Scientists were worried that this eruption might trigger a giant landslide from Augustine's steep upper cone, which could enter the sea to create a tsunami (powerful seismic sea wave). At least 12 landslides are known to have occurred at Augustine. The most recent slide took place at the onset of the 1883 eruption when a part of the volcano's summit collapsed into the sea. Within one hour, a tsunami as high as 9 meters crashed ashore on the coast of the Kenai Peninsula 80 kilometers away. No one was killed and property damage was only minor because the tsunami hit at low tide. Subsequent eruptions have rebuilt a steep cone of overlapping lava domes similar to the cone that existed just before the 1883 landslide.
Pyroclastic flow descending the upper flanks of Augustine Volcano. (Photograph by M.E. Yount.)
<https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volcus/page29.html>
Maintained by John Watson
Updated 06.24.97
