Abstract
Topics of discussion raised by Lowey (2021) include the correlation of ultramafic-intermediate intrusions hosted within the Clearwater metasediments/Dezadeash Formation and their displacement by the Denali fault. These topics were not main points of Waldien et al. (2021), but instead logical extrapolations of the information presented and synthesized therein. Here we re-emphasize the key findings of Waldien et al. (2021) and discuss only the relevant aspects of the ultramafic-intermediate intrusions and their displacement.
Highlights
Topics of discussion raised by Lowey (2021) include the correlation of ultramafic-intermediate intrusions hosted within the Clearwater metasediments/Dezadeash Formation and their displacement by the Denali fault
Given the disparate protolith and tectonic histories established for metasedimentary rocks across the Valdez Creek shear zone, we interpret that the shear zone occupies a former convergent plate boundary that existed between the Wrangellia composite terrane and North America
We further argue that the tectonic history of the Valdez Creek shear zone as a major collisional structure and likely as a former convergent plate boundary primed it for reactivation when southern Alaska began experiencing flat slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate in the Oligocene
Summary
Topics of discussion raised by Lowey (2021) include the correlation of ultramafic-intermediate intrusions hosted within the Clearwater metasediments/Dezadeash Formation and their displacement by the Denali fault These topics were not main points of Waldien et al (2021), but instead logical extrapolations of the information presented and synthesized therein. Given the disparate protolith and tectonic histories established for metasedimentary rocks across the Valdez Creek shear zone, we interpret that the shear zone occupies a former convergent plate boundary that existed between the Wrangellia composite terrane and North America. The geochemical data from spinel group minerals presented in figure 13 of Waldien et al (2021) clearly show that the zoned hornblende-biotite-pyroxenite body in Ann Creek and other samples of midCretaceous ultramafic rock within the Clearwater metasediments classify as Alaska-type ultramafic intrusions. The possibility of correlation should not be dismissed solely on the basis of previous displacement estimates for the Denali fault
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