Geology topics

Lawrence R. Mayo

Publications and source records attributed to Lawrence R. Mayo.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2006

A Century of Retreat at Portage Glacier, South-Central Alaska

Introduction: The Portage Glacier, in south-central Alaska, is viewed by thousands of visitors annually who come to the U.S. Forest Service Begich, Boggs Visitor Center located on the road system between Anchorage and Whittier, Alaska. During the past century, the terminus of the glacier has retreated nearly 5 kilometers to its present location (fig. 1). Like other glaciers that terminate in water, such as Columbia Glacier near Valdez or Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Portage Glacier has experienced accelerated retreats in recent decades that likely were initially triggered by climate change begun at the end of the Little Ice Age in the mid-1800s and subsequently controlled in recent history primarily by calving of the glacier terminus. Photographic records of the terminus covering 1914 until present day track the patterns of retreat. These data, coupled with USGS climate information collected from the southern end of the ice field, provide insight to the patterns of retreat that might be observed in the future.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2004

A 30-year record of surface mass balance (1966-95) and motion and surface altitude (1975-95) at Wolverine Glacier, Alaska

Scientific measurements at Wolverine Glacier, on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, began in April 1966. At three long-term sites in the research basin, the measurements included snow depth, snow density, heights of the glacier surface and stratigraphic summer surfaces on stakes, and identification of the surface materials. Calculations of the mass balance of the surface strata-snow, new firn, superimposed ice, and old firn and ice mass at each site were based on these measurements. Calculations of fixed-date annual mass balances for each hydrologic year (October 1 to September 30), as well as net balances and the dates of minimum net balance measured between time-transgressive summer surfaces on the glacier, were made on the basis of the strata balances augmented by air temperature and precipitation recorded in the basin. From 1966 through 1995, the average annual balance at site A (590 meters altitude) was -4.06 meters water equivalent; at site B (1,070 meters altitude), was -0.90 meters water equivalent; and at site C (1,290 meters altitude), was +1.45 meters water equivalent. Geodetic determination of displacements of the mass balance stake, and glacier surface altitudes was added to the data set in 1975 to detect the glacier motion responses to variable climate and mass balance conditions. The average surface speed from 1975 to 1996 was 50.0 meters per year at site A, 83.7 meters per year at site B, and 37.2 meters per year at site C. The average surface altitudes were 594 meters at site A, 1,069 meters at site B, and 1,293 meters at site C; the glacier surface altitudes rose and fell over a range of 19.4 meters at site A, 14.1 meters at site B, and 13.2 meters at site C.

Alaska↗

USGS1997

Air temperature and precipitation data, Gulkana Glacier, Alaska, 1968-96

Daily, monthly, and annual average air temperature and precipitation-catch data were recorded at Gulkana Glacier basin, Alaska, between October 1967 and September 1996. The data set is important because it provides long-term climate information from the highest year-round climatological recording site in Alaska. The daily air temperature data set is 96 percent complete. The daily precipitation data set is 83 percent complete; precipitation data for 1993-96 are missing. Annual data summaries are calculated for each hydrologic year, October 1 through September 30, for years that have 12 months of data. Monthly precipitation-catch and average air temperature summaries are calculated for months with nine or fewer daily records missing. The average annual air temperature recorded at the site from hydrologic year 1968 through 1996 was -4.1 degrees Celsius. The coldest recorded year was 1972 with an average annual temperature of -6.7 degrees Celsius. The warmest year was 1981 with an average annual temperature of -2.6 degrees Celsius. January 1971 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -20.8 degrees Celsius. July 1989 was the warmest month with an average temperature of 8.7 degrees Celsius. January 17, 1971, was the coldest day with an average temperature of -35.0 degrees Celsius. June 15, 1969, was the warmest day with an average temperature of 16.4 degrees Celsius. The average annual precipitation catch recorded at the site from hydrologic year 1968 through 1992 was 1,020 millimeters. The highest annual precipitation catch recorded was 1,572 millimeters in 1981; the lowest was 555 millimeters in 1969. The highest recorded monthly precipitation catch was 448 millimeters in July 1981 and in several different months no precipitation was recorded. The highest daily precipitation catch was 99 millimeters on September 12, 1972, and on many different dates no precipitation was recorded. Because of low gage-catch efficiency the reported annual precipitation-catch data are estimated to represent about 62 percent of the actual annual basin precipitation. Snowfall is the dominant form of precipitation on the glacier from September through mid-June.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1997

