Tectonophysics, 139 (1987) 107-122 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

107

Accretion of southern Alaska

JOHN W. HILLHOUSE
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 (U.S.A.) (Received March 7,1986; revised version accepted June 20,1986)

Abstract
Hillhouse, J.W., 1987. Accretion of southern Alaska. In: D.V. Kent and M. Krs (Editors), Laurasian Paleomagnetism and Tectonics. Tectonophysics, 139: 107-122. Paleomagnetic data from southern Alaska indicate that the Wrangellia and Peninsular terranes collided with central Alaska probably by 65 Ma ago, and certainly no later than 55 Ma ago. The accretion of these terranes to the mainland was followed by the arrival of the Ghost Rocks volcanic assemblage at the southern margin of Kodiak Island. Poleward movement of these terranes can be explained by rapid motion of the Kula oceanic plate, mainly from 85 to 43 Ma ago, according to recent reconstructions derived from the hot-spot reference frame. After accretion, much of southwestern Alaska underwent a counterclockwise rotation of about 50 as indicated by paleomagnetic poles from volcanic rocks of Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary age. Compression between North America and Asia during opening of the North Atlantic (68-44 Ma ago) may account for the rotation.

Introduction A current theme in Alaskan geology is the growth of the Alaska continental margin by successive accretion of terranes carried by oceanic plates from the Pacific Basin. Ever since Packer and Stone (1972) presented the first paleomagnetic evidence that Alaska has moved northward relative to the North American craton, additional support for the accretionary model has come from paleomagnetic studies of southern Alaskan terranes, such as the Wrangellia (Hillhouse and Gromme, 1984), Peninsular (Stone and Packer, 1979; Stone et al., 1982), and Prince William terranes (Plumley et al., 1983). The catalogue of Alaskan paleomagnetic poles has grown to a size such that paleolatitudes and the timing of accretion of the major terranes are roughly constrained. For example, the travel histories of some southern Alaska terranes have been interpreted from plots of paleolatitude against time (Stone et al., 1982; Panuska and Stone, 1985a). Although the plots
0040-1951/87/$03.50 0 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

employ paleomagnetic data of variable quality and the details of the implied terrane movements are debatable, the general trend of northward drift is clear. With the development of the plate tectonic model, a common goal of many geologists has been the explanation of Alaskan geologic events in terms of relative motions between North America, Asia, and the oceanic plates of the Pacific region (e.g., Scholl et al., 1975; Cooper et al., 1976). The most difficult aspect of this goal has been the reconstruction of the motions of the oceanic plates relative to Asia and North America. A quantitative method for reconstructing the relative motions between the plates was presented by Engebretson (1982), who used the fixity of hotspots in the Pacific and Atlantic basins to provide a reference frame for the plate interactions. Using this method, Engebretson et al. (1985) modeled oceanic plate velocities at the North American margin from 175 Ma ago to the present. The Farallon plate is believed to have undergone sub-

108

duction Mesozoic Kula from have

beneath time, 85-43 plate

the followed

Alaskan by

margin subduction the Pacific

during of the plate and

observed Alaskan terranes,

from terranes.

paleomagnetic Oceanic

study

of southern in some consist arc were by the of

crust is found

Ma ago and

but for the most part the terranes margin Thus, deposits although to higher the terranes

43 Ma ago to the present. left their margin, imprints plutons terranes

The rates

of continental assemblages. probably oceanic spreading plates,

and volcanic latitudes

directions Alaskan

of oceanic plate movements

are likely to of the of subof

on the geology and

transported centers.

both in the emplacement (Wallace and

they were not created Instead, transcurrent

at oceanic motion

duction-related far-travelled 1984). As determined Alaskan south,

in the accretion Engebretson,

oceanic plates along the continental margins must be an important mechanism for the transport of Alaskan The attached of the terranes. Yakutat terrane (Fig. l), which is now example (Plafker. to the Pacific plate, is a modern transcurrent accretion process

from the plate margin

reconstructions, at the far to the

much of the oceanic continental consistent

crust that has arrived originated

with the trends

in paleolatitude

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Fig. 1. Latitudinal Displacements are indicated proportional NF-Nixon

displacements arrows.

inferred Downward Stikinia;

from paleomagnetic assuming terranes arrows indicate Selected W-Wrangellia, flysch.

studies

(Table

1) of Lower

Cretaceous

and older

rocks Length

in Alaska. of arrow is

are in degrees by upward Fork; to the amount rocks;

of latitude,

originated

in the northern

hemisphere;

displacements

to higher latitudes C-Chulitna; Cr-undifferen-

displacements Yakutat;

to lower latitudes et al. (1985): YT-Yukon-Tanana.

relative to the craton. A-Alexander. Overlap assemblages:

of displacement.

terranes

of Howell

Chugach;

P-Peninsular, IU-Jurassic

tiated Cenozoic

and Cretaceous

109

1983). The eastern rane During is the moraines

boundary

of the Yakutat fault, which

tersense. on

were fined minus

calculated

(Table

1).

The

paleolatitude the site craton, the to be for the from point

Fairweather

offsets

anomaly,

represented

by arrows latitude,

in Fig. 1, is deassuming American

and drainages

in the right-lateral

as the predicted the measured studies. each

the last 1000 years, between

the rate of offset America

has remained paleomagnetic discussion,

fixed to the north

the Fairweather of displacement anomalies tion gives boundary the

fault has been similar North from marine at the

to the rate and the magnetic mowith end of Yakutat northwest

paleolatitude As a starting

Pacific plate as determined (Plafker way to

paleolatitude

is assumed

et al., 1978). Transcurrent thrusting terrane where it is colliding near the eastern of the Accretion

within the northern hemisphere, tion of placing some terranes within (Study the southern hemisphere No. 3, in Table paleolatitude

although the opat certain times must be kept open. a southern is its declination

of the terrane trench.

