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At least 649 records · Page 36Linked to original sources
USGS1971

Quaternary faulting in the eastern Alaska Range

Quaternary faulting is well displayed along the Denali fault system and the recently recognized and related Totschunda fault system in the eastern Alaska Range. The principal movement on both fault systems is right-lateral strike-slip. Offset glacial features of Wisconsin age indicate minimum Holocene slip rates of 1.1 to 3.5 cm per year along parts of the Denali fault system, and 0.9 to 3.3 cm per year along the Totschunda fault system. Strike-slip movement along the Denali fault system may be no older than early Pliocene and, southeast of the Totschunda fault system junction, may have terminated by the middle Pleistocene. The strike-slip Totschunda fault system, a much younger feature probably no older than middle Pleistocene, exhibits 9 to 10 km of right-lateral offset and 1,500 m of relative vertical movement. The Totschunda fault system is aligned with, and has the same sense of slip as, the Fairweather fault in the Gulf of Alaska. The Denali fault system and the Queen Charlotte Islands fault are part of a major transform fault system separating the North American and Pacific plates. Continental southern Alaska between the Aleutian arc and the Denali fault system is now largely coupled to the Pacific plate. The Totschunda-Fairweather alignment probably represents the beginning of a new transform fault by-passing the southeast part of the Denali fault system.

Alaska↗
USGS1988

The Fox permafrost tunnel: A late Quaternary geologic record in central Alaska

The Fox permafrost tunnel, which penetrates 110 m into frozen sediments of Gold-stream valley, provides a continuous exposure of fossiliferous silt and alluvium above schistose bedrock. Deposition of fluvial gravel was followed by a long interval of loess accretion and permafrost aggradation that was punctuated by episodes of thaw and of gullying and redeposition of silt. Imbricated sandy gravel above the bedrock contains lenses of finer alluvium that contain wood fragments and some rooted stumps. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the gravel is older than 40 ka, but absence of mature soil and weathering profiles at its upper contact indicates that fluvial activity must have continued until shortly before loess accretion began at the tunnel site. Silt is the most widespread depositional unit in the tunnel. This deposit is of eolian origin (loess), but some has been redeposited by slope processes. The silt units contain abundant ground ice as pore filings, lenses, wedges, and buried pond ice. Loess accretion was interrupted by a period when little loess accumulated and when large ice wedges formed in the lower loess unit and subsequently were truncated by thaw. Loess began forming sometime before 40 ka and was rapidly accreting by 39 ka under xeric conditions with open vegetation. A sharply decreased rate of loess accretion associated with local erosion and thaw between about 36 and 30 ka is marked by anomalous cation concentration values, lenses of buried sod, fossils indicative of moist to wet substrates, and truncated ice wedges beneath small frozen ponds or streamlets that occupied ice-wedge troughs. A later episode of rapid loess influx under drier conditions began after 30 ka and coincided with glacial advances of late Wisconsin age in the adjoining Alaska Range. Large ice wedges also formed in the upper loess unit, but only their bases are exposed in the tunnel, and their history of development is uncertain. Fanlike deposits of poorly sorted debris near the tunnel portal formed between about 12.5 and 11 ka during deep erosion of loess slopes under moister conditions. The deposits locally form two subunits: the younger over- whelmed a stand of tall willows on the floor of Goldstream valley between about 11.3 and 11.1 ka; the older may have formed about 1,000 yr earlier. Stratigraphic records elsewhere in central Alaska indicate variable middle Wisconsin environments followed by colder and drier conditions that began between 30 and 25 ka and persisted until perhaps 12.5 ka. Widespread loess erosion and redeposition subsequently occurred under moister and probably warmer conditions. Renewed early Holocene loess deposition may have been widespread, but its exact environmental controls are uncertain. Our data challenge three generally accepted concepts of late Quaternary periglacial processes in central Alaska. We contend that (1) many ice-wedge systems may have formed under interstadial conditions rather than full-glacial conditions, (2) episodes of rapid loess influx may have been partly out of phase with episodes of glacier expansion, and (3) redeposition of loess by solifluction, sheetwash, and gully formation may have been episodic and required conditions moister than those under which the loess initially accreted.

