At Lowell Point, this wave rushed up to a height of about 33 feet 

 above water level. A second wave, according to John Eads , rolled in 

 at about 6:00 p.m. and was some 6 feet higher than the first (SEA inter- 

 view, 1966). This would accord with the large wave of that time shown in 

 Figure 137. This second wave apparently did most of the extensive damage 

 at Lowell Point. For this or a subsequent wave, a runup height of about 

 U5 feet at the north corner of the Lowell Point fan was established by 

 the writers in I966. On the southern side of the fan, waves reached to 

 100 feet (Figure ikk) . 



It was reported by the Eadses (Chance, I968) that, within 30 seconds 

 of the onset of the earthquake, a wave formed about 1 mile southwest of 

 Fourth of July Point. This wave traveled to Fourth of July Point where 

 it was reflected toward the head of the bay. A boil reportedly formed 

 in this area, and the Alaska Standard changed her course to avoid it 

 approximately 10 to 20 minutes after the quake (Figure lU^i). 



It is not obvious what caused this wave. The first slides along the 

 waterfront area took place about 30 seconds after the earthquake started, 

 but it is unlikely that these sliding earth masses could generate a 

 wave in the middle of the bay within the first 30 seconds of the quake. 

 Possibly, some other unknown slide caused this formation. On the other 

 hand, the Eadses were probably not high enough above water level to 

 accurately define the source point of the waves. It might simply have 

 been closer to Seward and west of Fourth of July Point, as reported by 

 other witnesses. 



It must be mentioned, however, that the two sides of Resurrection 

 Bay moved longitudinally through a distance of 50 feet with a differen- 

 tial horizontal displacement between the two sides of approximately 10 

 feet (Figure I6). It has also been interpreted from geologic sampling 

 and subbottom profiling that large-scale rock movements of the order of 

 50 feet may have taken place along preexisting faults and folds within 

 the northern part of Resurrection Bay (Captain Watkins , I966; Rusnak, 

 1966, personal communication). Lacking details of this faulting, the 

 writers can only acknowledge that any impulsive dislocation of the seabed 

 horizontally along a fault at approximately U5° to the axis of Resurrec- 

 tion Bay may have caused a pair of vortical boils of water. The boil 

 closest to the south end of Seward could have been responsible for 

 precipitating the submarine slide in that area, and for generating the 

 waves . 



After the first waterfront slide and the consequent waves, it is 

 difficult to get a clear picture of wave sequence from eyewitness ac- 

 counts. The waves had apparently sloshed back and forth in an irregular 

 manner for a while. However, it seems to be definite that a high wave 

 rushed up the landing strip of the airport approximately 8 to 10 minutes 

 after onset of the earthquake (Chance, I968). Two high waves with 5- 

 minute intervals occurred about 1/2 hour after the earthquake. As shown 

 in Figure 1375 o^i^ oi" these was dominant, and conforms to the second 

 wave to which most witnesses have referred (see also Berg, et al, 196^1). 



226 



