Alaska Peninsula

A long, mountainous peninsula in southwestern Alaska that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea. It is marked by active volcanoes, broad tundra, and a chain of coastal communities.

Bering Sea: A marginal sea of the North Pacific Ocean lying between Alaska and Russia. The peninsula’s northern and western coasts border this sea.
Pacific Plate: A tectonic plate underlying much of the Pacific Ocean basin. Its movement beneath the North American Plate drives regional earthquakes and volcanism.
Bristol Bay: A large inlet of the Bering Sea in southwestern Alaska, renowned for its salmon fisheries. The peninsula partly encloses the bay and helps define its watersheds.
Alutiiq people: An Indigenous people of south-central Alaska whose traditional territory includes parts of the Alaska Peninsula and nearby islands. Alutiiq communities have longstanding ties to the peninsula’s coasts and resources.
Pacific Ocean: The world’s largest ocean, extending from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean. The peninsula’s southern coast faces this ocean.
North American Plate: A tectonic plate that carries North America and parts of the Atlantic and Arctic ocean floors. The peninsula lies on this plate, above the subduction zone.
Sockeye salmon: A Pacific salmon species that migrates from the ocean into freshwater to spawn. Salmon runs connect the peninsula’s rivers to Bristol Bay’s fisheries.
Unangan: An Indigenous people whose homeland includes the Aleutian Islands and westernmost Alaska Peninsula. Unangan history and culture extend across the peninsula’s western end.
Aleutian Range: A volcanic mountain range extending along the Alaska Peninsula and into the Aleutian Islands. Its peaks form the peninsula’s mountainous spine.
Subduction: The process in which one tectonic plate descends beneath another into the mantle. Pacific Plate subduction generates the magma feeding the peninsula’s volcanoes.

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