Abstract The Nadaleen trend is a 25-km-long alignment of recently discovered Carlin-type gold prospects located along the northern margin of the Selwyn basin in east-central Yukon Territory, Canada. These prospects are among the closest analogues to the large, Carlin-type gold deposits found in Nevada. The Nadaleen trend is bound structurally to the south by the regional Dawson thrust and to the north by the Kathleen Lakes fault. The Dawson thrust marks the boundary between dominantly Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic slope and basin facies carbonate, siltstone, and clastic rocks of the Selwyn basin and strata of the Mackenzie platform. The Nadaleen trend contains numerous Carlin-type prospects, with the three largest being Conrad, Osiris, and Anubis. Carlin-type prospects of the Nadaleen trend are hosted in silty limestone and calcareous siliciclastic rocks along with isolated gabbroic dikes. Gold mineralization at Nadaleen is inferred to have accompanied decarbonatization of host limestone and subsequent silicification and/or brecciation. Typically, this was followed by late, open-space calcite, realgar, and orpiment. The prospects exhibit both structural and stratigraphic controls, with zones located near prominent fault and fold features. Gold is associated with elevated As, Hg, Sb, and Tl in mineralized zones. Several types of arsenian pyrite are found in mineralized zones, typically as rims around earlier barren pyrite cores or as <10- μ m disseminations and aggregates. Evidence from the Conrad zone suggests that Carlin-type gold mineralization occurred between 74.4 and 42 Ma. The tectonic and magmatic setting in this remote part of the Yukon during gold mineralization is poorly understood, with little or no evidence for contemporaneous regional magmatism or tectonism. While deposit-scale processes responsible for gold mineralization appear very similar for Carlin-type prospects in the Yukon and Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada, whether the crustal-scale processes that formed these systems are similar remains enigmatic.

Approximately 3,000 Ar, Sr, and Pb isotopic age determinations for Canadian Cordilleran rocks have been cataloged, categorized as to reliability and significance, and plotted on histograms, distribution maps for different time intervals, and space-time plots to show the magmatic evolution in this 2,300-km portion of the Circum-Pacific Mobile Belt. The history revealed is episodic, with stable distribution patterns within episodes and distinct lulls and changes in distribution between the episodes. From 230 to 214 Ma (during Late Triassic time), extensive mafic volcanism occurred in the Wrangell, Quesnel, and Stikine terranes. Volcanic-related ultramafic complexes are found scattered through the two latter terranes. Large calc-alkaline granitic plutons are known only in a belt crossing Stikinia in northern British Columbia. At the same time, blueschists formed in the Cache Creek accretion wedge. From 214 to 200 Ma (end of Triassic and part of Early Jurassic time), Early to Middle Jurassic arc magmatism began in Wrangellia and in the northern Quesnel, Stikine, and Yukon terranes. A distinct magmatic event is recognizable only in southern Quesnellia. Magmatism was absent on the North American craton. The Cache Creek and Quesnel terranes were definitely linked, Stikine and Cache Creek terranes were probably linked, and a regional metamorphic episode was completed in the Yukon Terrane by this time. From 200 to 155 Ma (late Early to early Late Jurassic time), magmatism was extensive in the Wrangell, Quesnel, Stikine, and Yukon terranes. Magmatism over-lapped into North America only east of southern Quesnellia after about 180 Ma. By the middle of this time interval, the southern Quesnel-Slide Mountain-North America linkage was complete, and major deformation and metamorphism had affected the Omineca Belt in British Columbia. Early to Middle Jurassic magmatism in southern Wrangellia (Vancouver Island) is distinctly older than the Middle to Late Jurassic magmatism that occurred in central Wrangellia (Queen Charlotte Islands). From 155 to 140 Ma (during Late Jurassic time), a few last-gasp plutons of the late Early to early Late Jurassic episode and other rocks with partially reset 155- to 145-Ma dates occur in the Wrangell, Quesnel, and Stikine terranes. Late Jurassic magmatism (160 to 140 Ma) occurred in the Alexander Terrane (Saint Elias region). From 145 to 138 Ma (latest Jurassic and beginning of Early Cretaceous time), plutonism occurred in the Endako area of central British Columbia (Francois Lake suite) but is virtually unknown elsewhere. From 135 to 125 Ma (during Early Cretaceous time), there was a magmatic lull of major significance present throughout western North America. From 110 to 90 Ma (middle Cretaceous time), widespread plutonism occurred across all terranes. Dual culminations are evident: the Coast Plutonic and Ominica belts. Before this time all sutures except those outboard of Wrangellia had been closed. From 80 to 70 Ma (during Late Cretaceous time), a narrow, sinuous belt of magmatism persisted, mostly in the southeastern Coast Plutonic Belt, southwestern Yukon Territory, and scattered across the Skeena and Stikine arches. From 70 to 60 Ma (latest Cretaceous to Paleocene time), a distinct lull in magmatism occurred. Rare plutons of this time interval are known in the Coast Plutonic Belt, on the Skeena Arch, and in the southern Intermontane Belt. From 55 to 45 Ma (latest Paleocene to Middle Eocene time), widespread and voluminous magmatism occurred in all terranes. The early Cenozoic volcanic front crossed the Coast Plutonic Complex from its east side in the south to its west side in the north. Associated thermal and tectonic effects were strong even into the Omineca Belt, producing large reset metamorphic areas in the Coast and Omineca belts. This was a short-lived event, synchronous from southern British Columbia through the Yukon Territory. West of the volcanic front, offshore of Wrangellia, Metchosin volcano growth was underway at this time. Late in this time interval, the 50?–45–36-Ma Catface–Leech River event(s) of southern Wrangellia occurred. There is also time overlap with a diffuse Massett magmatic event in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and with Baranoff Island and Yakutat–Saint Elias region magmatism. Initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios and petrographic characteristics of Canadian Cordilleran igneous rocks are reviewed in the time frame just described. These reflect the nature of underlying crust, contemporaneous lithosphere thickness, and distance from the subduction zone. Comparisons with other parts of the Circum-Pacific Magmatic Belt shows both out-of-phase magmatism (Japan and southwestern Alaska) and perfect matching of some episodes (Sierra Nevada). Major magmatic episodes correspond to times of increased westward motion of North America with respect to hot spots or to times of increased convergence between western North America and the Farallon Plate.