the Prince William Aleutian

1, was assigned because

hemisphere

terrane is only the latest event in the episodic accretion of southern Alaska, a progression of collisions involving terranes such as Prince Wil-

too similar to the declinations from study No. 2 and study No. 4 to warrant switching its polarity. In another exception, study No. 24, the Pybus Formation was presumably magnetized during the Permo-Carboniferous Reversed-Polarity Superchron, which would require placement of the site in the southern hemisphere.) A positive anomaly implies that a given site has moved to a higher latitude or northward relative to stable North America. Paleomagnetic poles from each locality were compared to an appropriate-aged reference pole either from Irving and Irvings (1982) compilation for North America or from other sources, as noted in Table 1, to derive the paleolatitude anomalies. Confidence limits on the paleolatitudes and anomalies were adjusted according to the method of Demarest (1983). The purpose of Fig. 1 is to convey the general temporal and spatial trends in the paleolatitude anomalies, as indicated by the length of the arrows. It is readily apparent that although a general sense of northward drift is depicted for terranes south of the Denali fault, the amounts of drift are not mutually consistent. The differences in paleolatitude anomalies between sites in coeval rocks from the same terrane sometimes exceed the confidence limits. Clearly, the overall data set contains hidden errors in excess of the analytical errors, which were primarily derived from the internal scatter of magnetic directions determined at each site. Such hidden errors might be due to unrecognized postdepositional components of magnetization, insufficient averaging of secular variation to meet the axial dipole assumption, or incorrect corrections for structural tilt. The fold test, which is a comparison of directional dispersion before and after

liam, Chugach, and Wrangellia. My main goal in this paper is to propose a scenario for the accretion of southern Alaska, integrating the paleomagnetic data from terranes with the plate-reconstruction model. The first step is to review Alaskan paleomagnetic data to identify the strong and weak points in paleolatitude determinations. The data set undoubtedly contains errors in excess of the analytical uncertainties, as for example, some formations give internally inconsistent results. The second step is to compare the stronger paleomagnetic constraints on terrane displacements with relative plate motions as proposed by Engebretson et al. (1985) to seek a mutually consistent model for the accretion of southern Alaska.
Paleomagnetic data from Early Cretaceous and

older rocks in Alaska The following discussion is keyed to Fig. 1, showing the distribution of paleomagnetic studies in pre-upper Cretaceous rocks of Alaska. The base map shows the fault boundaries of selected tectonostratigraphic terranes, as defined by Howell et al. (1985). Each terrane is defined by a distinctive stratigraphy, provenance, and paleontology which distinguish it from neighboring terranes. The localities of paleomagnetic studies were compiled from the literature and are plotted on the terrane map. The paleolatitude and 95%confidence limit were determined for each site, then a paleolatitude anomaly and 95%confidence limit

110

TABLE

1 data from Alaska: Site lat. () long. () Lower Cretaceous S N and older rocks n Thermal demag. * Fold test Reversal test Paleolat. f) Paleolat. anomaly (1 Reference pole Reference for data

Paleomagnetic

No.

Age/ Identifier

E. Cretaceous
1 2 3 4 5 6 HND-8B LCL-1 LCL-5 LCL-6 NUT-l.3 NBS-3 55.2 60.3 60.3 60.3 62.4 62.6 199.0 205.6 205.6 205.6 217.4 217.0 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 15 7 14 11 11 6 ? ? ? 11 11 48.4 & 19.1 13.7 & 4.1 21.3 + 22.8 56.8 + 13.1 86.4 f 17.9 71.8 i 12.9 48.2 + 14.6 44.3 + 12.9 a a a a a a

I
2 2 2 2 3

_ 16.1

? 12.8 7.6 3.3

1.5 rf- 3.4 18.6 i 22.8 *

Jurassic 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 CHL-2,4,5 WRG-3 WRG-4,5 TXD-4,5,7,8,9 TXD-2 SLD-1 SLD-2 SHP-5 SHP-X 56.3 61.5 61.5 60.0 60.2 59.4 59.4 61.7 61.9 201.1 217.2 217.2 207.3 207.3 208.3 208.3 212.3 212.5 3 13 1 5 1 1 19 1 1 12 11 11 ? 14 11 ? 31 ? ? 70 ? ? ? ? ? 28.7 i 21.7 25.8 i 19.7 20.0 + 8.7 39.6 rt 13.8 29.9 + 10.2 12.6 f 5.6 k 4.0* 7.1 9.1 9.1 31.1 f 25.4 28.7 f 24.6 34.5 f 17.2 13.1 * 16.3 23.0 f 13.3 31.7 k 38.7 F 41.2 k 26.7 f 8.1 9.9 9.9 6.6

b
c c

3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2

d d
e e e e

18.6 & 5.3

Triassic 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 Hound MNT-1.3 NBS-2 NBS-5.6 Mt. Hayes McCarthy Island 56.9 63.1 62.9 62.6 62.4 63.2 61.6 226.1 213.0 216.1 216.9 217.0 214.0 217.4 12 2 3 2 2 6 5 12 6 ? ? 9 46 50 139 28 30 11 17 292 91 * * * *

46.7 +

8.6

-9.2

9.7 6.6 4.1

f g g g g g g

4 2, 5 2. 5 2, 5 2, 5 6 6, 7

CWM-1.2

15.5 f 11.8 1.5 It: 5.5 22.8 f 1.0 f 13.9 + 10.4 f 2.0 9.7 3.8 2.7

26.8 + 12.3 39.9 * 18.2 i

39.7 i 10.3 28.2 &- 6.0 29.6 k 5.3

Permian 23
24 25 Nuyukuk Pybus Hasen Creek Lake 59.9 57.3 61.7 201.0 225.8 217.7 9 ? 1 9 12 11 23 24 11 * * 38.4 i -9.1 * 7.4 + 7.8 7.0 5.2 2.9 i 40.9 i 29.5 i 9.5 7.7 6.0

h i i

8 9 10

Permian and Carboniferous 26

Station Creek 61.7 217.4 1 10 10 * 5.2 + 9.1 31.0+ 9.6 J

Carboniferous 27
28 Ladrones-Klawak Peratrovich 55.4 55.4 226.9 226.8 4 5 33 28 33 28 * *

