Introduction to Special Section on the Northern Chugach Mountains‐Southern Copper River Basin Segment of the Alaskan Transect, Part 1

Abstract

This special section of the Journal of Geophysical Research is the first of a two‐part collection of papers addressing the nature and evolution of the lithosphere in southern Alaska. Collectively, these papers document the important role of subduction‐related accretion in continental growth, a process which continues today in southern Alaska.The studies reported in the collection were undertaken as part of the Trans‐Alaska Lithosphere Investigation (TALI), a geological and geophysical transect of the Alaskan lithosphere along a north‐south corridor. The transect follows the route of the trans‐Alaska oil pipeline and extends offshore across the Pacific and Arctic continental margins (Figure 1). Unique among transect studies of the North American lithosphere, TALI features coordinated geological and geophysical investigations along a common corridor crossing the entire continent, from the active convergent Pacific margin to the rifted Arctic margin of Mesozoic age.