Abstract Carlin-type ores have been reported in various locations around the world, but to date, the major economic deposits have been restricted to the Great Basin of the southwestern United States. Recent discoveries in east-central Yukon have many characteristics of Carlin-type deposits, and hold promise of great potential for new discoveries of economic importance. Both regions share commonalities of geologic history, including initial deposition of Proterozoic-Paleozoic calcareous host rocks on the passive margin of the fragmented Rodinian supercontinent. This was followed by compressional tectonism and continental accretion that included thrust faulting and plutonism through the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Many deposits in the Great Basin are associated with post-accretionary magmatism as the tectonic environment shifted to an extensional regime. However, at this early stage of investigation, the timing of mineralization in Yukon is not clear; the deposits may be geologically related to Late Cretaceous post-accretionary plutons. Associated gold skarn-style mineralization is present in both regions. Following mineralization, both regions experienced significant right-lateral transcurrent tectonism on their western margins; no known Carlin-type mineralization is associated with this latest tectonism. Mineralization in both areas comprises finely disseminated gold associated with arsenian pyrite hosted in calcareous siltstones-sandstones to silty carbonates, although other rock types locally host significant mineralization. Other hydrothermal minerals present in these systems include realgar/orpiment, stibnite, fluorite, barite, and quartz. Temperature of deposition appears to be near 225°C. Hydrothermal alteration consists of decarbonatization, silicification, and argillization. Gold/silver is typically high at 1:1 or higher. Trace elements that show good correlation with gold include thallium, arsenic, antimony, mercury, and to a lesser extent antimony and silver. In general, the deposits from the two areas are quite similar in terms of their tectonic history, and the processes and geochemistry appear to be very similar. The presence of extension and ore-related magmatism in Nevada appears to be a component that is much less clear in the Yukon Territory.

Abstract The Carboniferous System in Western Canada Basin (Fig. 4E.1-4E.3) is a thick succesion of strata deposited on the downwarped and downfaulted western margin of the ancestral North American plate, the central to western cratonic platform, and southern Yukon Fold Belt. This succession, representing the upper Kaskaskia sequenceand lower Absaroka sequence of Sloss (1963), comprises two main lithofacies assemblages. The lower assemblage is basinal shale and generally thickens southwestward or basinward (see Fig. 4 E . 9 - 4 E . 1 3) . Upward and northeastward, it passe into an upper assemblage of platform and ramp carbonates (Fig. 4E.4, 4E.5, 4E.9-4E.13) and sandstone-dominated siliciclastic facies, deposited in deep-water slope to continental settings. Both assemblages consist of numerous formations, some separated by regional disconformities. Subaerial erosion during the Late Carboniferous, Permian, and subsequent periods removed large parts of the succession, particularly in the Interior Plains, the region west of the Rocky Mountain Front Ranges, and the Cordillera between southwestern District of Mackenzie and northern Yukon Territory. Where the Carboniferous remains, it is generally unconformably overlain byeither Permian or Mesozoic strata. Carboniferous formations are preserved in twomain regions. The southern one, which includes much of the eastern Cordillera andsouthern to western Interior Plains, extends from southwestern Manitoba to southwestern District of Mackenzie. The northern area includes the eastern Cordillera ofnorthern Yukon Territory and northwestern District of Mackenzie (Fig. 4E.1). Betweenthese regions, erosional remnants are present in the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains of east-central Yukon and west-central District of Mackenzie.

