Help me find an old photo/video of an earthquake bay drain.

March 6, 2008 1:47 PM

I'm hunting for an old photo or video of an underwater fault line that opened during an earthquake, causing a shallow bay to begin visibly draining into the earth. I know i've seen it and I'm not the only one: link. I suspect it was the 1964 Alaska quake but I'm not sure. If I recall correctly, it is black and white and was taken from a ship floating in the bay at the time. Either my google skills are failing me or I saw it on television and not online, but I'm specifically hoping to find something online. Thanks in advance for any help here.
posted by esome to science & nature (10 comments total)

i guess you don't mean lake peigneur?
posted by wreckingball at 1:56 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

You might be thinking of the "Lituya Bay" tsunami. Try that as a search term and see what you can find. I was only able to see an after the fact film.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 2:05 PM on March 6

Grainy B&W image of Lake Peigneur
posted by djb at 2:14 PM on March 6

3rd'ing Lake Peigneur. In all my years of internetting that's the most significant disappearing lake event to cross my radar.
posted by rhizome at 2:19 PM on March 6

USGS has a nice repository of quake photos. Alaska 1964.
posted by jamaro at 2:58 PM on March 6

OK, poking around some more turned up this video of the water draining out of Valdez Harbor during the '64 quake as seen from a ship floating in the harbor.
posted by jamaro at 3:06 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]

that video is something else.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:04 PM on March 6

(more details about the film clip here).
posted by jamaro at 10:31 PM on March 6

Whoa. I'd seen that Alaska clip many years ago, and it is absolutely chilling. The ocean is absolutely unbelievable in its power.
posted by davidmsc at 10:34 PM on March 6

@wreckingball That's definitely not it but pretty cool. Thanks.

@jamaro I'm guessing that's it. Not quite as I remembered it but closer than anything else I've found. I really have this intense memory of seeing a distinct trough or crevasse into which the water flowed from both sides (as opposed to just receding outward, away from the coast), but nothing quite like that is turning up.

Thanks all.
posted by esome at 10:46 PM on March 6