Geology Reports⌕ Search

USGS · 70256998

Collision structures of the Prince William terrane and Chugach terrane docking along the Shumagin and Unimak convergent margins, Alaska, USA

Abstract

Western Alaska’s convergent margins are composed of tectonostratigraphic terranes. On land, terrane assembly is recognized along boundaries or sutures between neighboring geologic elements with distinctly different origins. In marine areas where rock outcrops are covered by sediment, recognizing terrane sutures is problematic. A fault in seismic dip line 5 of the ALEUT project has been interpreted as a terrane suture. It is imaged intermittently down to the 30+-km-deep plate interface. Processing of ALEUT strike line 7 revealed the suture at ~18 km depths extending 300 km along the margin. Upper structures in line 5 are like the structures of adjacent seismic transects where imaging is only 8−10 km deep. They were previously not recognized as the upper reaches of terrane sutures and show structural details obscured at greater depths. The composite data are the basis for a simple tectonic model of terrane docking.

Explore related subjects

90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 52.75° to 56° latitude; -164° to -156° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Roland E. von Huene, John J. Miller. 2024-07-25. Collision structures of the Prince William terrane and Chugach terrane docking along the Shumagin and Unimak convergent margins, Alaska, USA. https://doi.org/10.1130/ges02757.1

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

Discover connections

Connections use source metadata and explicit phrase matches, not verified experimental comparisons.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

Ignimbrites of the Sour Creek dome, Yellowstone volcano, USA: Implications for the Lava Creek Tuff eruption and Yellowstone Caldera

Field observations plus sanidine compositional and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age data collected on rocks from the Sour Creek dome (SCD) area of Yellowstone volcano (United States) serve to identify five new ignimbrite packages with ages (average 631.5 ± 0.9 ka) that are analytically indistinguishable from those of the Lava Creek Tuff (LCT), challenging the current framework of two LCT eruptive members. Newly recognized package 1 occurs as LCT-aged recycled clasts within a proximal lag breccia, reflecting a major time break in the LCT eruption sequence. Conformably above, the scoria-bearing ignimbrite of package 2 is extensively found in the dome, having been previously mis-mapped as Huck-leberry Ridge Tuff and LCT member A. To the south, package 3 is a crystal-rich, densely welded ignimbrite (inferred to be younger than package 2) that is conformably overlain by package 4, a fine-grained ignimbrite that contains abundant clasts of recycled tuff. Lastly, the topographically highest parts of the dome are made up of package 5, a multicomponent ignimbrite containing scoria, recycled clasts, and pumices, potentially correlative with package 2 and/or package 4. Cathodoluminescence imaging and zoning assessment was integrated with sanidine geochemistry from all five packages, including their recycled clasts. Four of the five packages were sourced from separate magmatic bodies within a larger plumbing system, each defined by their sanidine Ba distributions and componentry. Although the SCD was originally mapped as a resurgent dome and is actively deforming today, faults cutting the region show comparable offsets for NW-SE “resurgent faulting” as for orthogonal NE-SW faulting, the latter of which also cuts the 162 ka Elephant Back lava flow. We infer that faulting in the SCD well postdates eruption and that the SCD instead represents a domical accumulation of ignimbrite, not a resurgent structure. The abundance of recycled materials (and absence of Absaroka country rocks) in the SCD ignimbrites implies that vent locations were well inboard of the mapped caldera boundary, with some potentially along the line of the Yellowstone River, requiring a revision of the currently accepted LCT caldera outline. The LCT eruptive events were thus far more complex than currently recognized, with multiple deposits fed from multiple magma bodies over a time scale that cannot be resolved by radiometric dating.

Wyoming↗

Syn-magmatic subsidence during the early stages of continental rifting in the Mesoproterozoic—A reanalysis of legacy data for the Midcontinent Rift, western Lake Superior

The Midcontinent Rift system (ca. 1.1 Ga) is a 2000-km-long series of elongated volcanic and sedimentary troughs and associated intrusive centers exposed chiefly in the Lake Superior region of North America. The rift system represents a long history of intense magmatism and subsequent sedimentation that was arrested by far-field tectonic events before sea-floor spreading was established. The premature cessation preserved a record of processes related to the beginning of continental rifting. The rift system under Lake Superior has been long studied using seismic-reflection data collected as part of the Great Lakes International Multidisciplinary Program on Crustal Evolution (GLIMPCE). We reexamine GLIMPCE Line C by developing a detailed velocity model for time to depth conversion constrained by other legacy data. We corroborate the model and develop a geologic interpretation using gravity and magnetic modeling and ties to geology mapped onshore. We recognize superposed subsiding sedimentary and volcanic basins for the southern half of the Line C depth section. This interpretation differs from previous paradigms that show major crustal faults that bound half-grabens or full grabens. We conclude that high-velocity (6.9 km/s) intrusive zones rather than major crustal faults border the sides of the basins. We speculate that the volcanic basin represents the initiation of seaward dipping reflectors. The syn-magmatic subsidence can be explained by dike injection and volcanic loading. Discrete lava basins throughout the region likely subsided at different times in a disorganized manner along the rift trend, raising questions about the long-term role of lithospheric thinning and melt generation.

Michigan, Minnesota, Ontario, Wisconsin↗

Characterizing changes in postfire debris-flow hazard as burned areas recover

Emergency assessments of postfire debris-flow hazards that are performed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provide estimates of debris-flow likelihood and rainfall triggering conditions that are used for evaluating and managing runoff-generated debris-flow hazards in recently burned areas throughout the western United States. Although the immediate postfire period, within roughly one year after fire, is typically the most susceptible to runoff-generated debris flows, the hazard evolves in time and space as the burned area recovers. The recovery trajectory a given burned area will take depends on local climate and weather and can be difficult to predict. Some burned areas recover quickly, whereas others experience debris flows for multiple years after fire. As a result, extending our ability to update debris-flow likelihood estimates and rainfall thresholds based on observed recovery of the burned area would be beneficial. We present a method for multi-year runoff-generated debris-flow hazard assessment that leverages the USGS “M1” debris-flow likelihood model and integrates updated, satellite-derived, normalized burn ratio data to estimate vegetation recovery. We predict recovery-aware rainfall thresholds and validate them against a multi-year debris-flow hazard prediction and could be adapted for use with other debris-flow models that incorporate burn severity data.

Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Washing↗