Based on 13 new fault plane solutions and published seismological, geological, and geophysical data, we interpret the deformation along the Pacific-North American plate margin in the eastern Gulf of Alaska. Three major tectonic units can be distinguished: (1) the North American plate, (2) the Pacific plate, and (3) a belt of mobile borderland terranes. The Pacific plate moves in a NNW direction at rates of about 6 cm/yr in relation to the North American plate. That motion results in mostly right-lateral strike slip at the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system, a well-known observation. A new finding, however, is that a small conponent (~1 cm/yr) of convergence may also be present which results in minor subduction of the oceanic plate beneath portions of the continental margin. Heretofore the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault zone and associated continental margin was interpreted as a classical, pure transform boundary. The Yakutat block, a borderland terrane about 400 km long and 100 to 200 km wide, is carried passively by the Pacific plate except that the block slowly overrides this plate at about 1 cm/yr. This motion is taken up by almost pure thrust faulting in a southwesterly direction along a 400-km long SE striking shelf edge structure. At its NW edge the Yakutat block is in turn being thrust beneath the North American plate along the Pamplona zone-Icy Bay lineament. The underthrusting of the Yakutat block results in a major orogeny, crustal shortening and uplift of the Chugach-St. Elias range. The effects of this collision may extend as far as 500 km inland and cause some deformation at the Denali fault in the central Alaska Range. Subduction of the Pacific plate benearth the colliding margin appears responsible for development of an active volcanic arc up to 300 km inland which trends SE from the Wrangell Mountains to Yukon Territory, Canada, and perhaps to Mt. Edgecumbe volcano in southest Alaska. The tectonic model proposed implies a high seismic hazard for the Queen Charlotte, Fairweather, and Chugach-St. Elias fault systems. At these fault zones we estimate recurrence times for great events of about 100 years, but they may vary between 50 and 200 years. A temporarily very high potential for a great earthquake has been determined for 'Yakatage seismic gap' located between Icy Bay and Kayak Island. Large or great thrust earthquakes on the detachment fault underlying the entire Yakutat wedge also appear possible but may only occur infrequently. Their recurrence times are estimated to be several hundred years. Some island faults in south central and eastern Alaska are probably also capable of producing large earthquakes, but their recurrence times cannot be accurately determined. They may be of the order of hundreds of thousands of years.