Geologic Map of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin, Alaska
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Geologic Map of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin, Alaska By William W. Patton, Jr., Frederic H. Wilson, Keith A. Labay, and Nora Shew Pamphlet to accompany Scientific Investigations Map 2909 Photograph (or other artwork) Photo Caption Goes Here Pinnacles of Cretaceous conglomerate (map unit Kmc) in Waring Mountains on northern margin of the Yukon- Koyukuk Basin. 2009 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................1 Geology ............................................................................................................................................................1 Overlap Assemblages ..........................................................................................................................1 Sedimentary Rocks ......................................................................................................................1 Surficial Deposits ................................................................................................................1 Yukon-Koyukuk Basin ......................................................................................................1 Kuskokwim Basin ................................................................................................................3 Volcanic and Hypabyssal Rocks ...........................................................................................3 Plutonic Rocks ..............................................................................................................................3 Lithotectonic Terranes .........................................................................................................................4 Koyukuk Terrane ..........................................................................................................................4 Mélange.........................................................................................................................................4 Angayucham-Tozitna Terrane ....................................................................................................4 Innoko Terrane ............................................................................................................................4 Nixon Fork Terrane ....................................................................................................................4 Minchumina Terrane ...................................................................................................................4 Ruby, Seward, and Arctic Alaska Terranes .............................................................................4 Structure..........................................................................................................................................................5 Yukon-Koyukuk Basin ...........................................................................................................................5 Borderland Terranes ............................................................................................................................5 Terranes South of Poorman Fault .......................................................................................................5 Strike-slip Faults....................................................................................................................................5 Description of Map Units ..............................................................................................................................6 Overlap Assemblages ..........................................................................................................................6 Sedimentary Rocks ......................................................................................................................6 Surficial Deposits ................................................................................................................6 Yukon-Koyukuk Basin ..................................................................................................................8 Deltaic Deposits ..................................................................................................................8 Submarine Fan Deposits ....................................................................................................8 Marginal Shelf and Slope Deposits .................................................................................9 Kuskokwim Basin .......................................................................................................................10 Volcanic and Hypabyssal Rocks ......................................................................................................11 Plutonic Rocks ............................................................................................................................13 Lithotectonic Terranes .......................................................................................................................14 Koyukuk Terrane ........................................................................................................................14 Mélange.......................................................................................................................................15 Angayucham-Tozitna terrane ..................................................................................................15 Innoko Terrane ...........................................................................................................................16 Nixon Fork Terrane ....................................................................................................................17 Minchumina Terrane .................................................................................................................18 East Fork subterrane ........................................................................................................18 Telida subterrane ..............................................................................................................18 Ruby Terrane ...............................................................................................................................19 Seward Terrane ..........................................................................................................................20 Arctic Alaska Terrane ...............................................................................................................20 Rocks of Uncertain Affinity ......................................................................................................22 Sources of Map Information ......................................................................................................................22 References Cited..........................................................................................................................................26 iii Introduction Holocene and unconformably overlie or intrude the lithotec- tonic terranes. The lithotectonic terranes range in age from This map and accompanying digital files represent part of Proterozoic to Early Cretaceous and consist of complexly a systematic effort to release geologic data for the United States deformed displaced fragments of an ancient continental margin in a uniform manner. All the geologic data in this series will be (Seward, Arctic Alaska, Ruby, Nixon Fork, and Minchumina published as parts of the U.S. Geological Survey Data Series. terranes) and displaced fragments of island-arc and oceanic The geologic data in this series have been compiled from a wide rocks (Koyukuk, Angayucham-Tozitna, and Innoko terranes) variety of sources, ranging from state and regional geologic that were accreted to the continental margin by the Early maps to large-scale field mapping. The data are presented Cretaceous (Patton and others, 1994). for use at a nominal scale of 1:500,000, although individual datasets may contain data suitable for use at larger scales. The metadata associated with each release will provide more Overlap Assemblages detailed information on sources and appropriate scales for use. Associated attribute databases accompany the spatial database of the geology and are uniformly structured for ease in develop- Sedimentary Rocks ing regional- and national-scale maps. The 1:500,000-scale geologic map of the Yukon-Koyukuk Surficial Deposits Basin, Alaska, covers more than 200,000 square kilometers of western Alaska or nearly 15 percent of the total land area of the Coastal and interior lowlands occupy more than half the state (fig. 1). It stretches from the Brooks Range on the north map area and are mantled by thick deposits of water-laid and to the Kuskokwim River and lower reaches of the Yukon River windblown silt, fine sand, and gravel (units Qf , Qua, and Qs). on the south and from Kotzebue Sound, Seward Peninsula, and The heavy cover of surficial deposits in the Koyukuk Flats and Norton Sound on the west to the Yukon-Tanana Uplands and Nowitna and Innoko Lowlands appears to have been trans- Tanana-Kuskokwim Lowlands on the east. It includes not only ported into the area during the Pleistocene and Holocene along the northern and central part of the basin, but also the lands that the valleys of the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers from glaciated border the basin. The area is characterized by isolated clusters areas in the Brooks Range