Evidence in the Bering Strait region for differential movement between North America and Eurasia

Abstract

Research Article| September 01, 1977 Evidence in the Bering Strait region for differential movement between North America and Eurasia WILLIAM W. PATTON, JR.; WILLIAM W. PATTON, JR. 1U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar IRVIN L. TAILLEUR IRVIN L. TAILLEUR 1U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information WILLIAM W. PATTON, JR. 1U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 IRVIN L. TAILLEUR 1U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (1977) 88 (9): 1298–1304. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1977)88<1298:EITBSR>2.0.CO;2 Article history First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation WILLIAM W. PATTON, IRVIN L. TAILLEUR; Evidence in the Bering Strait region for differential movement between North America and Eurasia. GSA Bulletin 1977;; 88 (9): 1298–1304. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1977)88<1298:EITBSR>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract North-trending folds and regional deflection of Cordilleran trends in the Bering Strait region strongly suggest east-west compression and crustal shortening between the North American and Eurasian continents during late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic time. Along the northwest coast of Alaska, the west- and southwest-trending grain of the Cordilleran belt appears to be deflected by a belt of folds and thrust faults that can be traced from Cape Lisburne southward across the Seward Peninsula and Yukon-Koyukuk province to the Kaltag fault. Fold axes are generally overturned to the east, and locally Paleozoic strata are thrust eastward onto Mesozoic strata. Major geologic trends on the north side of the Kaltag fault appear to be offset as much as 130 km to the east. On the Bering-Chukchi shelf, increasing evidence suggests that Cordilleran trends between Alaska and Siberia are buckled into a tight southward-looping orocline. The Paleozoic and early Mesozoic stratigraphic sequence on St. Lawrence Island is nearly identical with that found in the western Brooks Range, 400 km to the north, and distinctive belts of late Paleozoic and Mesozoic mafic volcanic and intrusive rocks and alkalic intrusive rocks appear to be traceable in an arc stretching southward from the Kobuk-Selawik area to St. Lawrence Island and then northward onto the Chukotsk Peninsula.Oroclinal bending in the Bering Strait region and in the eastern Brooks Range appears to have foreshortened the northern part of the Alaska Cordillera by at least 800 km. As neither of these deflections is reflected in the arcuate trends of the Alaska and Aleutian Ranges, the northern part of Alaska may have been decoupled from the southern part along the Kaltag fault.This compressional event in Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary time may be related to opening of the North Atlantic Ocean basin. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.