Alaska↗
USGS1994

Crustal velocity structure of the northern Yukon-Tanana upland, central Alaska: Results from TACT refraction/wide-angle reflection data

The Fairbanks North seismic refraction/ wide-angle reflection profile, collected by the U.S. Geological Survey Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT) project in 1987, crosses the complex region between the Yukon-Tanana and Ruby terranes in interior Alaska. This region is occupied by numerous small terranes elongated in a northeast-southwest direction. These seismic data reveal a crustal velocity structure that is divided into three upper-crustal and at least two middle- to lower-crustal domains. The upper-crustal domains are delineated by two steeply dipping low-velocity anomalies that are interpreted as signatures of the Victoria Creek fault, and the Beaver Creek fault or a fault buried by the Beaver Creek fault. This tripartite upper crust extends to 8-10 km depth where a subhorizontal interface undercuts the northern and central domains. Beneath the northern domain, this interface is interpreted as the southeastwardly dipping boundary between the Tozina and Ruby terranes. The continuation of this interface beneath the central domain suggests that it may represent the detachment or basal thrust for thin-skinned tectonic amalgamation of the terranes caught between the Yukon-Tanana and Ruby terranes. The lower crust and Moho reflection exhibit differences from north to south that define at least two lower-crustal domains, interpreted as the Yukon-Tanana and Ruby terranes. Finally, the crustal thickness along the profile is nearly uniform and ranges from 31 to 34 km. Our data suggest that after initial thin-skinned amalgamation of the various terranes, this region experienced thick-skinned tectonic reorganization via strike-slip faulting. This interpretation supports a model in which at least one strand of the Tintina fault exists in this important region of Alaska.

Alaska↗
USGS1998

Structural and kinematic evolution of the Yukon-Tanana upland tectonites, east-central Alaska: A record of late Paleozoic to Mesozoic crustal assembly

The Yukon-Tanana terrane, the largest tectonostratigraphic terrane in the northern North American Cordillera, is polygenetic and not a single terrane. Lineated and foliated (L-S) tectonites, which characterize the Yukon-Tanana terrane, record multiple deformations and formed at different times. We document the polyphase history recorded by L-S tectonites within the Yukon-Tanana upland, east-central Alaska. These upland tectonites compose a heterogeneous assemblage of deformed igneous and metamorphic rocks that form the Alaskan part of what has been called the Yukon-Tanana composite terrane. We build on previous kinematic data and establish the three-dimensional architecture of the upland tectonites through kinematic and structural analysis of more than 250 oriented samples, including quartz c-axis fabric analysis of 39 samples. Through this study we distinguish allochthonous tectonites from parautochthonous tectonites within the Yukon-Tanana upland. The upland tectonites define a regionally coherent stacking order: from bottom to top, they are lower plate North American parautochthonous attenuated continental margin; continentally derived marginal-basin strata; and upper plate ocean-basin and island-arc rocks, including some continental basement rocks. We delineate three major deformation events in time, space, and structural level across the upland from the United States-Canada border to Fairbanks, Alaska: (1) pre-Early Jurassic (>212 Ma) northeast-directed, apparent margin-normal contraction that affected oceanic rocks; (2) late Early to early Middle Jurassic (>188-185 Ma) northwest-directed, apparent margin-parallel contraction and imbrication that resulted in juxtaposition of the allochthonous tectonites with parautochthonous continental rocks; and (3) Early Cretaceous (135-110 Ma) southeast-directed crustal extension that resulted in exposure of the structurally deepest, parautochthonous continental rocks. The oldest event represents deformation within a west-dipping (present coordinates) Permian-Triassic subduction zone. The second event records Early to Middle Jurassic collision of the arc and subduction complex with North American crust, and the third event reflects mid-Cretaceous southeast-directed crustal extension. Events one and two can be recognized and correlated through southern Yukon, even though this region was affected by mid-Cretaceous dextral shear along steep northwest-striking faults. Our data support a model of crustal assembly originally proposed by D. Tempelman-Kluit in which previously deformed allochthonous rocks were thrust over parautochthonous rocks of the attenuated North American margin in Middle Jurassic time. Approximately 50 m.y. after tectonic accretion, east-central Alaska was dissected by crustal extension, exposing overthrust parautochthonous strata.