Abstract Cambrian-Lower Ordovician carbonate rocks that likely formed as part of the Laurentian continental margin, and may thus have been part of the Cambrian-Ordovician great American carbonate bank, occur in east-central Alaska in the Nation Arch area. These strata accumulated on the southwestern margin (present-day coordinates) of the Yukon stable block, a broad area of early Paleozoic carbonate platform deposition in the northern Yukon Territory, and constitute two successions. The first consists of approximately 900 m (∼2950 ft) of shallow-water limestone and dolostone that are in part silicified, laminated, oolitic, and pisolitic, and make up the lower member of the Jones Ridge Limestone. Conodonts, trilobites, archaeo-cyathids, and brachiopods indicate an age of Early Cambrian to early Early Ordovician (Tremadoc; Ibexian) and have Laurentian biogeographic affinities. Upper Ordovician bio-clastic limestone (the upper member of the Jones Ridge Limestone) unconformably overlies these strata. A roughly coeval, but somewhat deeper water, succession crops out near the Jones Ridge Limestone and consists of, in ascending order, the Funnel Creek Limestone, Adams Argillite, and Hillard Limestone. The Funnel Creek (15-400 m [50-1310 ft] thick) is mainly nonfossilif-erous, extensively silicified, commonly oolitic limestone and dolostone and is assumed to be Lower Cambrian in age. It is overlain by argillite, siltstone, cross-laminated quartzite, and oolitic to sandy limestone of the Adams Argillite (90-180 m [295-550 ft] thick). This unit contains the trace fossil Oldhamia and Lower Cambrian archaeocyathids and trilobites that have Siberian affinities. The Hillard (30-150 m [100-490 ft] thick) is chiefly limestone, with local ooids, edgewise and boulder conglomerate, and phosphatic horizons, and likely formed in a platform-margin setting. Trilobites and brachiopods from this unit are Early Cambrian to earliest Ordovician in age and have mainly Laurentian affinities. Slope and/or basinal rocks of the Road River Formation that are as old as Early Ordovician (early middle Arenig; Ibexian) unconformably overlie the Hillard Limestone. Abrupt facies transitions between the two Nation Arch area carbonate successions may reflect relatively steep paleoslopes and/or telescoping of facies by imbricate thrust faults. Carbonate strata of Cambrian–Ordovician age are also found north of the Nation Arch area in the Porcupine terrane. These rocks have been little studied, and their precise Stratigraphic succession and paleogeographic setting are uncertain. The few fossil collections indicate mainly Laurentian affinities and include Cambrian(?) trilobites and Lower and Middle Ordovician conodonts. Lower Paleozoic strata of the Porcupine terrane probably formed at or near the northwestern edge (present-day coordinates) of the Yukon stable block. Cambrian–Ordovician carbonate strata occur widely in northern Alaska (parts of the Arctic Alaska, York, and Seward terranes) and interior Alaska (Farewell terrane). These rocks share distinctive lithologic and faunal features and were deposited in a range of shallow-shelf to basinal environments. Carbonate platform successions in northern and interior Alaska include fossils of both Laurentian and Siberian biotic provinces and may have formed on a single crustal fragment that rifted away from the Siberian craton during the late Proterozoic. These Alaskan strata were most likely in faunal exchange with, but not physically attached to, the great American carbonate bank. Lower–Middle Ordovician carbonate and siliciclastic rocks are also found in the White Mountains, Livengood, and Ruby terranes of interior Alaska, the Alexander terrane in southeastern Alaska, and the Goodnews terrane in southwestern Alaska. These successions were likely not attached to Laurentia during their deposition, although some authors have proposed Laurentian origins for the White Mountains and Livengood terranes. Little detailed information is available on the resource potential of Cambrian–Ordovician successions in Alaska. Most have low porosity and are too thermally mature to be prospective for oil and gas, although a few units in east-central and northern Alaska may have some potential as petroleum source and reservoir rocks. Strata of this age have potential for metallic mineral resources; strata-bound Zn-Pb ± Ag occurrences are known in the Funnel Creek Limestone in east-central Alaska, as well as several units of possible Cambrian and/or Ordovician age in northern and interior Alaska.

