A Transect Across Alaska, From Pacific To Arctic Margins

Gary S. Fuis(1), Thomas E. Moore(1), and (alphabetical order): Bruce C. Beaudoin(1,2), Thomas M. Brocher(1), Nikolas I. Christensen(3), Michael A. Fisher(1), Alan R. Levander(4), Warren J. Nokleberg(1), Robert A. Page(1), and George Plafker(1)
(1)U.S.Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025
(2)Now at IRIS/PASSCAL, New Mexico Tech, Soccorro, NM 87801
(3)University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53711
(4)Rice University, Houston TX 77251

OFFSET 75 KM
ALONG STRIKE

TERRANE
ANGAYUCHAM
KOYUKUK BASIN
PROSPECT CREEK

CREEK
SLATE
TERRANE ARCTIC ALASKA TERRANE

TERRANE
TOZITNA COLDFOOT
TERRANE SUBTERRANE ENDICOTT BROOKIAN SEQUENCE
HAMMOND SUBTERRANE MOUNTAINS (NORTH SLOPE SUBTERRANE AT DEPTH)
ALLOCHTHON

WISEMAN THRUST F.
NORTH AMERICAN

ANGAYUCHAM F.
CHUGACH TERRANE PENINSULAR TERRANE WRANGELLIA TERRANE YUKON TANANA TERRANE

ATIGUN THRUST F.
TOYUK THRUST F.
BEAVER

MALAMUTE F.
VICTORIA SUBTERRANES ABOVE LARAMIDE TECTONIC WEDGE AND DUPLEX ZONE

KOBUK-SOUTH
PLATE NW BROOKS RANGE

SUB-ENDICOTT
S CK. F. CK. F. TOZITNA F.

DOONERAK
WERE IMBRICATED IN LATE JURASSIC/ EARLY CRETACEOUS

COLDFOOT
SE

THRUST F.
ANTIFORM
PRINCE WILLIAM TERANE COPPER N

FORK F.
RIVER BASIN

SYSTEM
WINDOW:
BORDER RANGES DENALI SALCHA WS MAN LG TOZITNA TERRANE RUBY TERRANE SKAJIT MARBLE ATIGUN OUTCROP DURING BROOKIAN OROGENY (COLLISION WITH KOYUKUK ARC) ARCTIC

UNNAMED
WHM
FAULT SYSTEM DONNNELLY DOME/

SW
WEST FORK

F.
OUTCROPS
HINCHINBROOK CHUGACH CONTACT F. MOUNTAINS FAULT SYSTEM
MCCALLUM CK/ F. GRANITE MTN. F.
RIVER NW S PASS DELONG MTS COAST
MIDDLETON BRUMA SLATE CK F. ALYESKA PUMP SE F. SUBTERRANE LARAMIDE TRIANGLE ZONE 14 KM
ALEUTIAN TRENCH ISLAND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ISLAND METABASALT
STATION 10 N NORTH SLOPE
4.2 3 4.1 3.6
S.L. SL 5.2 5.0 2.1 6.2 SL
5 4 5 34 SL SL 4.0 SL 4.3 3.9 4.1 3.6 4.2 4.0 5.0 5.0 4.7 5.0
4.8 4.6 4.4 4.1 4.5 S.L.
4.0 5.9 6.0 5.6 6 5.2 5.6 5.0 5.0 5.75 5.75 5.0 5.75 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.6 1.8 1.7 3.0
1.5 4.6 3.5 4.5 5.9 5.1 5.0
5.0 3.8
4.0 5.0 5.75
6.25 4.0
6.0/6.22 5 5.5 4.1
5.6 5.9 5.2 5.9 6 5.5 5.75 6.255.75 6.1 6.1
6.4 6.0 5.1
5.0
5.1
4.8
3.7
4.3 4.0 3.8 2.9
3.75 5.6
MEGATHRUST 6.25 5.75 5.6 5.1 4.8 3.7 4.0/2.65
1.6 6.0 6.5 6.0 - 6.5 6 6.25 6.2 5.6 4.7
6.1 6.3 4.2 4.94
3.2 6.2 6.8 6.5 6.5 6.3 6.25 6.15 5.8 5.6 5.4 5.0
5.0 4.4 5.7
4.94/5.3
5.0 6.2 5.0 5.0 5.9 5.9
6.65 6.0 - 6.5 5.9-6.0 6.0
6.3/6.4
6.3 6.1 5.8 5.7 5.7
5.5 5.5 5.2 5.7
5.7
5.9
5.9 6.0

10 10 ? ? 6.35 10 10 10 6.4 6.6 6.1 6.2 5.9

10
? 6.3 10 ? ? 6.5
5.2 5.4 5.6 6.7 7.2 6.35 6.0 6.5 6.5 6.3 6.3 5.8
7.0 5.8? 6.2
5.8 6.1 7.7 7.5 7.9 6.1 6.1 ?
6.5 6.5 6.5
DEPTH (KM)