7.7 * 14.0 i

7.0 8.7

11.2 f 4.9 +

9.1 9.8

k k

Devonian 29
30 Port Refugio Wadleigh 55.3 55.5 226.7 226.9 5 5 30 31 30 31 * * 20.7 k 10.3 * 6.2 5.9 -6.6 + 8.4 8.4 I I 3.6 +

Ordovician 31
32 33 Descon, Iavas 55.1 63.9 63.9 226.6 206.3 206.4 2 7 9 8 14 19 85 90 89 * * 1.4 + 22.1 33.2 f 37.1 * 4.5 4.5 28.6 f 24.9 4.9 * 10.2 -1.1 f 16.1 m m m Telsitna Ridge Novi Mountain

111

TABLE 1 (Continued) No. Age/ Identifier Site lat. ()

Ordovician and Silurian 34

SN long. ()

Thermal demag.

Fold test

Reversal test

Paleolat. ()

Paleolat. anomaly ()

Reference pole

Reference for data

Descon, seds.

55.1

226.8

14

14

6.8 f

9.4

25.2 f 18.1

II

* Paleolatitudes and paleolatitude anomalies are given with 95% confidence limits, in degrees. Positive anomalies imply displacement to a higher latitude. S. number of sites, N number of time samples, n total number of specimens. Key lo reference poles: a-64 o N, 163 E, A,, = 16 ; Irving and Irving (1982); 140 Ma. b-61 o N, 13S E, A,, = 17 ; Irving and Irving (1982): 150 Ma. c-70 N, 102OE, A - 19O; Irving and Irving (1982); 160 Ma. d--74ON, 102OE, A,, = 11; Irving and = 5 ; Irving and Irving (1982); 190 Ma. f-65.3O N, 94.2O E, A,, = 5.9 ; Hillhouse Irving(1982); 170Ma. e--66ON,93OE, A 9s 95and Gromme (1980); Late Triassic. g-61.4 N, 92.5 o E, A,, = 4.6 ; Hillhouse and Gromme (1984); Middle Triassic. h-46 o N, 117OE, A,, = 7O; Karl and Hoare (1979); Permian. i--48N, llSOE, A,, = 4O; Irving and Irving (1982); 260 Ma. j--43ON, 126E, A,, = 4; Irving and Irving (1982); 280 Ma. k-31.3ON, 124.6E, A,, = 7.5 O; Kent and Opdyke (1985); Carboniferous. I-28N, 120E, A,, = 8.1; Van der Voo and Scotese (1981); Devonian. m-32N, 147.8E, A9, = 19.9; Plumley (1984); Ordovician. Key to references: 1 -Stone and Packer (1979); 2-Stone et al. (1982); J-Packer and Stone (1974); I-Hillhouse and Gromme (1980); S-Stone (1982); 6-Hillhouse and Gromme (1984); 7-Hillhouse (1977); a-Karl and Hoare (1979); 9-Panuska and Stone (1985a); IO-Panuska and Stone (1981); If-Van der Voo et al. (1980); 12-Plumley (1984).

corrections

are made

for tilt of the bedding, tests

no opportunity

for a fold test or consistency

of

if the magnetization was acquired before folding occurred. This test also reaffirms the accuracy of the tilt corrections. The consistency of reversals test is met when the means of normal and reversed-polarity directions do not deviate significantly from antipolarity, increasing the likelihood that spurious or secondary components of magnetization have been completely removed. Statistical weights of the data points are not equal for the following reasons: (1) Reliability criteria, such as the fold test or consistency of reversals test, may or may not be satisfied. (2) Thoroughness of the demagnetization treatments, whether both alternating field and thermal methods were applied, and rigor of magnetic vector analyses may vary. (3) The number of specimens and time span represented by each collection are highly variable. For example, results from study No. 22 (Table 1) are from a total of 91 independently oriented specimens collected from 50 lava flows. The five sites were distributed over a maximum distance of 30 km. The results pass the fold test and consistency of reversals test. In contrast, site 1 from the Alaska Peninsula is based on six specimens from a single outcrop which provided

reversals test. To help in assessing the reliability of a given paleomagnetic result, the following factors are tabulated: number of localities, number of time samples, total number of independently oriented specimens, availability of thermal demagnetization results, fold test, and consistency of reversals test. In most cases, the number of localities refers to outcrops that are at least several kilometers apart and have different structural attitudes. A time sample is defined as an individual lava flow, cooling unit, or sedimentary bed. All studies in Table 1 employed alternating-field demagnetization to obtain the final results, so only the utilization of thermal demagnetization to assess thermal stability of the remanence is noted. The more reliable results are from the Triassic and older rocks of the southern terranes both in terms of having the greater number of specimens and more positive reliability factors. In particular, lava flows of the Middle and (or) Upper Triassic Nikolai Greenstone (sites 21, 22) in the Wrangellia terrane have the largest distribution of samples and satisfy the most reliability factors. In the Alexander terrane of southeastern Alaska, good

112

reliability Paleozoic Island

can be assigned rocks (sites 27-31,

to the studies

of the age, but

and which chron, nal

Permian

volcaniclastic were

rocks magnetized

(Nos.