Alaska↗
USGS1980

Holocene Pacific–North American plate interaction in southern Alaska: Implications for the Yakataga seismic gap

The St. Elias, Alaska, earthquake (magnitude 7.1 M s ) on February 28, 1979, occurred along the complex Pacific–North American plate boundary between Yakutat Bay and Prince William Sound, rupturing only a fraction of the seismic gap identified in that region. To aid in evaluating the potential for, and likely site of, a future earthquake occurring in the remainder of the gap, we have formulated a kinematic model of neotectonic deformation in southern Alaska from available geologic and seismic data. In this model the part of the North American plate bordering on the Gulf of Alaska is divided into three subblocks, which are partially coupled to the Pacific plate. On the basis of the model, the gap-filling rupture or ruptures would most likely be along the north-dipping thrust faults of the Pamplona zone between Icy Bay and the eastern end of the Aleutian Trench. If the accumulated strain of 3.8 m postulated for this region were released suddenly in one event involving the remainder of the gap, the result would be an earthquake as large as magnitude 8.

Geology↗
USGS1995

Block rotation in east-central Alaska: A framework for evaluating earthquake potential?

Geologic and seismic data reveal a set of parallel, active, strike-slip faults in east-central Alaska between the Denali and Tintina fault systems. The faults strike northeast to north-northeast, at a high angle to the bounding dextral fault systems, and exhibit sinistral slip. We hypothesize that this set of faults divides the crust into long blocks that are rotating clockwise in response to northerly compression resulting from Pacific–North American plate convergence. We suggest that these faults have produced most of the large historical earthquakes in east-central Alaska between the Alaska Range and the Yukon River.

Geology↗
USGS2014

Geochemical and Nd-Sr-Pb isotopic evolution of metabasites from rifting of continental lithosphere, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and implications for paleogeographic reconstruction

The chemical character of mafic rocks from the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka terrane records rifting of continental crust during the early Paleozoic, possibly during the Ordovician. The mafic rocks are part of a metamorphosed Neoproterozoic to Devonian continental margin sequence preserved in a Mesozoic metamorphic terrane, the Nome Complex, of Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Protoliths of the mafic rocks include basalt and mafic clastic rocks, which were interlayered with calcareous, pelitic, and feldspathic sediments, and gabbro and diabase, likely feeder dikes and sills to the basalt. Major-element, trace-element, and rare-earth element (REE) analyses of these mafic rocks, together with analyses of Nd, Pb, and Sr isotopes, form two compositional groups. The two groups differ in Nb/Y (one plots as basalt, the other as alkali to subalkali basalt), TiO 2 , P 2 O 5 , and Nb (and other elements). The high-Ti group is characterized by enrichment of light REE; the low-Ti group lacks such enrichment. The trace-element and isotopic characteristics of the two groups resemble typical non-arc magmas derived from the mantle: the low-Ti group has compositions between normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB) and enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB), while those of the high-Ti group are between E-MORB and ocean-island basalt (OIB). The two groups have overlapping positive values of ε Nd (+0.34 to +7.40). TiO 2 /Yb ratios suggest the high-Ti group formed from melts generated under normal thickness of continental crust, while the low-Ti group formed from melts generated at shallower conditions, presumably after rift-related crustal thinning had progressed. Geologic, paleontologic, and geochronologic characteristics of the Nome Complex support an origin along the NE margin of Baltica. The rift-related magmatism in the Nome Complex likely occurred during the opening of the Uralian ocean along that margin; by implication, related parts of the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka terrane may have experienced a similar origin.

Alaska↗
USGS2014

Pb isotope geochemistry of stratabound Zn-Pb(-Ag-Au-Ba-F) deposits and occurrences in the Nome Complex, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Metal sources and regional comparisons