6.3
6.5 + 0.1 6.5 + 0.1 ? 6.5
6.3
6.55
6.3

5.7 6.5 6.5 6.6

6.65 6.3
6.9 20 6.5 ? ? 20 20 6.2 20
20 6.35 6.75 20 20
6.45 7.2
7.7
6.1? 6.4 7.0 6.3? 6.4 6.25
7.2 6.9
6.4 6.4 + 0.1 7.0-7.2
30 PACIFIC OCEANIC 30 ? 30 6.4 + 0.1 30 30 7.0 6.3-6.4 30 6.7 30
7.4 ? ? 7.2 7.1 6.7
CRUST 8.2 7.9 7.8
? 8.2 6.7
7.8
6.8
40 PACIFIC 40 FRAGMENTS OF 9.2
7.5-7.8
40 40 40 40 ? 8.2
6.7
6.8
40
V.E. = 2:1 PLATE KULA/ RESSURECTION 7.4 6.8 + 0.4 CENTRAL ALASKA EXTENDED AND INTRUDED (IN SOUTHERN YUKON TANANA TERRANE)
7.6
7.75
MEGATHRUST ? IN MID-CRETACEOUS 8.2
7.1 7.75
PLATE UNDERPLATED IN ? ?
50 50 HYPOCENTER OF 50 8.2 ? 50 50 50 WEDGE OF NORTH SLOPE SUBTERRANE 50
YAKUTAT TERRANE LATE CRETACEOUS/ ? 7.55 8.2
GREAT ALASKA EQK (1964) (OUTLINED IN HEAVY ORANGE LINE) INFERRED TO INTRA MANTLE REFLECTIVE INTERFACE
LOWER CRUST EARLY TERTIARY 8.3
6.3 + 0.5
PROJECTED FROM WEST 125 KM HAVE MOVED SOUTHWARD IN LARAMIDE, CAUSING 8.2
60 60 60 60 60 60 60
SPLITTING OF NORTH AMERICAN PLATE AND DUPLEXING ABOVE WEDGE ?

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350

HYPOCENTER OF INTRA MANTLE REFLECTIVE ZONE

PACIFIC PLATE NORTH AMERICAN PLATE DENALI FAULT EQK (2002) POSSIBLY FORMED DURING MID-
[Data analysis has so far been PROJECTED FROM WEST 85 KM CRETACEOUS EXTENSION OF CENTRAL
equivocal about presence of ALASKA. [Levander and Wissinger, 1997,
Yakutat terrane in the striped model this region as lower crust.]
ARCTIC region. Fuis et al. (1991) have
modeled the striped region as SYMBOLS LITHOLOGY, TERRANES
mantle.]
OCEAN ABSTRACT Shotpoints
Prospect Ck/Slate Ck terranes--
Actively subducting oceanic crust and
(phylonnite--shear zone)
Oil well. the Yakutat terrane (shades of violet)
During the period 1984 to 1990, the U.S. Geological Survey, University collaborators, and the Alaska 5.6
Seismic boundary; solid black and finely
Arctic Alaska (AA) terrane
5.6
SP 153 (approx) Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys investigated the crust of Alaska along a ~1500-km- 6.3
5.6
dashed gray lines, first-order discontin-
Island arc upper crust (shades of orange)
Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect

uities; seismic P-wave velocity above Coldfoot subterrane (see above)

long, north-south corridor. The project, known as the Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT), extended 6.3 and below in km/s. Velocities in italic light
gray font and boundaries in light gray,
and lower crust (shades of red and purple)
--Peninsular and Wrangellia terranes Hammond subterrane (see above)
from the trench in the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic coast. The data collected included refraction/wide- less certain. Long-dashed black lines,
second-order discontinuities; velocity on
discontinuity in km/s.
angle reflection, vertical-incidence reflection, geologic, gravity, magnetic, magnetotelluric, earthquake, Endicott Mountains subterrane
(TACT) 1984-1990

Lateral velocity discontinuity

CANADA

and petrophysical data. In most places onshore, the seismic data were collected along or near the Post-Lisburne Group clastic sed. rocks of Ellesmerian sequence
(includes sed. rocks of Delong Mts subterrane)
SP 120 Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. The transect crossed oceanic, oceanic-arc and platform, and continental- Wide-angle reflection not associated with Border Ranges Ultramafic-Mafic Assemblage
velocity discontinuity; (BRUMA)--base of Peninsular terrane island arc Lisburne Group (carbonate)
marginal terranes that have been variously subducted, subcreted, accreted, rotated, imbricated by thrust prominent;
moderate to weak; Older rocks of Ellesmerian sequence (clastic sed. rocks)
faults, translated by strike-slip faults, and intruded by numerous magmatic arcs. We use the data Wide-angle reflection associated with velocity
Accretionary prism: Cz yellow--Prince William
collectively to present an interpretation of the structure and tectonic history of Alaska. Currently in the terrane; Mz light green--Chugach terrane

