportedly been felt as far east as Florida. But in a way this catastrophic event brought the communities of Alaska together as they all worked to rebuild.
Alaskan Backdrop
Alaska Railroad's Glacier Discovery train is passing a pond near Girdwood Alaska on the trains return trip to Anchorage. The near by snow capped mountains behind the train providing a stunning backdrop for the passengers on their way north back to Anchorage.
The dead trees on the right side of the photo are remnants from the 9.3 Magnitude earthquake that rocked this area back in March of 1964 where this entire area sank as much as 8 feet. The sinking of the ground here allowed salt water from the near by Turnagain Arm to rush in and and essentially mummify the trees nearly instantly killing them and creating a petrified forest of sorts. The Alaska Railroad and the near by Seward Highway both had to be reengineered, reconstructed and raised above the new high tide mark, a process that took roughly 2 years following the earthquake to complete.
This earthquake, which is the strongest ever recorded on the North American Continent, changed much of the landscape of Southern Alaska, causing considerable damage, costing billions of dollars to repair, and responsible for taking the lives of 131 people. The effects of this 4 minute and 38 second event were felt all along the Western North American Coast, sent damaging Tsunamis as far as Hawaii and Japan, and could reportedly been felt as far east as Florida. But in a way this catastrophic event brought the communities of Alaska together as they all worked to rebuild.