A detailed study of the Pb isotope geochemistry of Zn-Pb(-Ag-Au-Ba-F) stratabound sulfide deposits within metasedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic to Mississippian(?) Nome Complex provides key information for understanding deposit genesis and crustal evolution. A total of 106 new analyses of galena (and other sulfi des) and metasedimentary rocks hosting the deposits shows that (1) Pb isotope signatures of the deposits are heterogeneous when considered as a group; (2) the stratabound Nelson deposit, and deformed veins at Quarry and Galena, are isotopically similar; (3) stratabound and locally stratiform lenses such as Wheeler North and Aurora Creek had different isotopic evolutions; and (4) the occurrence at Bluff and the postmetamorphic, undeformed Pb-Zn-Ag veins and replacements at Hannum, Independence, Foster, and Omilak show the highest values of 206 Pb/ 204 Pb in the region. Pb isotope data for the stratabound Zn-Pb deposits and occurrences do not lie along similar secondary or anomalous lead evolution lines, and there is no shared, two-stage lead line that would provide intersections with a primary or single-stage lead isotope growth curve. Lead isotopic characteristics of the Nelson stratabound deposit and the deformed veins at Quarry and Galena indicate that they largely shared metal and fluid sources. Quarry and Galena also display sufficient Pb isotopic contrast compared to Aurora Creek and Wheeler North to eliminate such veins as subsurface “feeders” for these stratabound deposits, if the deformed veins and deposits formed as closed isotopic systems (without a contribution from externally derived lead). The Pb isotope composition of galena from Aurora Creek formed by a multistage process. It is thus possible that the Aurora Creek deposit originally contained Pb isotope compositions that resembled those from Quarry and Galena. That early-formed Pb was probably remobilized and mixed with radiogenic lead contributed by Mesozoic hydrothermal fluids similar to those associated with the gold-quartz veins in the region. Values of 207 Pb/ 204 Pb and 206 Pb/ 204 Pb from each of the deposits and occurrences plot within the Pb isotope fields of the host metasedimentary rocks and Mesoproterozoic basement rocks of Seward Peninsula; Pb isotope compositions in the deposits thus reflect a local source control. The processes that generated the premetamorphic Zn-Pb(-Ag-Au-Ba-F) sulfide deposits in the Nome Complex differed from those that generated Zn-Pb-Ag deposits in the western Brooks Range, such as the giant Red Dog ore body. Taken as a group, the stratabound lenses and deformed veins in the Nome Complex did not form in a single, widespread, homogeneous hydrothermal system. The Brooks Range deposits, which consist of a range of host rock types and styles of mineralization distributed over a large area, have a high degree of regional Pb isotope homogeneity. The Wheeler North deposit is isotopically similar to Red Dog and related deposits and may have formed in a related hydrothermal system. A preliminary comparison of the Pb isotope compositions of sedimentary-exhalative (SEDEX)–type deposits within the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka terrane and deposits in crustal blocks of Laurussia shows: (1) noteworthy Pb isotopic overlap exists between some of Zn-Pb-Ag deposits in Ireland and the deposits in Arctic Alaska ; but (2) no exact isotopic match exists between any of the deposits in Arctic Alaska and any deposit in crustal blocks involved in the Paleozoic evolution of Laurussia.

Alaska↗
USGS2017

Plateau subduction, intraslab seismicity, and the Denali (Alaska) volcanic gap

Tectonic tremors in Alaska (USA) are associated with subduction of the Yakutat plateau, but their origins are unclear due to lack of depth constraints. We have processed tremor recordings to extract low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs), and generated a set of six LFE waveform templates via iterative network matched filtering and stacking. The timing of impulsive P (compressional) wave and S (shear) wave arrivals on template waveforms places LFEs at 40–58 km depth, near the upper envelope of intraslab seismicity and immediately updip of increased levels of intraslab seismicity. S waves at near-epicentral distances display polarities consistent with shear slip on the plate boundary. We compare characteristics of LFEs, seismicity, and tectonic structures in central Alaska with those in warm subduction zones, and propose a new model for the region’s unusual intraslab seismicity and the enigmatic Denali volcanic gap (i.e., an area of no volcanism where expected). We argue that fluids in the Yakutat plate are confined to its upper crust, and that shallow subduction leads to hydromechanical conditions at the slab interface in central Alaska akin to those in warm subduction zones where similar LFEs and tremor occur. These conditions lead to fluid expulsion at shallow depths, explaining strike-parallel alignment of tremor occurrence with the Denali volcanic gap. Moreover, the lack of double seismic zone and restriction of deep intraslab seismicity to a persistent low-velocity zone are simple consequences of anhydrous conditions prevailing in the lower crust and upper mantle of the Yakutat plate.

