On 9 March 1957 a mega-thrust earthquake occurred at Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska at a depth of 25 km. The seismic event occurred at 14:22:33 UTC and had an estimated moment magnitude (Mw) 8.6.
The estimated primary trigger of this seismic event is critical lunar geometry with Mars and Neptune from January to March 1957.
This seismic event must be seen in a larger context. In 1956 the occurrence of major earthquakes Mw ≥ 7.0 was well below average with a total number of just seven. While several strong tremors occurred at the Rat Islands, Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands in April (6.1, 6.1), June (6.2), August (6.4, 6.1), October (6.5), November (6.2) and December (6.0, 6.5) and gaining some strength during the second half of the year, an obvious seismic increase started early January 1957 when Earth came in close proximity to both the Mars-Jupiter vector and the Mars-Neptune vector allowing critical lunar geometry with these outer planets. In addition, eight planetary conjunctions occurred from 26 December 1956 to 4 January 1957, which included a near quadruple conjunction with Mercury, the Sun, Venus and Neptune. A series of seven strong earthquakes occurred on 2 January 1957 southeast of Nikolski, Alaska peaking M 6.7. One could have anticipated a major seismic event in the first two weeks of February 1957 when Earth was very close to the Mars-Neptune vector and a conjunction Mars-Earth-Neptune actually occurred on 1 February at 20:26 UTC (lon 213°11'40"). Strong tremors occurred in the first half of February 1957 at the Philippines (6.6, 6.7, 6.6), followed by a strong tremor (6.9) west of Nikolski, Alaska on 21 February and also on 23 February near Hualien City, Taiwan. It was not until 9 March that a mega-thrust earthquake associated with the Mars-Earth-Neptune geometry occurred, similar to 11 April 2012.
With the larger context in mind, critical planetary geometry with Mercury and Venus converged with critical lunar geomety on 5 March 1957, including right angle geometry of the Sun with Mercury and Neptune (also happened in 2012) followed by a lunar conjunction with Neptune. A planetary conjunction Mercury-Sun-Uranus on 6 March was followed by a lunar conjunction with Mars on 7 March. On 9 March the mega-thrust earthquake occurred hours after a lunar conjunction with Saturn.
Although major to great seismic activity can be anticipated when Earth is positioned closer to a vector of outer planets, especially when Earth is in-between, this 1957 case illustrates that the largest seismic event does not necessarily occur when Earth is closest to such a vector and critical lunar geometry is tightest. This suggests that additional geometry between the planets should be taken into account. At the time of this writing (28 January 2023) Mars is slowely moving to the side of the Solar System where its vectors with outer planets will become relevant and during the second half of 2023 equally critical as in April 2012 and January-March 1957 (other reports of similar cases will likely be added to the website in the future).
#MoonMars #MoonSaturn #tsunami
Mercury-Sun-Uranus 1957-03-06, 22:24:20 126°02'57" Venus-Mercury-Earth 1957-03-11, 1:30:15 162°04'53" Sun: Mercury-Saturn 1957-03-03, 1:59:06 45°00'00" Sun: Mercury-Earth 1957-03-04, 23:19:42 135°00'00" Venus: Earth-Saturn 1957-03-05, 6:52:01 90°00'00" Sun: Mercury-Neptune 1957-03-05, 13:03:07 90°00'00" Mercury: Venus-Neptune 1957-03-05, 22:29:03 135°00'00" Venus: Mercury-Neptune 1957-03-06, 23:15:38 45°00'00" Jupiter: Mercury-Neptune 1957-03-07, 4:00:20 135°00'00" Mercury: Earth-Saturn 1957-03-08, 3:01:33 90°00'00" Sun: Mercury-Jupiter 1957-03-08, 15:33:28 135°00'00" Sun: Mercury-Mars 1957-03-09, 19:09:29 135°00'00" Moon-Earth-Jupiter 1957-03-03, 5:13:06 179°18'48" Moon-Earth-Neptune 1957-03-05, 23:05:52 212°55'34" Earth-Moon-Mars 1957-03-07, 15:20:57 54°09'50" Moon-Earth-Saturn 1957-03-09, 4:53:39 254°43'13" Earth: Moon-Neptune 1957-03-02, 6:36:34 135°00'00" Earth: Moon-Uranus 1957-03-02, 8:51:04 135°00'00" Earth: Moon-Mars 1957-03-03, 20:01:39 45°00'00" Earth: Moon-Mercury 1957-03-04, 13:42:50 45°00'00" Earth: Moon-Venus 1957-03-04, 20:45:33 45°00'00" Earth: Moon-Saturn 1957-03-05, 16:43:40 135°00'00" Earth: Moon-Sun 1957-03-05, 18:28:37 45°00'00" Earth: Moon-Uranus 1957-03-06, 1:08:53 90°00'00" Earth: Moon-Jupiter 1957-03-06, 20:00:25 135°00'00" Earth: Moon-Mercury 1957-03-08, 16:30:51 90°00'00" Earth: Moon-Venus 1957-03-08, 19:03:42 90°00'00" Earth: Moon-Neptune 1957-03-09, 10:30:10 135°00'00" Earth: Moon-Uranus 1957-03-09, 12:19:43 45°00'00" Earth: Moon-Sun 1957-03-09, 13:03:13 90°00'00" Earth: Moon-Jupiter 1957-03-10, 5:05:05 90°00'00" Earth: Moon-Mars 1957-03-11, 3:11:17 45°00'00"