25, 26) the Superthe origidirections to at as the to a lavas

34) and the Hound

presumably

during

Volcanics

(site 16) of Late Triassic is quite small. sites (7-15) thermal tests for

Permo-Carboniferous position

Reversed-Polarity concerning Magnetic Triassic

the area of the sampling While the Jurassic uted the in southern they lack conventional because

to solve the ambiguity of Wrangellia. volcanic overlying Panuska from leading position the

are well distribare weak and

Alaska,

the results magnetic

from these Paleozoic directions McCarthy, the tropical the original northern

rocks are similar and Stone

demagnetization

overprints. might

to choose

The Jurassic consistent Cretaceous

data for the most part, however, yield paleolatitudes, so overprinting Results from the Lower

zone of the northern of Wrangellia. Alaska implies relative

hemisphere If true,

not be a serious problem.

option

that the part of Wrangelhas moved to North America by about

rocks are very weak due to the small

lia now in south-central higher latitude 3o.

number of samples and the very poor internal consistency of the paleolatitudes, as for exampl.e, sites 2, 3, and 4. Magnetizations determined from the Early Cretaceous sites may very well be contaminated by overprints; however, this possible problem cannot be evaluated with the data in hand. Paleopositions of the southern terranes prior to the Late Cretaceous The pattern of paleolatitude anomalies from the Paleozoic and Triassic rocks indicates that the Nixon Fork (sites 32, 33) and Alexander terranes have moved little in terms of latitude relative to North America, while large poleward displacements are inferred for the Wrangellia terrane. No results from Triassic rocks of the Peninsular terrane are available. Before the original paleolatitude of Wrangellia can be reconstructed, it is necessary to determine whether the Nikolai basalts (sites 17-22) cooled mainly during a period of normal polarity or during a period of reversed polarity. Knowing the polarity would set the sign of the paleolatitude, either north or south of the paleoequator. Although the magnetic directions are dominantly of one polarity (upward and to the northeast), the rapid succession of polarity transitions during the Late Triassic makes it impossible to choose the sign of the resultant pole. The options are as follows: (1) If the larger group of directions is normally polarized, then the terrane originated in the southern hemisphere. (2) If the polarity is reversed, the terrane originated in the northern hemisphere. Panuska and Stone (1981) presented preliminary results from Pennsylvanian

The Wrangellia terrane is recognized in faultbounded blocks along the Pacific coast of British Columbia on the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island. The southernmost part of the terrane is in Hells Canyon in eastern Oregon (Jones et al., 1977). Paleomagnetic studies on Vancouver Island (Irving and Yole, 1972; Yole and Irving, 1980) and in Oregon (Hillhouse et al., 1982) gave similar paleolatitudes, all consistent with the determinations from the Nikolai Greenstone in Alaska (Hillhouse and Gromme, 1984). Apparently, this once-coherent terrane has been dismembered by faulting and fragments have dispersed to their present positions along the continental margin. Under the northern option, the fragment in Oregon has changed little in latitude relative to the craton. However, declinations from the Triassic Wrangellian rocks Vancouver Island imply rotations of Oregon and on the order of

180, if the northern option is correct (Yole and Irving, 1980; Hillhouse et al., 1982). The small data set from the Pennsylvanian and Permian sedimentary rocks at McCarthy does not prove beyond any doubt that Wrangellia originated in the northern hemisphere, because it is possible that the older rocks have been remagnetized by numerous dikes and hypabyssal bodies associated with the Nikolai flows. Until the result is confirmed by a broader distribution of samples, the southern-hemisphere option should be kept open. Total poleward drift of the part of Wrangellia that is now in south-central Alaska would be about 60 if the terrane travelled from the southern hemisphere.

113

Van der Voo et al. (1980), in their study of the Alexander terrane (sites 27-31, 34), proposed that the Paleozoic rocks had moved nor~ward about lo-15 from an original position near California. However, a controversy has arisen concerning the North American reference poles used in reconstructing the paleoposition of the Alexander terrane. The controversy stems from the recent detection of overprints of Permian age in the Late Carboniferous and Devonian data sets from the eastern part of the craton (Irving and Strong, 1984; Kent and Opdyke, 1985). Given the polarity that Van der Voo et al. (1980) assigned to the Alexander magnetic directions, and using the revised reference poles for the Carboniferous, then a Late Paleozoic position of the Alexander terrane near its present latitude relative to the craton is favored. In southeastern Alaska, the Hound Island Volcanics (site 16) of Late Triassic age cap the Alexander terrane. Paleomagnetic results from the Hound Island Volcanics (Hillhouse and Gromme, 1980) indicate no significant paleolatitude anomaly on the basis of Triassic and Early Jurassic reference poles. This result is not consistent with paleomagnetic evidence recently obtained by Irving et al. (1985) from British Columbia in midCretaceous plutons of the southern part of the Coast Plutonic Complex of Lappin and Hollister (1980). The plutons give significantly low inclinations. The Coast Pluto& Complex, which extends along the length of the British Columbian and southeastern Alaska coast, intrudes the major accretionary terranes. Although large-scale tilt of the complex was proposed as a possible explanation for the low inclinations, a vast region would have to be tilted uniformly, so northward translation of the Coast Plutonic Complex was the favored explanation. The results imply that a composite block, including part of the Wrangellia, Alexander, and Stikinia terranes in British Columbia, was displaced about 2400 km northward after 90 Ma ago. As with Wrangellia, the polarity of most Alexander paleomagnetic poles cannot be selected with certainty, so it is possible that the terrane moved to a position in the southern hemisphere during the Permian and Triassic (Panuska and

Stone, 1985a). For this option, reversed polarity would be assigned to the upward, eastward directions from the Ordo~cian, Devonian, and Carboniferous rocks and reversed polarity would be assigned to the Pybus Formation (site 24) of Permian age. Reversed polarity would also be assigned to the steeply inclined, downward and southwestward directions from the Hound Island Volcanics. Under the southern-he~sphere option the terrane would move about 50 to the south following deposition of the Devonian Port Refugio Formation and then move northward to a position 85 higher in latitude relative to the craton in post-Triassic time. Moving the Alexander terrane to the southern hemisphere during the Permian and Triassic has the advantage of getting the terrane out of the way of the apparently translated Coast Plutonic Complex. Compared to the northern option, however, the southern option has the disadvantage of requiring much larger displacements and more changes in the direction of transport. The main evidence for the southern hemisphere option is from the Pybus Formation, which was deposited during the time of the Permo-Carboniferous Reversed-Polarity Super&on. If the magnetization is indeed of Permian age, then the downward inclinations measured in the Pybus Formation would require location of the Alexander terrane in the southern hemisphere. However, the possibility of remagnetization in the Pybus cannot be ruled out, because a conclusive fold test could not be mide from the limited collection of weakly magnetized samples (Panuska and Stone, 1985a). More corroboration of the Permian paleomagnetic pole is needed from the Alexander terrane to prove the validity of the southern hemisphere option. For Jurassic rocks in the range of ages from 190 to 140 Ma (studies Nos. 7-15) the paleolatitudes of the Peninsular terrane and the northern fragment of Wrangellia are similar to paleolatitudes determined from the Triassic rocks. Paleolatitude anomalies from the Jurassic sites average about 20 of poleward drift, assuming the northem option used in Table 1. Hence, it is reasonable to assume close proximity of the northern part of Wrangellia to the Peninsular terrane since Early

