m Accomplish me Cover photograph South Sawyer Glacier in southeastern Alaska. View southeast from head of Tracy Arm. The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1977 Kathleen AA. Johnson, Editor GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 772-B 1978 United States Department of the Interior CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary Geological Survey H. William Menard, Director Free on application to Branch of Distribution, U.S. Geological Survey, 1200 South Eads Street, Arlington, VA 22202 CONTENTS Page Abstract. ___________________________ Bl Northern Alaska Continued Summary of important results _______________! Organic geochemistry of rocks from three Introduction. _______________________! NPRA wells, by Leslie B. Magoon and Statewide projects ____________________! George E. Claypool _____________B25 Mineral resources of Alaska, by Edward H. Release of NPRA (NPR-4) data, by Robert D. Cobb _________________1 Carter ______________________26 Landsat color mosaic of Alaska, by Nairn R. D. Fossil reconnaissance study, eastern NPRA, Albert, Wm. Clinton Steele, and James R. by Charles A. Repenning____________ 27 LeCompte ____________________! Reconnaissance snow survey of NPRA, April Landsat data interpretation of various AM- 1977, by Charles E. Sloan, Dennis Trabant, RAP quadrangles, Alaska by Nairn R. D. Al­ and William Glude _ ___ ____ ____ 28 bert, Wm. Clinton Steele and James R. Hydrologic reconnaissance of lakes in NPRA, LeCompte ____________________4 1977, by Charles E. Sloan and Richard F. Geochemical exploration studies in Alaska, by Snyder ______________________28 G. C. Curtin, T. D. Hessin, R. M. O'Leary, E. Streamflow in NPRA, 1977, by S. H. Jones _ _ 29 F. Cooley, G. W. Day, and R. B. Tripp _ _ _ 5 Development and operation of gas fields in the Streamflow and channel erosion investigations South Barrow area, by Robert D. Carter and along the TAPS route, by J. M. Childers, D. Robert J. Lantz ______________29 Kernodle, and R. Loeffler ___________6 A simple target model for offshore permafrost Regional appraisal of Alaska's ground-water at Prudhoe Bay, by Arthur H. Lachenbruch resources, by Chester Zenone and G. S. An- and B. Vaughn Marshall ___________30 derson _______________________? Geophysical profiles through the Shaviovik- Northern Alaska _____________________? Echooka River region, by Dennis Giovan- The Arrigetch Peaks and Mount Igikpak plu- netti and K. J. Bird _ _____________ 32 tons, Survey Pass quadrangle, Alaska, by S. Hydrology of arctic Alaska, by J. M. Childers, W. Nelson and Donald Grybeck ________? D. Kernodle, and R. Loeffler _________33 Potential strata-bound lead-zinc mineraliza­ tion, Philip Smith Mountains quadrangle, East-central Alaska ___________________ 34 Alaska, by J. T. Dutro, Jr ___________9 Late Paleozoic radiolarians and conodonts Granitic clasts from Lower Cretaceous con­ found in chert of Big Delta quadrangle, by glomerate in the northwestern Brooks H. L. Foster, D. L. Jones, T. E. C. Keith, Range, by C. F. Mayfield, I. L. Tailleur, C. Bruce Wardlaw, and F. R. Weber _____ _34 G. Mull, and M. L. Silberman _________!! Late Cenozoic stratigraphy of the south-cen­ Cretaceous Nanushuk Group, North Slope, tral Brooks Range, by Thomas D. Hamilton _ 36 Alaska, by Thomas S. Ahlbrandt and A. Geohydrology of the Fairbanks-North Star Curtis Huffman ________________13 Borough, by G. L. Nelson _ _ _ ;_______38 Geologic investigations of metallic mineral re­ Geohydrology of the Delta-Clearwater area, by sources of southern NPRA, by Michael G. L. Nelson ______ __________ 38 Churkin, Jr., Carl Huie, C. F. Mayfield, and Warren J. Nokleberg _____________ 15 Stratiform zinc-lead mineralization, Drench- West-central Alaska __________________38 water Creek area, Howard Pass quadrangle, Juxtaposed continental and oceanic-island arc western Brooks Range, Alaska, by Warren J. terranes in the Medfra quadrangle, west- Nokleberg and Gary R. Winkler _______ 17 central Alaska, by William W. Patton, Jr _ 38 Surficial geology of the foothills and moun­ Preliminary summary of the geology in the tains of NPRA, by Warren Yeend _ ___ 19 northwest part of the Ruby quadrangle, by Coastal plain deposits of NPRA, by John R. Robert M. Chapman and William W. Pat- Williams, L. David Carter, and Warren E. ton, Jr ______________________39 Yeend________________20 Landslides near Melozitna River canyon, by Studies of proposed airfields at the Inigok and Robert M. Chapman and William W. Pat- Tunalik well sites, NPRA, by Reuben Ka- ton, Jr ______________________41 chadoorian, F. E. Crory, and D. L. Berg _ _ 22 An occurrence of parsonite, a secondary urani­ Granite on the Barrow arch, northeast NPRA, um mineral, in alaskite of the Wheeler Creek by K. J. Bird, C. L. Connor, I. L. Tailleur, M. pluton, by Thomas P. Miller and Bruce R. L. Silberman, and