On July 9, 1958, Lituya Bay in Alaska, US, suffered a 7.8 magnitude earthquake along the Fairweather Fault. This huge natural disaster sparked a landslide of more than 30 million cubic metres into the narrow inlet of the bay. The impact was heard 50 miles away and triggered the largest megatsunami of modern times, claiming the lives of five people.
However, two geologists may have been able to prevent such a tragedy, had they cracked a warning sign from an abnormality in the bay, it was revealed during Amazon Prime’s “Mega Disaster” series.
The documentary detailed how Dr George Plafker and his colleague were working for an oil company when they noticed something unusual.
He said in 2006: “We were in the bay mapping the geology and primarily interested in the stratigraphy because of the oil potential of that part of the Gulf of Alaska.”
The narrator of the documentary added: “They didn’t find any oil, instead, they found the scientific mystery of the century.”
Before Dr Plafker explained: “One of the things you see when you are in that bay and you are looking closely is that the trees are of different ages as you go away from the shoreline.
“We saw no evidence of fire or natural disaster, so we speculated what could have caused it and had all kinds of ideas.
“We thought of everything except for the right idea.”
Five years later they got their answer.
The megatsunami of Lituya Bay washed out trees to a maximum elevation of 520m.
However, it was not the first of its kind.
According to research, five more megatsunamis have occurred at the same location during a period of 150 years.
Now, geologists are closely monitoring the bay and the nearby fault lines, to minimise the damage should history repeat itself.