Geologic Investigations Along the Canada- Alaska Boundary
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GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS ALONG THE CANADA- ALASKA BOUNDARY. By A. G. MADDREN. WORK OF THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION. During the summer of 1911 the joint commission appointed and authorized by the Governments of Canada and the United States to locatp and mark the boundary line separating British territory from Alaska advanced field operations northward along that part of the one hundred and forty-first meridian which extends from Porcupine'River to the Arctic Ocean. This work was a direct con tinuation of the boundary survey that w,as carried northward from Yukon River to Porcupine River during the summers of 1909 and 1910. The commission expects to complete this part of the survey in 1912. The 320 miles through which the one hundred and forty-first meridian extends between Yukon River and the Arctic Ocean is crossed about midway by Porcupine River, which thus separates the region into north and south subdivisions that form convenient units for geographic and geologic description. The southern sub division, about 175 miles in length, may be designated the Yukon- Porcupine section, and the northern one, about 145 miles in length, the Porcupine-Arctic section. Porcupine River is easily navigated by shallow-draft steamboats to New Rampart, an Indian trading settlement on the north bank of the river just east of the boundary line, or about 225 miles above its confluence with the Yukon near Fort Yukon. It thus affords a natural route for the transportation of supplies and makes it prac ticable to maintain a very convenient base of operations for both sections of the boundary at this point. At the close of the field season of 1910 there still remained in the northern half of the Yukon-Porcupine section a stretch of about 80 miles south from the Porcupine, the final work of perma nently placing the intermediate monuments at intervals of 3 to 5 miles and of clearing a strip 40 feet wide through the timbered por tions along the line. There also remained the topographic mapping of a strip 2 miles wide on each side of the line for about 45 miles 297 298 MINERAL, RESOURCES OF ALASKA, 1911. south from the Porcupine. Of this work the mapping was com pleted to Porcupine River in July, 1911, but, owing to unforeseen delays, the setting of the monuments and clearing through timber lacked 30 miles of reaching the Porcupine. This work will be completed in 1912. In the meantime field work was commenced on the Porcupine- Arctic section at New Rampart in June, 1911, and continued north ward until the middle of August. The one hundred and forty-first meridian was located to a point within 7 miles of the Arctic Ocean. The topographic mapping of the 4-mile strip along the line was com pleted for about 115 miles, or within about 30 miles of the Arctic coast. The boundary was marked with permanent bronze monu ments at intervals of 4 or 5 miles over approximately 70 miles, or about half the length of the section north from the Porcupine, and the strip 40 feet wide was cleared through such timbered portions as occurred in this distance. GEOLOGIC WORK. Realizing that its well-equipped field organization afforded unusual facilities in this remote and rather inaccessible region for gathering much information not directly connected with the particular work of locating and marking the boundary line, the joint commission ex tended an invitation, which was readily accepted, to the geological surveys of Canada and the United States to send geologists to accom pany the field parties during 1911 and 1912 and to examine the geology along the boundary from the Yukon to the Arctic. The most satisfactory arrangement for making such a geologic examination in the two summers available appeared to be to assign one of the two sections of the line to each Government. The alterna tive plan, by which each Government should make observations side by side on Canadian and Alaskan territory, would not only have caused more or less duplication, but would also have compelled all the observers to traverse the whole length of both sections. Accord ingly the Canadian geologists undertook to examine the southern, or Yukon-Porcupine, section and the United States geologists the north ern, or Porcupine-Arctic, section. During the field season of 1911 two Canadian geologists examined the part of the Yukon-Porcupine section extending from Orange Fork, the southernmost branch of Black River, northward to the headwaters of Salmontrout River, or approximately between 66 9 and 67° north latitude. They concluded their field work for the summer about 30 miles south of New Rampart and plan to continue it in 1912. The boundary-survey topographic map of the 4-mile strip, drawn on a field scale of 1 to 45,000, was used as a base on which the GEOLOGIC WOEK ALONG CANADA-ALASKA BOUNDAEY. 