Alaska↗
USGS2012

Subducting plate geology in three great earthquake ruptures of the western Alaska margin, Kodiak to Unimak

Three destructive earthquakes along the Alaska subduction zone sourced transoceanic tsunamis during the past 70 years. Since it is reasoned that past rupture areas might again source tsunamis in the future, we studied potential asperities and barriers in the subduction zone by examining Quaternary Gulf of Alaska plate history, geophysical data, and morphology. We relate the aftershock areas to subducting lower plate relief and dissimilar materials in the seismogenic zone in the 1964 Kodiak and adjacent 1938 Semidi Islands earthquake segments. In the 1946 Unimak earthquake segment, the exposed lower plate seafloor lacks major relief that might organize great earthquake rupture. However, the upper plate contains a deep transverse-trending basin and basement ridges associated with the Eocene continental Alaska convergent margin transition to the Aleutian island arc. These upper plate features are sufficiently large to have affected rupture propagation. In addition, massive slope failure in the Unimak area may explain the local 42-m-high 1946 tsunami runup. Although Quaternary geologic and tectonic processes included accretion to form a frontal prism, the study of seismic images, samples, and continental slope physiography shows a previous history of tectonic erosion. Implied asperities and barriers in the seismogenic zone could organize future great earthquake rupture.

Alaska↗
USGS2014

Dynamic response to strike-slip tectonic control on the deposition and evolution of the Baranof Fan, Gulf of Alaska

The Baranof Fan is one of three large deep-sea fans in the Gulf of Alaska, and is a key component in understanding large-scale erosion and sedimentation patterns for southeast Alaska and western Canada. We integrate new and existing seismic reflection profiles to provide new constraints on the Baranof Fan area, geometry, volume, and channel development. We estimate the fan’s area and total sediment volume to be ∼323,000 km 2 and ∼301,000 km 3 , respectively, making it among the largest deep-sea fans in the world. We show that the Baranof Fan consists of channel-levee deposits from at least three distinct aggradational channel systems: the currently active Horizon and Mukluk channels, and the waning system we call the Baranof channel. The oldest sedimentary deposits are in the northern fan, and the youngest deposits at the fan’s southern extent; in addition, the channels seem to avulse southward consistently through time. We suggest that Baranof Fan sediment is sourced from the Coast Mountains in southeastern Alaska, transported offshore most recently via fjord to glacial sea valley conduits. Because of the translation of the Pacific plate northwest past sediment sources on the North American plate along the Queen Charlotte strike-slip fault, we suggest that new channel formation, channel beheadings, and southward-migrating channel avulsions have been influenced by regional tectonics. Using a simplified tectonic reconstruction assuming a constant Pacific plate motion of 4.4 cm/yr, we estimate that Baranof Fan deposition initiated ca. 7 Ma.

Geosphere↗
USGS2016

Late Oligocene to present contractional structure in and around the Susitna basin, Alaska—Geophysical evidence and geological implications

The Cenozoic Susitna basin lies within an enigmatic lowland surrounded by the Central Alaska Range, Western Alaska Range (including the Tordrillo Mountains), and Talkeetna Mountains in south-central Alaska. Some previous interpretations show normal faults as the defining structures of the basin (e.g., Kirschner, 1994). However, analysis of new and existing geophysical data shows predominantly (Late Oligocene to present) thrust and reverse fault geometries in the region, as previously proposed by Hackett (1978). A key example is the Beluga Mountain fault where a 50-mGal gravity gradient, caused by the density transition from the igneous bedrock of Beluga Mountain to the >4-km-thick Cenozoic sedimentary section of Susitna basin, spans a horizontal distance of ∼40 km and straddles the topographic front. The location and shape of the gravity gradient preclude a normal fault geometry; instead, it is best explained by a southwest-dipping thrust fault, with its leading edge located several kilometers to the northeast of the mountain front, concealed beneath the shallow glacial and fluvial cover deposits. Similar contractional fault relationships are observed for other basin-bounding and regional faults as well. Contractional structures are consistent with a regional shortening strain field inferred from differential offsets on the Denali and Castle Mountain right-lateral strike-slip fault systems.

