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Paleogeography and Rotations of Arctic Alaska - An Unresolved Problem

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Paleomagnetic Rotations and Continental Deformation

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 254))

Abstract

Although most of the paleomagnetic data available for arctic Alaska show evidence of a magnetic overprint, which commonly obscures the original magnetization, there are a few localities which appear to have recorded an original magnetic field. However, any conclusions drawn on the basis of these apparently reliable paleomagnetic data have to be considered tentative, since they have not all had rigorous stability tests applied. With this caveat in mind, it is found that the northernmost localities indicate a post Early Cretaceous counterclockwise rotation commensurate with a rotation of arctic Alaska away from the region of the Canadian arctic islands, followed by a smaller clockwise rotation recorded in sites further to the west, but still on the Arctic Slope. South of the Brooks Range, sediments of Cretaceous age from the Yukon-Koyukuk Province on-lap the Brooks Range and are thus considered part of Arctic Alaska. These sediments give paleomagnetic directions that indicate variable amounts of clockwise rotation. This rotation is most easily interpreted in terms of ball-bearing style motions due to dextral strike-slip motion along the southern margin of Arctic Alaska. These clockwise rotations are in contrast to the counterclockwise motion seen throughout southwest Alaska.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    D. B. Stone

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  1. D. B. Stone
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  1. Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire mixte CNRS/CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Catherine Kissel  & Carlo Laj  & 

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Stone, D.B. (1989). Paleogeography and Rotations of Arctic Alaska - An Unresolved Problem. In: Kissel, C., Laj, C. (eds) Paleomagnetic Rotations and Continental Deformation. NATO ASI Series, vol 254. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0869-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0869-7_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6878-9

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