Tectonic Growth of a Collisional Continental Margin

Tectonic Growth of a Collisional Continental Margin
Author: Kenneth D. Ridgway
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Total Pages: 676
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0813724317
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"The convergent margin of southern Alaska is considered one of the type areas for understanding the growth of continental margins through collisional tectonic processes. Collisional processes that formed this margin were responsible for multiple episodes of sedimentary basin development, subduction complex growth, magmatism, and deformation. Two main collisional episodes shaped this Mesozoic-Cenozoic continental margin. The first event was the Mesozoic collision of the allochthonous Wrangellia composite terrane. This event represents the largest addition of juvenile crust to western North America in the past 100 m.y. The second event is the ongoing collision of the Yakutat terrane along the southeastern margin of Alaska. This Cenozoic event has produced the highest coast mountain range on Earth (Saint Elias Mountains), the Wrangell continental arc, and sedimentary basins throughout southern Alaska. Active collisional processes continue to shape the southern margin of Alaska, mainly through crustal shortening and strike-slip deformation, large-magnitude earthquakes, and rapid uplift and exhumation of mountain belts and high sedimentation rates in adjacent sedimentary basins. This volume contains 24 articles that integrate new geophysical and geologic data, including many field-based studies, to better link the sedimentary, structural, geochemical, and magmatic processes that are important for understanding the development of collisional continental margins."--Publisher's website.

Mountain Ranges of Alaska

Mountain Ranges of Alaska
Author: Source Wikipedia
Publisher: University-Press.org
Total Pages: 82
Release: 2013-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9781230623252
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Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 80. Chapters: Alaska Range, Aleutian Range, Brooks Range, Coast Mountains, Saint Elias Mountains, Mount Logan, Red Dog Mine, Alaska, List of Boundary Peaks of the Alaska - British Columbia/Yukon border, Mount McKinley, Kobuk River, Mount Redoubt, Denali National Park and Preserve, Makushin Volcano, Pacific Coast Ranges, Coast Range Arc, Novarupta, Mount Fairweather, Mount Katmai, Mount Churchill, Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Mount Hunter, Fourpeaked Mountain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Volcanic Field, Mount Saint Elias, Endicott Mountains, Ahklun Mountains, Nass River, Mount Bona, Mount Foraker, Mount Shishaldin, Mount Aniakchak, Mount Pavlof, Kluane National Park and Reserve, Wrangell Mountains, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Mount Amukta, Boundary Ranges, Baird Mountains, Alfred Hulse Brooks, Noatak River, Revelation Mountains, Mount Vancouver, Mount Augusta, Mount Chiginagak, Alagnak River, Tordrillo Mountains, Koyukuk River, Mount Lucania, Mount Akutan, Mount Hubbard, Yantarni Volcano, Mount Veniaminof, Chugach Mountains, Mount Cook, Deserted River, Mount Deborah, Mount Russell, Mount Denison, Becharof Lake, Mount Griggs, Nenana River, University Peak, Colville River, Middle Triple Peak, King Peak, Ukinrek Maars, Mount Vsevidof, Alatna River, Alaska North Slope, Mentasta Mountains, Talkeetna Mountains, Mount Carlisle, Alsek Ranges, Neacola Mountains, Arrigetch Peaks, Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, Mount Stevens, Mount Alverstone, Kusilvak Mountains, Chigmit Mountains, Mount Bear, Mount Kanaga, Mount Hayes, Mount Emmons, Mollie Beattie Wilderness, Mount Douglas, Atigun Pass, Mount Iliamna, Killik River, Mount Hesperus, Mount Martin, Mount Quincy Adams, Mount Moffett, Mount Kaguyak, North Fork Koyukuk River, Mount Recheshnoi, Mount Mageik, ..

The Topographically Asymmetrical Alaska Range

The Topographically Asymmetrical Alaska Range
Author: Jeff Apple Benowitz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 582
Release: 2011
Genre: Orogeny
ISBN:
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The topographically segmented, ~700 km long Alaska Range evolved over the last ~50 Ma in response to both far-field driving mechanisms and near-field boundary conditions. The eastern Alaska Range follows the curve of the Denali Fault strike-slip system, forming a large arc of high topography across southern Alaska. The majority of the topography in the eastern Alaska Range lies north of the Fault. A region of low topography separates the eastern Alaska Range from the central Alaska Range, where most of the high topography lies south of the Denali Fault. To the west, there is a restraining bend in the Fault. Southwest of the bend, the north-south trending western Alaska Range takes an abrupt 90 degree turn away from the Denali Fault. I applied 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology to over forty granitic samples to constrain the thermal history of the western and eastern Alaska Range. I combine the 40Ar/39Ar analyses with available apatite fission track and apatite (U-Th)/He dating. I then inferred the Alaska Range's exhumation history from the region's rates and patterns of rock cooling. Periods of mountain building within the Alaska Range are related to Paleocene-Eocene ridge subduction and an associated slab window (~50 Ma to ~35 Ma), Neogene flat-slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate (~24 Ma to present), Yakutat microplate latitudinal variation in thickness (~6 Ma to present), block rotation/migration, and fault reorganization along the Denali Fault. However, it is clear from basin, petrological and thermochronological constraints that not all of the far-field driving mechanisms affected every segment of the Alaska Range to the same degree or at the same time. Alaska Range tectonic reconstruction is also complicated by near-field structural controls on both the timing and extent of deformation. Fault geometry affects both the amount of exhumation (e.g., ~14 km in the Susitna Glacier region of the eastern Alaska Range) and location of topographic development (e.g., north or south of the Denali Fault). The topographic signature we see today is also in part the result of a pre-existing landscape modified by Plio-Quaternary (~3 Ma to present) surface processes.