Structural problems of the Brooks Range ophiolite, Alaska
- West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). Dept. of Geology
- Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Geophysical Inst.
Structural and paleogeographic restorations of the Brooks Range ophiolite (hereafter BRO) and other associated mafic and ultramafic bodies of N. Alaska are difficult because of ambiguous relations between sheeted dikes, cover sediments, and steep NW and SE dipping magmatic flow fabrics. Paleomagnetically enhanced structural studies at Misheguk, Avan, and Siniktanneyak Mountains provide new constraints for the initial dip and sequence of deformation for various structural features of the BRO. The angle between magmatic layers near the petrologic moho and the paleomagnetic inclination of these layers is 50--63[degree] at Misheguk. High level gabbro layers that are disrupted by syn- and post-cooling intrusions display a greater variation. Assuming that the characteristic magnetization is primary, and that the primary inclination was > 80[degree], magmatic layers and the moho had initial dips from 17--40[degree]. These layers now dip 40--70[degree]SE suggesting some post-magmatic tilt. The variation of inclinations with depth in the ophiolite suggest that high level gabbro has tilted most. Sheeted dikes are documented at the Maiyumerak and Siniktanneyak ophiolite bodies. At both locations the dikes dip steeply and strike NE-SW. Sedimentary and volcanic flow layers associated with the dikes have the same strike and dip 0--30[degree]. Parallelism between various planar features throughout the BRO indicates that rotations about a vertical axis are either uniform throughout the ophiolite belt or negligible. Assuming the later, the BRO may represent a linear zone of SSZ magmatism that was oriented NE-SW prior to collision. Post-emplacement long wavelength folding of the ophiolite lid can account for its variation in facing direction and some steepening of magmatic layers.
- OSTI ID:
- 5022593
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9305259-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:5; Conference: 89. annual meeting of the Cordilleran Section and the 46th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Reno, NV (United States), 19-21 May 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALASKA
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
DEFORMATION
PALEOMAGNETISM
PETROGENESIS
IGNEOUS ROCKS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
INCLINED STRATA
METAMORPHISM
MOUNTAINS
PLATE TECTONICS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC STRATA
GEOLOGY
MAGNETISM
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLOGY
ROCKS
TECTONICS
USA
580000* - Geosciences