Snow and ice volume on Mount Spurr Volcano, Alaska, 1981

Mount Spurr (3,374 meters altitude) is an active volcano 130 kilometers west of Anchorage, Alaska, with an extensive covering of seasonal and perennial snow, and glaciers. Knowledge of the volume and distribution of snow and ice on a volcano aids in assessing hydrologic hazards such as floods, mudflows, and debris flows. In July 1981, ice thickness was measured at 68 locations on the five main glaciers of Mount Spurr: 64 of these measurements were made using a portable 1.7 megahertz monopulse ice-radar system, and 4 measurements were made using the helicopter altimeter where the glacier bed was exposed by ice avalanching. The distribution of snow and ice derived from these measurements is depicted on contour maps and in tables compiled by altitude and by drainage basins. Basal shear stresses at 20 percent of the measured locations ranged from 200 to 350 kilopascals, which is significantly higher than the 50 to 150 kilopascals commonly referred to in the literature as the 'normal' range for glaciers. Basal shear stresses higher than 'normal' have also been found on steep glaciers on volcanoes in the Cascade Range in the western United States. The area of perennial snow and ice coverage on Mount Spurr was 360 square kilometers in 1981, with an average thickness of 190?50 meters. Seasonal snow increases the volume about 1 percent and increases the area about 30 percent with a maximum in May or June. Runoff from Mount Spurr feeds the Chakachatna River and the Chichantna River (a tributary of the Beluga River). The Chakachatna River drainage contains 14 cubic kilometers of snow and ice and the Chichantna River drainage contains 53 cubic kilometers. The snow and ice volume on the mountain was 67?17 cubic kilometers, approximately 350 times more snow and ice than was on Mount St. Helens before its May 18, 1980, eruption, and 15 times more snow and ice than on Mount Rainier, the most glacierized of the measured volcanoes in the Cascade Range. On the basis of these relative quantities, hazard-producing glaciovolcanic phenomena at Mount Spurr could be significantly greater than similar phenomena at Cascade Volcanoes.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

USGS1977

Combined Ice and Water Balances of Maclure Glacier, California, South Cascade Glacier, Washington, and Wolverine and Gulkana Glaciers, Alaska, 1967 Hydrologic Year

Combined ice and water balances were measured in the 1967 hydrologic year (October 1-September 30) on four glaciers in western North America ranging in latitude from 37 deg to 63 deg N. This hydrologic year was characterized by heavier than normal winter precipitation in California and Washington and abnormally dry winter conditions in coastal Alaska. In summer the western conterminous states were abnormally dry and central and southern Alaska experienced very wet conditions. Maclure Glacier (lat 37 deg 45' N., 3,650-m (metres) mean equilibrium line altitude) had an above normal winter balance of 3.46 m and a positive annual balance of 1.05 m (metres of water equivalent). South Cascade Glacier (lat 48 deg 22' N., 1900-m mean equilibrium line altitude) had a winter balance of 3.28 m, slightly above average. Above normal summer ablation resulted in a final annual balance of -0.58 m, slightly more negative than has been the case for the past decade. Wolverine Glacier's (lat 60 deg 24' N., 1,200-m mean equilibrium line altitude) winter balance was 1.17 m, considerably below normal; the annual balance was -2.04 m. Gulkana Glacier (lat 63 deg 15' N., 1,700-m mean equilibrium line altitude) had a winter balance of 1.05 m, approximately normal for this glacier; the final annual balance was -0.30 m.

Professional Paper↗

USGS1969

The Alaska earthquake, March 27, 1964: Effects on communities

This is the second in a series of six reports that the U.S. Geological Survey published on the results of a comprehensive geologic study that began, as a reconnaissance survey, within 24 hours after the March 27, 1964, Magnitude 9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake and extended, as detailed investigations, through several field seasons. The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake was the largest earthquake in the U.S. since 1700. Professional Paper 542, in 7 parts, describes the effects of the earthquake on Alaskan communities.