Alaska↗
USGS2020

Three-dimensional shape and structure of the Susitna basin, south-central Alaska, from geophysical data

We use gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, well, and outcrop data to determine the three-dimensional shape and structural features of south-central Alaska’s Susitna basin. This basin is located within the Aleutian-Alaskan convergent margin region and is expected to show effects of regional subduction zone processes. Aeromagnetic data, when filtered to highlight anomalies associated with sources within the upper few kilometers, show numerous linear northeast-trending highs and some linear north-trending highs. Comparisons to seismic reflection and well data show that these highs correspond to areas where late Paleocene to early Eocene volcanic layers have been locally uplifted due to folding and/or faulting. The combined magnetic and seismic reflection data suggest that the linear highs represent northeast-trending folds and north-striking faults. Several lines of evidence suggest that the northeast-trending folds formed during the middle Eocene to early Miocene and may have continued to be active in the Pliocene. The north-striking faults, which in some areas appear to cut the northeast-trending folds, show evidence of Neogene and probable modern movement. Gravity data facilitate estimates of the shape and depth of the basin. This was accomplished by separating the observed gravity anomaly into two components—one representing low-density sedimentary fill within the basin and one representing density heterogeneities within the underlying crystalline basement. We then used the basin anomaly, seismic reflection data, and well data to estimate the depth of the basin. Together, the magnetic, gravity, and reflection seismic analyses reveal an asymmetric basin comprising sedimentary rock over 4 km thick with steep, fault-bounded sides to the southwest, west, and north and a mostly gentle rise toward the east. Relations to the broader tectonic regime are suggested by fold axis orientations within the Susitna basin and neighboring Cook Inlet basin, which are roughly parallel to the easternmost part of the Alaska-Aleutian trench and associated Wadati-Benioff zone as it trends from northeast to north-northeast to northeast. An alignment between forearc basin folds and the subduction zone trench has been observed at other convergent margins, attributed to strain partitioning generated by regional rheologic variations that are associated with the subducting plate and arc magmatism. The asymmetric shape of the basin, especially its gentle rise to the east, may reflect uplift associated with flat-slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate, consistent with previous work that suggested Yakutat influence on the nearby Talkeetna Mountains and western Alaska Range. Yakutat subduction may also have contributed to Neogene and later reverse slip along north-striking faults within the Susitna basin.

Alaska↗
USGS2016

Apatite fission-track evidence for regional exhumation in the subtropical Eocene, block faulting, and localized fluid flow in east-central Alaska

The origin and antiquity of the subdued topography of the Yukon–Tanana Upland (YTU), the physiographic province between the Denali and Tintina faults, are unresolved questions in the geologic history of interior Alaska and adjacent Yukon. We present apatite fission-track (AFT) results for 33 samples from the 2300 km2 western Fortymile district in the YTU in Alaska and propose an exhumation model that is consistent with preservation of volcanic rocks in valleys that requires base level stability of several drainages since latest Cretaceous–Paleocene time. AFT thermochronology indicates widespread cooling below ∼110 °C at ∼56–47 Ma (early Eocene) and ∼44–36 Ma (middle Eocene). Samples with ∼33–27, ∼19, and ∼10 Ma AFT ages, obtained near a major northeast-trending fault zone, apparently reflect hydrothermal fluid flow. Uplift and erosion following ∼107 Ma magmatism exposed plutonic rocks to different extents in various crustal blocks by latest Cretaceous time. We interpret the Eocene AFT ages to suggest that higher elevations were eroded during the Paleogene subtropical climate of the subarctic, while base level remained essentially stable. Tertiary basins outboard of the YTU contain sediment that may account for the required >2 km of removed overburden that was not carried to the sea by the ancestral Yukon River system. We consider a climate driven explanation for the Eocene AFT ages to be most consistent with geologic constraints in concert with block faulting related to translation on the Denali and Tintina faults resulting from oblique subduction along the southern margin of Alaska.

Alaska↗
USGS2010

Vulnerability of white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska in response to climate variability: Dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives

This paper integrates dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives to improve understanding of the response of white spruce ( Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) tree growth to climatic variability in interior Alaska. The dendrochronological analyses indicate that climate warming has led to widespread declines in white spruce growth throughout interior Alaska that have become more prevalent during the 20th century. Similarly, demographic studies show that white spruce tree growth is substantially limited by soil moisture availability in both mid- and late-successional stands. Interannual variability in tree growth among stands within a landscape exhibits greater synchrony than does growth of trees that occupy different landscapes, which agrees with dendrochronological findings that the responses depend on landscape position and prevailing climate. In contrast, the results from 18 years of a summer moisture limitation experiment showed that growth in midsuccessional upland stands was unaffected by moisture limitation and that moisture limitation decreased white spruce growth in floodplain stands where it was expected that growth would be less vulnerable because of tree access to river water. Taken together, the evidence from the different perspectives analyzed in this study clearly indicates that white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska is vulnerable to the effects of warming on plant water balance.