114

Jurassic terranes

time. were

By the Middle overlapped displacements

Jurassic,

the two rocks

by sedimentary

Pakopositions of the southern terranes during the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary Paleomagnetic studies of Late Cretaceous Alaska tabulation and

that require

similar

of the terranes terrane, disof 80 o younger rocks of southern Their were reviewed of results

after that time. In the western Jurassic placed reference Wrangellia, dispersed (Hillhouse part of the Peninsular poles the poles are paleomagnetic poles. along Across generally part

by Coe et al. (1985).

110 o in the clockwise the Triassic

sense from coeval northern (Nos. within 21, 22) are the terrane the north-

included paleolatitudes, paleolatitude anomalies, determinations of rotations, and reliability factors. Their analysis showed a systematic discrepancy from volcanic when paleolatitude determinations

a small-circle block rotations

arc of about

due to localized

and Gromme,

1984). Under

em-hemisphere option, the Wrangellian poles are displaced from the reference poles in the counterclockwise sense, suggesting that the western part of the Peninsular terrane has undergone a large rotation Wrangellia. relative Stone to the northern fragment of and et al. (1982) and Panuska

Stone (1985a) favored the option of placing the two terranes in the southern hemisphere during Jurassic time by reversing the polarity of the Jurassic data and thereby minimizing this rotation. The southern option, however, maximizes the latitudinal displacement of Wrangellia and the Peninsular terrane, requiring major southward transport during the Early Jurassic followed by substantial northward drift during the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. Given the current state of the Jurassic data set, which lacks thermal demagnetization results and reliability tests, choosing one option over the other is probably not warranted at this time. of the southern Alaska terranes Paleolatitudes

rocks and sedimentary rocks were compared. The volcanic rocks gave significantly higher paleolatitudes. They explained the discrepancy as being due to depositional inclination errors and undetected magnetic overprints in the sedimentary rocks. Also, studies of the volcanic rocks generally satisfied a greater number of reliability factors and, hence, should be weighted more heavily in the tectonic interpretation. A possible exception is a recent study of the MacColl Ridge Formation, an Upper Cretaceous (Campanian or Maastrichtian) sequence of arkosic sandstones (Panuska, 1985). MacColl Ridge is located within Wrangellia near its southern boundary in the McCarthy quadrangle (near site 9 in Fig. 1). The paleomagnetic results pass the fold test and antipolarity of reversals test; however, the specimens gave erratic demagnetization paths during thermal demagnetization at temperatures from 250 o to 350 o C. Paleomagnetic poles from four studies of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary volcanic flows are shown in Fig. 2 along with Cretaceous and Tertiary reference poles from the North American compilation of Irving and Irving (1982). The paleomagnetism of Paleocene and Lower Eocene volcanic rocks was determined along a transect that crosses northern Wrangellia, deformed Jurassic and Cretaceous flysch, several smaller terranes within the flysch, and the Denali fault (Hillhouse and Gromme, 1982; Hillhouse et al., 1985). North of the Denali fault, Paleocene andesites of the Cantwell Formation yielded a paleolatitude of 81 & 8, which is 9 o _t 8 higher than predicted from coeval reference poles. Similar results were obtained from Lower Eocene andesites and dacites in the northern Talkeetna Mountains where the paleolatitude determination was 76 k

during Early Cretaceous time are highly conjectural, because the paleomagnetic sampling is very sparse and the reliability of the results is difficult to evaluate. For the Peninsular terrane, the paleolatitude determination from site 1 is considerably greater than the two determinations from the Wrangellia terrane (sites 5 and 6). In turn, the Peninsular paleolatitude is considerably greater than results from three sites in the more northern Jurassic and Cretaceous flysch (Nos. 2, 3, 4). The poor internal consistency of these results is probably caused by unremoved secondary components. Hence, speculations on the Early Cretaceous paleopositions of the southern terranes are not warranted, at least until reliability tests are available.

115

Fig. 2. Paleomagnetic poles (stars) and 95% confidence limits from Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary volcanic rocks that overlap the Wrangellia, Peninsular, and Yukon-Tanana Formation Z-volcanic 3-volcanic (Paleocene, rocks of Hillhouse the northern and Gromme, ter1982); ranes of Howell et al. (1985). The studies are: 1 -Cantwell Talkeetna Mountains

(Paleocene and (or) Lower Eocene, Hillhouse et al., 1985); rocks of Hagemeister Island (68 Ma; Globerman rocks near Lake Clark (66 Ma; and Coe, 1984a); I-volcanic

Thrupp and Coe, 1986). Reference poles from Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of North America (Irving and Irving, 1982) are indicated by connected dots; ages given in Ma.

