Structural and stratigraphic evolution of late Cretaceous convergent margins of southern Alaska and California

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5990061

Nilsen, T H

Large portions of the Late Cretaceous continental margin of western North America were dominated by a convergent tectonic framework characterized by the development of trenches, accretionary wedges, forearc basins, magmatic arcs, and back arc basins. The most prominent and well-preserved remnants of the convergent margins are present in southern Alaska and California. The southern Alaska convergent margin appears to have developed in response to northward-directed subduction of the Kula plate and the California margin in response to eastward-directed subduction of the Farallon plate. The chief elements of the southern Alaska convergent margin, on the basis of paleomagnetic data, appear to have subsequently migrated northward and rotated in the post-Cretaceous. The chief elements of the California margin have been disrupted by Neogene strike-slip displacements on the San Andreas fault system and accretion of younger terranes to the west. In both southern Alaska and California, the forearc-basin deposits are well preserved and produce major amounts of gas. The principle reservoirs in Alaska are Tertiary nonmarine deposits and in California are Late Cretaceous and Tertiary deep marine and deltaic deposits.

• OSTI ID: 5990061
• Report Number(s): CONF-880301-
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
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ALASKA
CALIFORNIA
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
FEDERAL REGION IX
FEDERAL REGION X
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOMORPHOLOGY
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NORTH AMERICA
PLATE TECTONICS
RESOURCES
STRATIGRAPHY
TECTONICS
USA