Alaska↗

USGS1969

Effects of the earthquake of March 27, 1964, on various communities

The 1964 earthquake caused wide-spread damage to inhabited places throughout more than 60,000 square miles of south-central Alaska. This report describes damage to all communities in the area except Anchorage, Whittier, Homer, Valdez, Seward, the communities of the Kodiak group of islands, and communities in the Copper River Basin; these were discussed in previous chapters of the Geological Survey's series of reports on the earthquake. At the communities discussed herein, damage resulted primarily from sea waves of diverse origins, displacements of the land relative to sea level, and seismic shaking. Waves took all of the 31 lives lost at those communities; physical damage was primarily from the waves and vertical displacements of the land relative to sea level. Destructive waves of local origin struck during or immediately after the earthquake throughout much of Prince William Sound, the southern Kenai Peninsula, and the shores of Kenai Lake. In Prince William Sound, waves demolished all but one home at the native village of Chenega, destroyed homesites at Point Nowell and Anderson Bay, and caused varying amounts of damage to waterfront facilities at Sawmill Bay, Latouche, Port Oceanic, Port Nellie Juan, Perry Island, and western Port Valdez. The local waves, which ran up as high as 70 feet above tide level at Chenega and more than 170 feet in several uninhabited parts of the Sound, took nearly all of the lives lost by drowning at these communities. Destructive local waves that devastated shores of Anderson Bay and adjacent parts of western Port Valdez probably were generated primarily by massive submarine slides of glacial and fluvioglacial deposits ; the origin of the waves that caused damage at most of the other communities and at extensive uninhabited segments of shoreline is not known. At these places the most probable generative mechanisms are: unidentified submarine slides of unconsolidated deposits, and (or) the horizontal tectonic displacements, of 20 to more than 60 feet, that occurred in the Prince William Sound region during the earthquake. A train of long-period seismic sea waves that began about 20 minutes after the start of the earthquake inundated shores along the Gulf of Alaska coast to a maximum height of 35 feet above tide level. At the communities described, they virtually destroyed two logging camps at Whidbey Bay and Puget Bay on the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula, caused moderate damage to boat harbors and docks at Seldovia and Cordova, floated away some beach cabins in the Cordova area, and drowned two people, one at Point Whitshed near Cordora and one at the Cape Saint Elias Light Station. The seismic sea waves were generated by regional tectonic uplift of the sea floor on the Continental Shelf. Vertical tectonic displacements of the land relative to sea level that accompanied the earthquake affected virtually all the coastal communities. Tectonic subsidence of 5 to 6 feet, augmented locally by surficial subsidence of unconsolidated deposits required either the relocation or raising of structures at Portage, Girdwood, and Hope on Turnagain Arm. Shoreline submergence resulting from about 3½ feet of tectonic subsidence at Seldovia necessitated raising all waterfront facilities and the airstrip above the level of high tides. On the other hand, tectonic uplift of the land in the Prince Williams Sound region required deepening of the small-boat harbors at Cordora and Tatitlek, dredging of the waterways in the Cordova area, and lengthening of some docks or piers at Cordova, the Cape Hinchinbrook Light Station, and in Sawmill Bay. Significant structural damage from direct seismic shaking was largely confined to fluid containers and a pier facility near Kenai. Indirect damage from fissuring and differential settling of foundation mterials in the vicinity of the Cordova airfield mused damage to a building, underground utilities, an airfield fill, and the highway. Minor amounts of direct and indirect damage from seismic vibrations were sustained by most of the communities situated on unconsolidated deposits as far east as Yakutat, north to Fairbanks, and west to King Salmon. Except for a few cracked or toppled chimney, all the damage from shaking was confined to areas of thick, unconsolidated deposits. Foundation damage was almost entirely restricted to water-saturated unconsolidated deposits which, when liquefied by seismic shaking, could spread laterally toward free faces and (or) settle differentially through compaction.

Alaska↗