George Plafker is an American geologist and seismologist who has made significant contributions to both fields, with research focused on

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, ...

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

, and the geology of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U. ...

. Following prolonged study of the region of the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.

, Plafker correctly concluded that the largest earthquakes are the result of fault slip at convergent boundaries. This was at a time when the theory of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

was still not completely accepted by the scientific community. Additional studies were done in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in the late 1960s regarding the series of

earthquakes An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fro ...

there.

Awards

For his groundbreaking research, Plafker was honored with the

Penrose Medal The Penrose Medal was created in 1925 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr., as the top prize awarded by the Geological Society of America. Originally created as the Geological Society of America Medal it was soon renamed the Penrose Medal by popular assent of t ...

by the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitch ...

and the Harry Fielding Reid Medal from the Seismological Society of America, both in 2017.

References

External links

Biographical Sketch for: George Plafker
– IRIS Consortium
50 Years Ago, Alaskan Earthquake Was Key Event for Earth Science
– KQED Living people American geologists Stanford University alumni American seismologists 1929 births People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania Brooklyn College alumni United States Geological Survey personnel University of California, Berkeley alumni Penrose Medal winners {{US-geologist-stub