Plate Tectonics and the Structural Evolution of the Aleutian–Bering Sea Region

Scholl, David W.; Buffington, Edwin C.; Marlow, Michael S.

doi:10.1130/spe151-p1

Cited by 78 publications

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“…The geologic history and structure of the region have been summarized by Scholl et al (1968), Scholl and Hopkins (1969), Nelson et al (1974), Marlow et al (1975), Scholl et al (1975), and Marlow et al (1977a). The southeastern Bering Sea can be broadly subdivided into four major physiographic provinces: outer continental shelf, continental margin, Pribilof ridge, and the Bering and Pribilof canyons (Figure 7).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentology and geochemistry of surface sediments and the distribution of faults and potentially unstable sediments, St. George Basin region of the outer continental shelf, southern Bering Sea

Gardner¹,

Vallier²,

Dean³

et al. 1979

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Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentology and geochemistry of surface sediments and the distribution of faults and potentially unstable sediments, St. George Basin region of the outer continental shelf, southern Bering Sea

Gardner¹,

Vallier²,

Dean³

et al. 1979

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“…PAC-KULA ridge [23][24][25], which caused the pronounced Hawaiian-Emperor bend. This PAC rotation turned off subduction magmatism at 43 Ma in E Alaska, leaving a large block of underplated oceanic crust and mantle of RESUR?…”

Section: David Publishingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Active Yakutat (Kula?) Plate and Its Southcentral Alaska Megathrust and Intraplate Earthquakes

Reeder¹

2016

JEASE

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Alaska geology and plate tectonics have not been well understood due to an active Yakutat plate, believed to be part of the remains of an ancient Kula plate, not being acknowledged to exist in Alaska. It is positioned throughout most of southcentral Alaska beneath the North American plate and above the NNW subducting Pacific plate. The Kula? plate and its eastern spreading ridge were partially "captured" by the North American plate in the Paleocene. Between 63 Ma and 32 Ma, large volumes of volcanics erupted from its subducted N-S striking spreading ridge through a slab window. The eruptions stopped at 32 Ma, likely due to the Pacific plate flat-slab subducting from the south beneath this spreading ridge. At 28 Ma, magmatism started again to the east; indicating a major shift to the east of this "refusing to die" spreading ridge. The captured Yakutat plate has also been subducting since 63 Ma to the WSW. It started to change to WSW flat-slab subduction at 32 Ma, which stopped all subduction magmatism in W and SW Alaska by 22 Ma. The Yakutat plate subduction has again increased with the impact/joining of the coastal Yakutat terrane from the ESE about 5 Ma, resulting in the Cook Inlet Quaternary volcanism of southcentral Alaska. During the 1964 Alaska earthquake, sudden movements along the southcentral Alaska thrust faults between the Yakutat plate and the Pacific plate occurred. Specifically, the movements consisted of the Pacific plate moving NNW under the buried Yakutat plate and of the coastal Yakutat terrane, which is considered part of the Yakutat plate, thrusting WSW onto the Pacific plate. These were the two main sources of energy release for the E part of this earthquake. Only limited movement between the Yakutat plate and the North American plate occurred during this 1964 earthquake event. Buried paleopeat age dates indicate the thrust boundary between the Yakutat plate and North American plate will move in about 230 years, resulting in a more "continental" type megathrust earthquake for southcentral Alaska. There are, therefore, at least two different types of megathrust earthquakes occurring in southcentral Alaska: the more oceanic 1964 type and the more continental type. In addition, large "active" WSW oriented strike-slip faults are recognized in the Yakutat plate, called slice faults, which represent another earthquake hazard for the region. These slice faults also indicate important oil/gas and mineral resource locations.

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“…Along the Bering shelf margin, acoustical profiling and dredging by Scholl, Buffington, and Marlow (1975) and Hopkins and others (1969) have shown that highly deformed flysch deposits underlie the shelf edge beneath a thick cover of poorly consolidated Neogene sediments. Fossils of Late Cretaceous (probably Campanian) age were found in samples of the flysch dredged from the walls of Pribilof Canyon.…”

Section: Volcanic Rocks Terrigenous Deposits Miogeosynclinal Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also is significant because it establishes the contemporaneity of calcalkaline volcanism on St. Matthew Island and the deposition of flysch sediments at the continental margin. Figure 5 shows the plate model for the Bering Sea region proposed by Scholl, Buffington, and Marlow (1975) The relative motion of the Kula plate in this proposed model appears to have been at a small convergence angle with the Bering shelf margin, leading to the suggestion that the margin was a transform fault. Our evidence for an extensive belt of calc-alkaline volcanism parallel to the margin, however, seems to argue for subduction, even though the convergence angle may have been small.…”

Section: Volcanic Rocks Terrigenous Deposits Miogeosynclinal Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Journal of Research of the U. S. Geological Survey, 1976, volume 4, issue 1

1976

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Plate Tectonics and the Structural Evolution of the Aleutian–Bering Sea Region

Cited by 78 publications

References 0 publications

Sedimentology and geochemistry of surface sediments and the distribution of faults and potentially unstable sediments, St. George Basin region of the outer continental shelf, southern Bering Sea

Sedimentology and geochemistry of surface sediments and the distribution of faults and potentially unstable sediments, St. George Basin region of the outer continental shelf, southern Bering Sea

The Active Yakutat (Kula?) Plate and Its Southcentral Alaska Megathrust and Intraplate Earthquakes

Journal of Research of the U. S. Geological Survey, 1976, volume 4, issue 1

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