Apatite fission track thermochronology (AFTT) on granitic samples collected in the central Alaska Range in conjunction with geologic constraints from basins to the north (Nenana Basin) and south (Cook Inlet) of the range is used to constrain the timing, amount, rate, and pattern of surface uplift, rock uplift, and denudation since the late Miocene. The conversion from a thermal frame of reference (apatite fission track data) to an absolute frame of reference (with respect to mean sea level), which requires constraining the paleoland surface elevation, the paleomean annual temperature, and the paleogeothermal gradient, is evaluated and shown to be viable in the context of an exhumed apatite partial annealing zone (PAZ). Apatite ages at Denali (Mount McKinley) range from 16 Ma near the summit (∼6 km elevation) to 4 Ma at ∼2 km elevation. A distinctive break in slope in the apatite age profile at an elevation of 4.5 km, also marked by a change in confined track length distributions, marks the base of an exhumed apatite PAZ. Rock uplift and denudation are greatest at Denali, decreasing southward away from the McKinley strand of the Denali fault system as shown by progressively older apatite ages (7–35 Ma) from a suite of samples along the Kahiltna Glacier. A correlative decrease in topography occurs southward from the fault. The central Alaska Range lies within an arc defined by the Denali fault, with the highest peaks (including Denali) concentrated at the arc apex. Patterns of rock uplift and denudation within the central Alaska Range mimic topography. Between early and late Miocene, and possibly earlier, the central Alaska Range was most likely an area of relative tectonic and thermal stability. Rock uplift, denudation, and mean surface uplift of the Denali region began by the Late Miocene (∼5–6 Ma), being ∼8.5 km, ∼5.7 km, and ∼2.8 km, respectively, at average rates of ∼1.5 km/m.y., ∼1 km/m.y., and ∼0.5 km/m.y. The amount of rock uplift, denudation, and surface uplift decreases to ∼3 km, ∼2 km, and ∼1 km at Little Switzerland, some 45 km south of the Denali fault. We conclude that the topographic and rock uplift patterns of the central Alaska Range, the shape and proximity of the McKinley strand of the Denali Fault to these patterns, the timing of the onset of rock uplift and denudation at ∼5–6 Ma, and a significant change in relative plate motion between North America and the Pacific plates circa 5.6 Ma are all inherently related.

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Apatite fission-track analysis of samples that cover a 4-kilometer vertical section from the western flank of Denali (Mount McKinley), North America's highest mountain, suggests that the mountain massif was formed by rapid uplift (> 1 kilometer per million years) beginning approximately 6 million years ago (Ma). Uplift was a result of the morphology of the Denali fault and a change in motion of the Pacific plate with respect to North America at approximately 5 Ma, which created opposing tangential vectors of relative movement along the fault and forced the intervening crustal blocks upward.

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