10 O. In the southern Talkeetna Mountains, Eocene volcanic rocks along the southern boundary of the Peninsular terrane yielded a paleolatitude of 80 + 9 (Panuska and Stone, 1985b). Another transect from Lake Clark to Iliamna Lake covers Lower Tertiary andesites and basalts that overlap the Peninsular terrane (Coe et al., 1985; Thrupp and Coe, 1984, 1986). Near Lake Clark, lava flows dated at about 66 Ma gave a paleolatitude of 63 f 9, which is lower than the predicted latitude by 9 f 11. Further west, uppermost Cretaceous (68 Ma) volcanic rocks near Hagemeister Island in Bristol Bay yielded a paleolatitude of 65 f 4 (Globerman and Coe, 1984a, b). Small northward displacements approaching the magnitudes of the confidence limits are implied for the Lake Clark and Bristol Bay studies, in contrast to the small southward displacements determined in the studies from the Denali-Talkeetna Mountains transect. The apparent differences in Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary paleolatitudes

cannot be entirely explained on the basis of age, with the older rocks showing more northward translation. This is because K-Ar determinations from the Hagemeister Island flows are at most 3 m.y. older than determinations from the Cantwell flows, while the flows at Lake Clark and the Cantwell basin are nearly identical in age. Although an unrecognized suture might separate the southwestern sites from the Talkeetna Mountains to explain the paleolatitude differences, the regional geology suggests otherwise. The volcanic rocks of Lake Clark, The Cantwell Formation, and the northern Talkeetna Mountains appear to be part of a Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary magmatic complex that overlaps the boundaries between Wrangellia, the Jurassic and Cretaceous flysch, and the Peninsular terrane. Therefore, it is reasonable to combine results from the studies of volcanic rocks. Taken as a whole, the data indicate that no significant change of latitude of southern Alaska relative to North America has taken place since 55-68 Ma ago. Therefore, large-scale northward drift of Wrangellia and the Peninsular terrane, as indicated by paleomagnetic studies of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks, was probably completed during the Paleocene, certainly no later than 55 Ma ago. Paleomagnetic results from the MacColl Ridge Formation (Campanian or Maastrichtian), in contrast to results from the slightly younger volcanic rocks, imply that Wrangellia was about 40 south of its present position relative to cratonic North America. To reach the high latitudes determined from the volcanic rocks, the Wrangellia terrane would have to be transported at a high rate (at least 24 cm/yr.) between 70 and 55 Ma ago, or a tectonic suture exists between MacColl Ridge and the northern Talkeetna Mountains (Panuska, 1985). As there is no geologic evidence known for a fault zone within this part of Wrangellia which could accommodate thousands of kilometers of displacement, results from MacColl Ridge, if valid, constrain the major displacement of Wrangellia to have occurred in Maastrichtian or Paleocene time. Acceptance of this constraint on the timing of accretion awaits confirmation from a broader distribution of Cretaceous rocks than was sampled in the MacColl Ridge pilot study.

116

The Prince the southern large-scale young evidence Island, Moore results

William margin

terrane, drift

which

makes possibly

up of as

latitudes terrane

of the Ghost

Rocks

and the Peninsular

of Alaska,

shows evidence convincing

in Early Paleocene

time. Alaska rotation of

northward

in rocks The most Rocks been

as Early where et al.

Paleocene. the Ghost has

Rotation of southwestern of A significant

comes from the southern (1983) (Plumley

shore of Kodiak Formation sampled counterclockwise Cretaceous poles (Fig. for southern Alaska can be inferred from the distribu-

paleomagnetism

et al., 1982; 1983). The as indicated by posireversal assemb-

have high reliability Rocks,

tion of Late paleomagnetic anomalies clockwise

and Early Tertiary 2). The declination to 54O in the counterpoles are compoles (Coe et reference

tive fold tests at two sites and a positive test. The Ghost lage of volcanic a heterogeneous and sedimentary

vary from 29

sense when the Alaskan

rocks, is divided

pared with the appropriate

by faults into a nearshore facies with generally coherent structure, and a deep-ocean facies composed of pillow basalt, limestone, and argillite in a melange (Moore et al., 1983). Planktonic foraminifers in limestone blocks within the melange indicate poorly defined ages ranging from Late Cretaceous to Paleocene. A bimodal distribution of inclinations was obtained from two areas within the Ghost Rocks. At Alitak Bay, andesitic lavas interbedded with sandstone give a paleolatitude anomaly indicating X6 f 9O of northward drift (Coe et al.. 1985). At Kiliuda Bay, pillow basalts from the melange and andesites from the coherent unit give a northward paleolatitude anomaly of 31 5 9O. When results from the two areas are combined, as favored by Plumley et al. (1983), the overall paleolatitude anomaly is 25 o + 7 o northward. In a geologic synthesis of the region, Moore et al. (1983) interpreted the Ghost Rocks Formation as an accretionary complex that formed before 62 by Ma ago. Formation of the complex is constrained a belt of plutons that intruded the Ghost

al., 1985; Hillhouse et al., 1985). The extent of the rotated domain is not known because the sampling is currently restricted to the Peninsular terrane, the Jurassic and Cretaceous flysch, and the area of the Cantwell Formation. A constraint on the timing of rotation has been obtained from the volcanic rocks near Lake Clark (Thrupp and Coe, 1986) where Middle Eocene and Oligocene lavas give no significant anomalies in declination. Oceanic plate motions and the accretion of southern Alaska Using the better-substantiated paleomagnetic observations mainly from studies of volcanic rocks, three main observations can be distilled from the paleomagnetic literature of Alaska: (1) Retative to the North American craton, Wrangellia and the Peninsular terrane were lower in latitude by at least 25 during the Triassic and Jurassic. Probably by 65 Ma ago and certainly no later than 55 Ma ago, poleward the craton drift of the terranes (2) During relative to was completed. Paleocene

Rocks 62 Ma ago after major deformation of the unit occurred. Because the ages of the plutons and the Ghost Rocks are so similar, the accretionary complex must have formed in a collision zone that was far south of the present position of Kodiak Island. To reach its current position in Alaska, the Ghost Rocks Formation was either: (1) abducted onto Kodiak Island after being carried from the central Pacific region, or (2) carried northward by transcurrent faulting along the margin of North America. A zone of convergence must lie between the Alaskan Peninsula and the outer margin of Kodiak Island to account for the different paleo-

time, a volcanic complex at the southern rim of the of the Prince William terrane was 25 o south of the newly accreted Alaskan margin. (3) Between 68 Ma and 44 Ma ago, central and western Alaska rotated as much as 50 countercl~kwise, presumably about a hinge line near 146 W. The areas of Alaska affected by these tectonic events are depicted as tectonic domains (Fig. 3). The northern extent of the Peninsular terrane in the Bering Sea is not known, and a large part of the Bering shelf could have moved with the Peninsular terrane, The rotated domain might possibly extend westward into the Aleutian basin and north-

TECTONIC

DOMAINS Counterclockwise
Canada Basin

Rotated

68 - 44 Ma ago Accreted Accreted after 60 Ma ago

THEAST U.S.S.R.

