Late Cenozoic History of the Interior Basins of Alaska and the Yukon
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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 1026 Late Cenozoic History of the Interior Basins of Alaska and the Yukon Proceedings of a cooperative workshop between earth scientists from Canada and the United States of America AVAILABILITY OF BOOKS AND MAPS OF THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Instructions on ordering publications of the U.S. Geological Survey, along with prices of the last offerings, are given in the cur rent-year issues of the monthly catalog "New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey." Prices of available U.S. Geological Sur vey publications released prior to the current year are listed in the most recent annual "Price and Availability List" Publications that are listed in various U.S. Geological Survey catalogs (see back inside cover) but not listed in the most recent annual"Price and Availability List" are no longer available. 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GALLOWAY, Editors Proceedings of a cooperative workshop between earth scientists from Canada and the United States of America U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 1026 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, JR., Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1989 Free on application to the Books and Open-File Reports Section U.S. Geological Survey Federal Center, Box 25425 Denver, CO 80225 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Late Cenozoic history of the interior basins of Alaska and the Yukon I L. David Carter, Thomas D. Hamilton, and John P. Galloway, editors. p. em.- (U.S. Geological Survey circular; 1026) Proceedings of a joint Canadian-American workshop hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey at Anchorage, AK, in Feb. 1987. Bibliography: p. Supt. of Docs. no.: I 19.4/2:1026 1 . Geology, Stratigraphic-Quaternary-Congresses. 2. Geology-Canada Beaufort Sea Region-Congresses. 3. Geology-Alaska-Beaufort Sea Region Congresses. I. Carter, L. David. II. Hamilton, Thomas D. (Thomas Dudley), 1936- . Ill. Galloway, John P. IV. Series: Geological Survey circular; 1026. QE696.L286 1989 89-600059 551.7'9-dc20 CIP CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 L. David Carter and Thomas D. Hamilton WORKSHOP PROGRAM 3 WORKSHOPPARTICIPANTS 4 JOINT CANADIAN-AMERICAN INVESTIGATION OF THE CENOZOIC GEOLOGY OF THE LOWLANDS BORDERING THE BEAUFORT SEA 7 Jean-Serge Vincent, L. David Carter, John V. Matthews, Jr., and David M. Hopkins PAPERS Late Pleistocene Spruce (Picea) in Northern Interior Basins of Alaska and the Yukon: Evidence from Marine Deposits in Northern Alaska 11 L. David Carter and Thomas A. Ager Offshore Constraints on the Late Pleistocene Glacial History at the Mouth of the Mackenzie River 15 Steve M. Blasco, Julie Bri.gham-Grette, and Philip R Hill Continental Ice Advances in Northwestern Canada and their Significance to Interior Basins in the Yukon 18 Jean-Serge Vincent Was the Late Pleistocene Northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet Wet-Based? 22 James Beget Quaternary Chronology, Yukon and Western District of Mackenzie 25 Owen L. Hughes The Old Crow and Bluefish Basins, Northern Yukon: Development of the Quaternary History 30 Charles E. Schweger Climatic Change in Eastern Beringia During Oxygen Isotope Stages 2 and 3: Proposed Thermal Events 34 John V. Matthews, Jr., Charles E. Schweger, and Owen L. Hughes Paleosols of Northwestern Canada 39 Charles Tamocai Upper Cenozoic Deposits, Kanuti Flats and Upper Kobuk Trench, Northern Alaska 45 Thomas D. Hamilton Quaternary Deposits at Birch Creek, Northeastern Interior Alaska: The Possibility of Climatic Reconstruction 48 Mary E. Edwards and Patricia F. McDowell Late Quaternary Paleofloods along the Porcupine River, Alaska: Implications for Regional Correlation 51 Robert M. Thorson Contents Ill Late Cenozoic Sedimentary History along Major Fault Zones, Alaska 55 Warren Yeend Paleoglaciology of the Selwyn Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and Quaternary Stratigraphy of the East-Central Yukon 60 Lionel E. Jackson, Jr. Late Cenozoic Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of Gravelly Deposits in Central and Southern Yukon 66 Stephen R. Morison Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Fairbanks Area, Alaska 72 Troy L. Pewe Pleistocene Glacial Events, Southeastern Copper River Basin, Alaska 78 Donald R. Nichols A Working Glacial Chronology for the Western Copper River Basin, Alaska 81 John R. Williams Glacial Lake Atna, Copper River Basin, Alaska 85 Oscar J. Ferrians, Jr. History of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Vegetation in the Copper River Basin, South-Central Alaska 89 Thomas A. Ager Pleistocene Vertebrate Localities in the Yukon 93 C. Richard Harington Arctic Microtine Biochronology-Current Status 99 Charles A. Repenning Comment on the Present Status of Dating Loess by Thermoluminescence 103 Glenn W. Berger SUMMARIES OF DISCUSSION SESSIONS 1 0 7 Geochronology 1 0 7 Julie Brigham-Grette Neotectonics in Alaska and Northwestern Canada 1 0 8 Robert M. Thorson Late Tertiary Events 1 0 9 John V. Matthews, Jr. Early and Middle Pleistocene Events 11 0 Thomas D. Hamilton Late Pleistocene Glacial Advances 111 Jean-Serge Vincent Late Pleistocene Interstadial Intervals 112 Charles E Schweger Canadian-American Collaborative Research 113 L. David Carter IV Contents INTRODUCTION By L. David Carter and Thomas D. Hamilton This volume contains the proceedings of a joint Cana Geology, and the U.S. Geological Survey participated in dian-American workshop on the late Cenozoic history of the meeting. Twenty of the following papers were prepared the interior basins of Alaska and the Yukon, a meeting that for the workshop and subsequently revised for publication; was hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey at Anchorage, two additional papers were solicited after the workshop in Alaska, in February 1987. The principal aim of the work order to expand coverage of topics that proved to be of shop was fostering communication between Canadian and particular interest. Brief synopses of the seven discussion American scientists on problems of late Cenozoic history sessions that followed the presentation of papers were common to both northwestern Canada and Alaska. prepared by discussion leaders, and these also are included The Anchorage workshop was the second in a planned in this volume. series of meetings that are intended to be held at two- or Some of the major rivers, tectonic basins, and faults three-year intervals. The first meeting of this series, which referred to in the papers and discussion-session reports are was hosted by the Geological Survey of Canada, was held shown in figure 1. More detailed maps showing all of the in Calgary, Alberta, in April 1984. Its topic was the cor localities and geographic features mentioned in papers relation of Quaternary deposits and events around the dealing with the Yukon can be found in Morison and Smith margin of the Beaufort Sea. A correlation chart that was (1987, figs. 39, 41, and 42). assembled at the meeting and 16 short papers prepared by One central theme that emerged from the workshop is individual participants were published by the Geological the critical role of volcanic ash layers (tephras) in dating Survey of Canada (Heginbottom and Vincent, 1986).