Results of four leveling surveys carried out by the National Geodetic Survey between Anchorage and Whittier, Alaska, combined with an analysis of sea level measurements at Anchorage, indicate as much as 0.55 m of land uplift in the decade following the 1964 Prince William Sound earthquake. The pattern of uplift is parabolic in shape, convex upward, and reaches a maximum approximately halfway between Anchorage and Whittier, or about 300 km northwest of the Aleutian trench axis. The data suggest that the position of maximum uplift is migrating away from Anchorage, i.e., toward the Aleutian trench. The observed uplift occurs in a region which subsided as much as 1.9 m during the earthquake. The rate of uplift has decreased exponentially since the time of the 1964 earthquake. These movements appear to represent postseismic deformation associated with the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The observations are most easily explained by creep along the downdip extension of the fault which ruptured during the 1964 earthquake, although viscoelastic rebound and long‐term elastic strain accumulation mechanisms may play a part. There is no evidence supporting magma intrusion or dilatancy mechanisms. These results provide new constraints for models of tectonic processes at convergent plate margins.

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