ALASKA
discontinuity North Slope subterrane (exclusive of Brookian (foreland basin)
sequence
SP 47 Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific plate and the overlying Yakutat terrane are subducting beneath and colliding Near-vertical-incidence reflections

with the North American plate. (The Yakutat terrane includes fragments of an accretionary prism and of Underplated oceanic crust (shades of blue
Post-Lisburne Group clastic sed. rocks of Ellesmerian sequence
Low-velocity zone Lisburne Group (LG) and older rocks of Ellesmerian sequence;
the Pacific plate.) Subduction is resisted by the buoyancy of this doubly thick oceanic crust. Currently --dark blue, mafic to ultramafic rock)
chiefly carbonate (LG) and clastic sed. rocks
on the Arctic margin of northeastern Alaska, there is compression that may be related to the ongoing Franklinian sequence.; metasedimentary, metavolcanic, and plutonic
Ophiolite: rocks. Interpreted to have moved southward, along with a fragment
subduction/collision of the Pacific plate/Yakutat terrane (PAC/YAK) in the south. Major faults; arrows denote relative motion; of mantle in Paleogene ("Laramide"). Light green, deformed by duplexing
teeth denote upper plate of reverse faults;
hachures denote hanging wall of normal Livengood terrane--sedimentary rocks, during southward wedge movement.
fault; dashed where undertain. serpentine, mafic rocks
The most spectacular structures and the deepest Moho along the transect are located near the Pacific
Station 701 and Arctic margins. Near the Pacific margin, the Chugach Mountains are being uplifted by the Active fault; dashed where uncertain Tozitna and Angayucham terranes--mafic Foreland basin sedimentary rocks--Brookian sequence
rocks, sedimentary rocks
Zaikoff
Pt
Signal
Mt
subduction/collision of the PAC/YAK and are underlain by a stack of subcreted oceanic layers similar to Major faulting episodes in Brooks Range
indicated by colored lines and arrows:
the PAC/YAK. We interpret this stack as remnants of the extinct Kula (or Resurrection) plate that was Paleogene ["Laramide"] last movement;
Continental metasedimentary rocks
Rift basin sedimentary rocks--Koyukuk basin sed. rocks and Manley terrane
NA converging rapidly on North America in the latest Cretaceous and early Cenozoic. Continental Moho heavy orange line outlines interpreted Strongly deformed, clastic
PAMPLO Laramide tectonic wedge

ZONE just landward of this subcreted stack is more than 55 km deep, in an area of low-lying topography. Near Yukon Tanana terrane
CH Paleogene ["Laramide"]
N the Arctic margin, the Brooks Range and southern part of the North Slope are underlain by striking
TRE Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous
Ruby terrane

IAN duplex structures that extend ever deeper into the crust from north to south. We interpret these Coldfoot subterrare of AA terrane Felsic mid-crustal layers of unknown affinity
UT
ALE duplexes to overlie a crustal-scale wedge consisting of continental crust of the North Slope passive
Moderately deformed
margin and an attached fragment of mantle that has moved southward with respect to the North Focal mechanism of major earthquake.
Magnitude attached. Far hemisphere shown.
Wickersham terrane (clastic)
American plate. Moho has been depressed to nearly 50-km depth beneath the crest of the Brooks Mafic lower crustal layer
Schwatka Mountain (clastic)
Range. The tectonic history leading to the current structure of northeastern Alaska is complex, with
PACIFIC OCEAN several compressional episodes and at least one extensional episode occurring between Late
Jurassic/Early Cretaceous and the present.
9.2 White Mountain (clastic and carbonate)
Hammond subterrane of AA terrane
Mantle
(clastic and carbonate)
Southern Alaska, oceanic. Northern Alaska, part of North Slope

KM Central Alaska consists of continental-marginal terranes and at least one oceanic arc that collided with
Franklinian basement of AA terrane
(clastic)
wedge that moved southward in Laramide.

these terranes in the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous and was partially obducted. Some of these Continental

0 500 terranes were oroclinally folded in the Early Cretaceous, and many were extended and intruded in the
mid-Cretaceous. Offset along major strike-slip faults (Tintina and Denali faults) followed. Moho is
everywhere between 30 and 35 km deep in central Alaska.

B A S IC MA T E R IA L F O R T HIS T R A NS E C T W A S T A K E N F R O M:

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velocity crus t beneath the s outhern Y ukon-T anana terrane, eas t central Alas ka: R es ults from accreted terranes in s outhern Alas ka, C hugach Mountains and C opper R iver bas in, from
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