Tectonic implications of paleomagnetic poles from Lower Tertiary Volcanic Rocks, south central Alaska

Abstract

We have determined the paleolatitude of lower Tertiary volcanic rocks in southern Alaska to measure possible poleward translation of the Wrangellia and the Peninsular terranes after 50 m.y. ago. Previous paleomagnetic studies have shown that in Triassic and Jurassic time these terranes were located near the equator and have moved at least 3000 km poleward relative to the North American craton. Our sample localities are in the northern Talkeetna Mountains in mildly deformed andesite and dacite flows (50.4, 51.3, 53.9, and 56.3 m.y. by K‐Ar) that overlap Lower Cretaceous flysch, Lower Permian volcanic rocks of Wrangellia, and Upper Triassic pillow basalt of the Susitna terrane. Results from 26 cooling units (23 of reversed polarity and 3 of normal polarity) give a mean paleomagnetic pole at 69.5°N, 179.6°E, α95 = 12.2°. Stratigraphic sections from opposite limbs of a syncline yield directional paths that pass the fold test, satisfying a necessary condition for primary origin of the magnetization. The corresponding mean paleolatitude (76°N) of the northern Talkeetna Mountains is 8°±10° higher than the latitude predicted from the Eocene reference pole for North America. Therefore, northward drift of the Talkeetna superterrane, which is the amalgamation of the Wrangellia and Peninsular terranes during and after Middle Jurassic time, was probably complete by 50 m.y. ago. Our results are consistent with paleomagnetic poles from uppermost Cretaceous and Paleocene volcanic sequences in Denali National Park, the Lake Clark region, northern Bristol Bay region, and near McGrath. These poles generally lie south of the cratonic poles, suggesting that the region between the Kaltag, Bruin Bay, and Castle Mountain faults has rotated counterclockwise relative to North America since the early Eocene.