ARCTIC

OCEAN

q
!I83

100 - 55 Ma ago

odiak

Island

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Fig. 3. Tectonic

domains

of southern

Alaska,

showing

accreted

areas and locations

where counterclockwise-rotated

declinations

were

ward beyond Bering Strait, but more paleomagnetic studies are needed.
The goal is to fit the bettor-substantiated terrane movements into a plate-tectonic model that incorporates relative motions between old continental Alaska and the oceanic plates after 100 Ma ago. Engebretson et al, (1985) presented reconstructions of oceanic plates in the Pacific basin from 175 Ma ago to the present, which are the basis of the following discussion. certainties in the reconstructions The greater unarise from possi-

slip along the northwestern margin of North America (Fig. 4). The Yakutat terrane is currently riding northward with the Pacific plate. Offsets along the Fairweather fault during the last 1000 years give a rate of displacement of 4.8 cm/year (Plafker et al., 1978) comparable to the relative velocity (6.3 cm/yr.) between North America and the Pacific plate, as determined for the period O-5 Ma from the hot-spot reference frame. Total poleward transport that the Yakutat terrane has undergone since Eocene time is controversial, with estimates ranging from 30 o from inte~retation of microfossil assemblages (Keller et al., 1984) to as little as 5 on the basis of sedimentary provenance (Plafker, 1983). A recent abstract by Van Alstine et al. (1985) proposed 13 of post-Eocene northward transport, according to paleomagnetic data from the Yakutat Well in the Gulf of Alaska. Integration of the plate models with the older accretionary events is more easily approached by working backward in time and starting with the next-to-last terrane to be emplaced in Alaska, the

ble motions of the hot-spots relative to each other, errors in the deter~nation of hot-spot tracks, and poor constraints on the locations of some plate boundaries. Their best estimate for the combined uncertainty associated with possible errors in the hot-spot framework is 900 km for reconstructions at 100 Ma. This does not include uncertainties in the location of the ridge between the Kula and Farallon plates for which isochrons and fractures are not preserved. Placement of the Kula-Farallon ridge is critical for reconstructions from 85 to 43 Ma ago, particularly for assessing directions of

11x

a)

80 Ma

60 N

20 N -. H

56 hAa

tions present position relative to the craton. The most likely place for the collision would be along the coast between California and Vancouver Island (Fig. 4b). From 60 to 56 Ma ago, oblique subduction of the Kula plate beneath the British Columbian margin could produce poleward slip of the Ghost Rocks at an average rate of about 0.9/Ma, provided that the Ghost Rocks were partially decoupled from the Kula plate by transcurrent faults. The Kula plate accelerated during the interval from 56 to 43 Ma ago, providing a poleward component of about 1.7/Ma. By 43 Ma ago these rates are sufficient to close the 25 gap that once separated the Ghost Rocks and the Paleocene volcanic rocks of the Peninsular terrane. The motion could be a~o~odated by transcurrent shear across a wide zone composed of the Prince William and Chugach terranes, and possibly the southern rim of the Peninsular terrane (Moore et al., 1983; Coe et al., 1985). The final emplacement of the Ghost Rocks near Kodiak Island was probably preceded by the counterclockwise rotation of southwestern Alaska. The rotation occurred 68-44 Ma ago either during or just after the amalgamation of the Wrangellia and Peninsular terranes with the central Alaskan terranes. Tectonic forces during sea-floor spreading in the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic could account for the rotation. Counterclockwise rotation of western Alaska to explain the arcuate trends of the Denali and Tintina-Kaltag faults was first proposed by Carey (1955), who suggested that a wedge-shaped sphenochasm opened within the Canada Basin to drive the rotation. Opening of the Canada Basin, however. probably occurred prior to Tertiary time according to interpretations {Sweeney, of geophysical data from the basin 1983) and could not have caused the

1
I
Fig. 4. Schematic gebretson movement (H-Hawaii; 65 Ma ago. Heavy

PACIFIC

3Y
20 N FARALLON 0

piate arrows

reconstructions indicate

(adapted terranes

from

Enof

et al., 1985) and key Alaskan the plates underwent Y-Yellowstone) relative

at 80 Ma and

directions

and amounts period.

to the fixed hot-spots a. At 80 of was of at

over a lo-Ma terrane

Ma ago, rapid northward North lodged America. in Alaska,

movement

of the Kula plate possibly ( W) along the margin part of Wrangellia Formation (CR) Rocks

moved part of the Wrangellia

b. By 56 Ma ago, while the Ghost Alaska

Moore et al. (1983) was far south of Alaska. ise rotation this time. of southwestern

The counterclockunderway

was probably

Prince William terrane. On Kodiak Island. structures within the Ghost Rocks Formation indicate that at least part of the Prince William terrane collided with an island arc or continental margin by 62 Ma ago. If the Ghost Rocks are indeed of Early Paleocene age as defined by Moore et al. (1983), then the collision took place near a paleolatitude of 40 N, some 25 south of the forma-

rotation. Instead, sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic and the Labrador Sea, and consequent compression between North America and Asia, might explain the counterclockwise rotation of western Alaska. This explanation does not necessarily imply that the deformation of western Alaska was driven by ridge push, as slab pull in the opposing trenches could be the overall driving force. Tectonic response related to sea-floor