299 geologic data were platted. Reports on the geology along this sec tion of the meridian will be published by the Canadian Geological Survey. Two geologic observers from the United States Geological Survey commenced a field examination of the Porcupine-Arctic section at New Rampart in the second week of June, 1911, and carried their work northward approximately 100 miles, to the headwaters of Firth River, which flows into the Arctic Ocean. The observations were carried along simultaneously with the topographic mapping of the 4-mile strip on a field scale of 1 to 45,000, with contour lines at inter vals of 100 feet. The geologic data observed over the surveyed area were platted upon tracings from the plane-table sheets which were furnished by the topographers at frequent intervals as the field work advanced. It is planned to continue the geologic field work to the Arctic coast in 1912 and then to publish a report fully describing the geologic section along the boundary line from Porcupine River to the Arctic, Ocean. From the character of the area examined so far it appears that the results will be primarily of stratigraphic rather than of mineralogic importance and will be interesting chiefly as a contribution to the study of the general geologic history of this northern region. Although some search for placer gold has been made about the headwaters of Old Crow River during the last few years by several prospectors, no mineral resources have been discov ered in this region, and the existence of deposits of value within the immediate area examined does not appear probable. GEOLOGY. BOCK FORMATIONS. A preliminary outline of the geologic results obtained during 1911 over the part of the section between Porcupine River and the upper basin of the Firth is herewith presented. Four groups of sedimentary formations have been distinguished, and two types of igneous rocks are associated with what is appar ently the 'oldest of these groups. Considered in what is thought, at .present, to be the order of age from older to younger, these .sedi mentary groups are: 1. A group of quartzites, phyllites, and slaty shales of pre-Ordo- vician age, some of which are schistose, which have been intruded by masses of granitic rocks that locally cover considerable, areas and also by some dia basic igneous rocks of much smaller extent. 2. A group of Carboniferous age, which is for the most part made up of heavily bedded limestones but which also comprises some shaly, sandy, and cherty members. 300 MINERAL, RESOURCES OF ALASKA, 1911. 3. At least one formation of Upper Triassic age, composed of beds of sandy and limy shales containing marine fossils. 4. Another group of quartzites and shale slates, with some beds of conglomerate, which may be of Mesozoic age. From this it seems that'the varied and well-developed Paleozoic section that occurs along Porcupine River west of the one hundred and forty-first meridian is not represented along the 115 miles of the boundary extending northward from Porcupine River except by the pre-Ordovician quartzite and slate series and the Carbonifer ous limestones. Along the Porcupine Kindle 1 has found a quartz ite and slate series which he considers, on stratigraphic grounds, to comprise the oldest rocks exposed in the Porcupine River section and to be of pre-Ordovician age. These are followed by Ordovician limestones; Silurian dolomites and shales; Devonian limestones, shales, and lavas; and Carboniferous shales and limestones, most of which are represented by formations of considerable thickness, con taining fossils at many horizons. In fact, all these Paleozoic forma tions, except the pre-Ordovician quartzite and slate series and the supposedly Devonian igneous flows, contain enough fossil-bearing beds to establish their stratigraphic identity and relative position. PRE-OBDOVICIAN BOCKS. POECUPINE RIVER. Kindle's description of these rocks as they occur along Porcupine River 2 is as follows: The oldest rocks exposed in the Porcupine River section are found in the vicinity of the international boundary. This series is well exposed in the steep slopes and cliffs facing the river at New Rampart House and outcropping con tinuously for 6 or 7 miles below there. It is composed largely of thin-bedded and very fine grained quartzites, which are bedded usually in thin strata 1 to 6 inches thick. Interbedded with the quartzites are considerable beds of black shale and limestone and thin beds of dolomites. The nearly universal color of the quartzites (as exposed along the river) is light gray or white, which gives them a strong resemblance to limestones. Occasional beds occur, however, which are specked with brown, and one 30-foot bed of dark-brown sandstone was observed in the river bank at New Rampart. Sulphide of iron is present in some of the beds, as is indicated by the accumulation of films of sulphur on protected rock faces.