J. L. Christie ________ 24 Johnson _____________ _ 42 III West-central Alaska Continued Southern Alaska Continued Tin-granites of Seward Peninsula, by Travis Analysis of remotely sensed data for use in Hudson, Fred Barker, and Joseph Arth _ _ B44 evaluating onshore impacts of offshore pe­ troleum development at Kenai, Alaska, by Upper Triassic radiolarian chert from the Ko- Harry F. Lins, Jr ______________B76 buk volcanic sequence in the southern Application of remotely sensed data for Brooks Range, by George Plafker, Travis ground-water analysis near Denali, Alaska, Hudson, and D. L. Jones ___________ 45 by James K. Richard _____________ 78 Kigluaik and Bendeleben faults, Seward Pen­ Computer enhancement of Landsat digital insula, by Travis Hudson and George Plaf­ data for mapping material-related geomor- ker ___________ ________47 phic features near Denali, Alaska, by Cyn­ Preliminary investigations of coal outcrops thia A. Sheean__________________79 near Farewell, Alaska, by Ernest G. Sloan, Classification of vegetation in the Denali, Gerald B. Shearer, James Eason, and Carl Alaska area with digital Landsat data, by Almquist ____________________ 50 Wayne G. Rohde, Wayne A. Miller, and Charles A. Nelson __ _____ _____80 Southwestern Alaska _________________50 Water resources studies in the Anchorage area, New geologic map of the Goodnews-Hagemeis- by Chester Zenone _______________81 ter Island quadrangles region, Alaska, by J. Southeastern Alaska __________________82 M. Hoare and W. L. Coonrad ________50 New geologic map of Ketchikan and Prince Lawsonite in southwest Alaska, by J. M. Hoare Rupert quadrangles, southeastern Alaska, and W. L. Coonrad ______________ 55 by Henry C. Berg, Raymond L. Elliott, Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of the James G. Smith, and Richard D. Koch _ _ _ _ 82 Kamishak Hills-Douglas River area, lower Chemistry of Quartz Hill intrusive rocks, Ket­ Cook Inlet, by Leslie B. Magoon, Robert M. chikan quadrangle, by Travis Hudson, Ray­ Egbert, and George Petering _________57 mond L. Elliott, and James G. Smith _ _ _ _ 83 Petrography of the Upper Jurassic through Minor-metal content of Cretaceous greenstone Oligocene sandstones in the Cape Douglas- near Juneau, Alaska, by Arthur B. Ford and Kamishak Hills area, lower Cook Inlet, by David A. Brew __________________ 85 Stephen M. Lankford and Leslie B. Magoon _ 60 Intrusive rocks in the Fairweather Range, Gla­ Interpretation of depositional environments in cier Bay National Monument, Alaska, by the Chignik Formation, Alaska Peninsula, David A. Brew, Bruce R. Johnson, Arthur B. by Robert L. Detterman ___________62 Ford, and Robert P. Morrell_________88 New ages on intrusive rocks and altered zones Tarr Inlet suture zone, Glacier Bay National on the Alaska Peninsula, by F. H. Wilson, R. Monument, by David A. Brew and Robert P. L. Detterman, and M. L. Silberman _____ 63 Morrell ____________________90 Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the Alaska Pen­ Offshore Alaska ___________________92 insula between Pavlof Bay and False Pass; Heat flow and organic gas measurements from their geology and petroleum potential, by the Aleutian Basin, Bering Sea, by Alan K. Hugh McLean _________________65 Cooper ___________________92 Environmental geologic studies in northern Southern Alaska ____________________65 Bering Sea, by Devin R. Thor and Hans Nel­ New potassium-argon data on the age of min­ son ________________________94 eralization and metamorphism in the Wil­ Navarin basin, northwest Bering Sea shelf, by low Creek mining district, southern Mike Marlow __________________96 Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska, by Miles L. Seismicity near Icy Bay, Alaska and in the Silberman, Bela Csejtey, Jr., James G. eastern Gulf of Alaska, by Christopher Smith, Marvin A. Lanphere, and Frederick Stephens ____________________ 96 H. Wilson _________________65 Outcrop samples from the Continental Slope Tectonic significance of newly discovered low­ in the eastern Gulf of Alaska, by George er Paleozoic strata in the upper Chulitna Plafker, Gary R. Winkler, Susan J. Hunt, Valley, south-central Alaska, by Bela Csej­ Susan Bartsch-Winkler, Warren L. Coon­ tey, Jr., Willis H. Nelson, David L. Jones, rad, and Paula Quinterno ___________97 and Norman J. Silberling ___________69 Reports on Alaska published by the U.S. Geologi­ Framework grain mineralogy and provenance cal Survey in 1977 _______________102 of sandstone from the Arkose Ridge and Revisions to l:l,000,000-scale map of Alaska _ _ _ 110 Chickaloon Formations, Matanuska Valley, Introduction ___________________ 110 by Gary R. Winkler __________ ____70 Goodnews-Hagemeister Island quadrangles Generalized physiography and geology of the region, by J. M. Hoare and W. L. Coonrad _ 112 Beluga coal field and vicinity,