Alaska↗
USGS2010

Alaska’s changing fire regime - Implications for the vulnerability of its boreal forests

A synthesis was carried out to examine Alaska’s boreal forest fire regime. During the 2000s, an average of 767 000 ha·year –1 burned, 50% higher than in any previous decade since the 1940s. Over the past 60 years, there was a decrease in the number of lightning-ignited fires, an increase in extreme lightning-ignited fire events, an increase in human-ignited fires, and a decrease in the number of extreme human-ignited fire events. The fraction of area burned from human-ignited fires fell from 26% for the 1950s and 1960s to 5% for the 1990s and 2000s, a result from the change in fire policy that gave the highest suppression priorities to fire events that occurred near human settlements. The amount of area burned during late-season fires increased over the past two decades. Deeper burning of surface organic layers in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forests occurred during late-growing-season fires and on more well-drained sites. These trends all point to black spruce forests becoming increasingly vulnerable to the combined changes of key characteristics of Alaska’s fire regime, except on poorly drained sites, which are resistant to deep burning. The implications of these fire regime changes to the vulnerability and resilience of Alaska’s boreal forests and land and fire management are discussed.

Alaska↗
USGS1989

Evolution of the western part of the Coast plutonic–metamorphic complex, South-Eastern Alaska, USA: A summary

The western Cordillera of North America extends for over 6000 km from the tip of Baja California to the Alaska Range. It includes a wide variety of metamorphic and plutonic terrains, but none is more spectacular scenically or geologically than the Coast plutonic-metamorphic complex (Brew & Ford 1984) of western Canada and south-eastern Alaska. This report briefly describes the evolution of the western part of the complex, integrating information from the deformational, plutonic and metamorphic events. Most of the original studies are reported by the authors in U.S. Geological Survey Circular numbers 733, 751, 823-B, 868, 939, 945, 967 and 978, and are not cited specifically here. This summary does not contain either a comprehensive bibliography or a comparison of the metamorphic histories of south-eastern Alaska with the adjacent parts of British Columbia. The Coast plutonic-metamorphic complex is here divided into three major elements: the western metamorphic, the central granitic and the eastern metamorphic zones (Fig. 1). The western metamorphic belt is extremely long (900 km), and narrow (7–25 km). It consists of regional dynamothermally and regional thermally metamorphosed rocks with mineral assemblages ranging from prehnite-pumpellyite to upper amphibolite facies, scattered mesozonal to epizonal granitic bodies, and a few concentrically zoned mafic-ultramafic masses. The metamorphic grade and the amount of deformation increase from south-west to north-east, culminating at, or slightly to the north-east of, the ‘great tonalite sill’: a remarkable 700-km-long, 3- to 25-km-wide vertical to northeast-dipping belt of mostly syntectonic plutons of approximately the same age, composition and structural

Alaska↗
USGS2015

Recent changes in annual area burned in interior Alaska: The impact of fire management

The Alaskan boreal forest is characterized by frequent extensive wildfires whose spatial extent has been mapped for the past 70 years. Simple predictions based on this record indicate that area burned will increase as a response to climate warming in Alaska. However, two additional factors have affected the area burned in this time record: the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) switched from cool and moist to warm and dry in the late 1970s and the Alaska Fire Service instituted a fire suppression policy in the late 1980s. In this paper a geographic information system (GIS) is used in combination with statistical analyses to reevaluate the changes in area burned through time in Alaska considering both the influence of the PDO and fire management. The authors found that the area burned has increased since the PDO switch and that fire management drastically decreased the area burned in highly suppressed zones. However, the temporal analysis of this study shows that the area burned is increasing more rapidly in suppressed zones than in the unsuppressed zone since the late 1980s. These results indicate that fire policies as well as regional climate patterns are important as large-scale controls on fires over time and across the Alaskan boreal forest.

Alaska↗