119

spreading in the northern oceans has been proposed as an explanation for deformational trends across the Bering Strait (Patton and Tailleur, 1977) and in central Alaska (Grantz, 1966). Spreading in the Labrador Sea between Greenland and North America was active from Late Cretaceous to Early Oligocene time (Srivastava, 1978), while spreading in the North Atlantic and Eurasian Arctic basin has occurred since 90 Ma ago (Pitman and Talwani, 1972). The opening of these basins predicts overlap or compression of continental crust along the Eurasia-North America plate boundary from 70 to 50 Ma ago. Although the plate boundary is not clearly defined by structures in the northeast U.S.S.R., it is generally assumed to be east of the Verkhoyansk Mountains. The compression between the continental plates might have been accommodated by deformation in the Bering Sea region, with western Alaska moving to the southeast. If so, the motion could produce rotation about a hinge line near 146 W and dextral slip along the Beringian continental shelf, eventually creating the arcuate structural trends of southwestern Alaska. Rotation of western Alaska probably ceased by 50 Ma ago when a change in the pole of opening of the Arctic basin eased compression between North America and Eurasia (Harbert et al., 1985). Also, at about this time a fragment of the Kula plate was trapped behind the growing Aleutian volcanic chain (Cooper et al., 1976), as subduction began beneath the Aleutian trench. Undoing the rotation of western Alaska straightens out the Alaskan continental margin, bringing it into alinement with the British Columbia coast and providing a different continental geometry during the accretion of Wrangellia and the Peninsular terrane prior to 65 Ma ago. Paleomagnetic evidence from the Nixon Fork terrane indicates much smaller changes in latitude relative to the craton as compared to the changes measured in the Wrangellia terrane, so the Nixon Fork terrane and the Yukon-Tanana terrane are considered the backstop for the accretion. The Brooks Range, Koyukuk basin, and Seward Peninsula (Fig. 3) are bounded by major zones of deformation, and all have probably been displaced from their Early Mesozoic positions relative to

cratonic North America. By 100 Ma ago, however, these elements of Alaska had been assembled together, as indicated by the general continuity of Upper Cretaceous marine deposits across the region. In the northeastern U.S.S.R., paleomagnetic data support a similar conclusion that possibly displaced terranes such as the Kolyma block had amalgamated to the continent to be overlapped by Upper Cretaceous sedimentary deposits (McElhinny, 1973). The northward movement of the Wrangellia and Peninsular terranes can best be explained by movement of the Kula and Farallon plates, with much of the poleward component of drift occurring 85-65 Ma ago (Fig. 4). The poleward velocity of the Kula plate relative to the Alaska mainland was about 150 km/Ma during this interval, according to the reconstruction by Engebretson et al. (1985). If the terranes were attached to the Kula plate, then the potential displacement is 3000 km or 27 of latitude, just sufficient to explain the displacement of Wrangellia from an original position in the northern hemisphere. A possible scenario to explain the current distribution of the Wrangellian fragments starts at 85 Ma ago when the Kula-Farallon ridge became activated. Assuming that previous motion of the Farallon plate had carried Wrangellia to the mainland near Oregon, activation of the Kula-Farallon ridge would initiate right-lateral strike-slip motion along the continental margin, detaching parts of Wrangellia from the mainland and moving them northward (Fig. 4a). In this way, slivers of Wrangellia could be left along the margin as the zone of shear moved westward. Eventually the last fragment of Wrangellia would be carried northward into Alaska, to what is now the central Alaska Range. This model for the final accretion of Wrangellia and the Peninsular terrane is consistent with the timing of deformation and plutonism in the Jurassic and Cretaceous flysch (Fig. l), which was the zone of convergence between the moving terranes and the mainland. Intense deformation of the flysch, which contains beds as young as Cenomanian, occurred after 100 Ma ago (Csejtey et al., 1982). Tremendous shortening of the flysch basin is interpreted from the isoclinal folding of

120

the strata, and a number of small Mesozoic terranes, such as Chulitna, are structurally emplaced within the flysch. Relative motions between Wrangellia, the flysch, and the Nixon Fork terrane are constrained by the Alaska Range belt of plutons which cuts across the terrane boundaries (Reed and Lanphere, 1973). Plutons of the McKinley sequence, which perhaps were generated by the final closure of the flysch basin, were emplaced 57 Ma ago (Lanphere and Reed, 1985). The whereabouts of Wrangellia prior to 100 Ma ago are virtually unconstrained except that the paleomagnetic data indicate near-equatorial latitudes during Triassic and Jurassic times. If the terrane were lodged along the margin of the Americas, there would be no driving force to move it northward until after 120 Ma, when the relative motion of the Farallon plate against North America shifted from eastward to northeastward. If the Wrangellia and Peninsular terranes were south of the equator at any time during the Mesozoic, then the most likely position would be within the Farallon plate in the west-central part of the Pacific basin. From a starting point in the southern hemisphere the terrane trajectory would proceed northeastward throughout the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous toward the margin of North America near California. In these models it is essential that by 85 Ma ago the terranes had reached a point north of the initial rift of the Kula-Farallon ridge. Otherwise, east-directed subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America would prevent the terranes reaching Alaska.
Conclusions

rane arrived in Alaska after 55 Ma ago, also carried by the Kula plate. The counterclockwise rotation of southwestern Alaska occurred 68-44 Ma ago as the latitude gap was closing between the Prince William terrane and the mainland. The rotation of western Alaska may be a manifestation of sea-floor spreading in the Eurasian Arctic basin, Labrador Sea, and North Atlantic, which accompanied deformation at the boundary between North America and Asia.
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the local organizing committee, especially Tomas Zelinka, Vladimir Kropacek, Vaclav Bucha, and Hana Prochazkova, for their hospitality and assistance during the 5th IAGA Assembly in Prague. Special thanks are owed to Miroslav Krs and Vladimir Kropacek for their contributions to the paleomagnetism field trip in Czechoslavakia. Improvements to the original manuscript were suggested by Dennis Kent, Kenneth Kodama, Jonathan Hagstrum, and two anonymous reviewers.
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