Abstract The pre-Late Devonian Cordilleran miogeocline consisted of extensive shallow-water platforms upon which carbonate-clastic deposits accumulated. They were flanked to the west by deep-water environments where shale and carbonate accumulated (Rocky Mountains Assemblage). Clastic sediments were largely craton-derived. During the Late Devonian sedimentation patterns changed dramatically as turbiditic, chert-rich clastics, derived from the west and north, flooded the northern Cordillera (Earn and Imperial assemblages). Shale (Besa River Assemblage) was deposited far out onto the miogeocline and InteriorPlatform; the carbonate front of the Rundle Assemblage retreated far to the east and south of its Middle Devonian position. By mid-Mississippian time the clastic influx waned and normal marine shelf carbonate and clastic sedimentation resumed, once again with clastics derived from the craton. Devono-Mississippian plutonism occurred only in northernmost Yukon Territory, and volcanism was restricted to central Yukon and south-central British Columbia.Pre-Late Mississippian folding occurred in northern Yukon but elsewhere deformation is expressed only by local high-angle faults and disconformities. Devono-Mississippian tectonism in the northern Yukon involved uplift and granitic intrusion in Frasnian to Early Mississippian time, resulting in an upward shoaling and southward-prograding clastic wedge. The sequence consists of shale at the base, flyschoid sediments near the middle, and partly fluvial-deltaic strata at the top. Deformation migrated southward from the area of uplift until the clastics themselves were folded prior to the mid-Carboniferous. The source of Devono-Mississippian sediments in the central Cordillera was uppermost Precambrian quartzose clastics and lower Paleozoic chert from the western miogeocline. Western coarse clastics are typified

Several narrow terranes occur along the Denali fault in the Eastern and Central Alaska Range in Southern Alaska. These terranes are the Aurora Peak, Cottonwood Creek, Maclaren, Pingston, and Windy terranes, and a terrane of ultramafic and associated rocks. Exterior to the narrow terranes to the south is the major Wrangellia island arc composite terrane, and to the north is the major Yukon-Tanana metamorphosed continental margin terrane. Overlying mainly the northern margin of the Wrangellia composite terrane are the Kahiltna overlap assemblage to the west, and the Gravina-Nutzotin-Gambier volcanic-plutonic-sedimentary belt to the east and southeast. The various narrow terranes are interpreted as the result of translation of fragments of larger terranes during two major tectonic events: (1) Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous accretion of the Wrangellia island arc composite terrane (or superterrane composed of the Wrangellia, Peninsular, and Alexander terranes) and associated subduction zone complexes; and (2) starting in about the Late Cretaceous, dextral transport of the Wrangellia composite terrane along the Denali fault. These two major tectonic events caused: (1) entrapment of a lens of oceanic lithosphere along the suture belt between the Wrangellia composite terrane and the North American Craton Margin and outboard accreted terranes to form the ultramafic and mafic part of the terrane of ultra-mafic and associated rocks, (2) subsequent dextral translation along the Denali fault of the terrane of ultramafic and associated rocks, (3) dextral translation along the Denali fault of the Aurora Peak, Cottonwood Creek, and Maclaren and continental margin arc terranes from part of the Coast plutonic-metamorphic complex (Coast-North Cascade plutonic belt) in the southwest Yukon Territory or Southeastern Alaska, (4) dextral translation along the Denali fault of the Pingston passive continental margin from a locus along the North American Continental Margin, and (5) formation and dextral transport along the Denali fault of the mélange of the Windy terrane from fragments of the Gravina-Nutzotin-Gambier volcanic-plutonic-sedimentary belt and from the North American Continental Margin.

ABSTRACT The Coast Mountains batholith (CMB) is one of the largest continental margin batholiths in the world. It is nearly continuously exposed for >1700 km along the west coast of North America in British Columbia through southeastern Alaska into southwestern Yukon Territory. This guide, prepared for the GSA Thompson Field Forum held in August 2018, describes the geology along the readily accessible Skeena River transect of the CMB in British Columbia. At this latitude, the CMB is bounded on the east by generally low-grade stratified rocks and subordinate Jurassic to Eocene plutons. These rocks are bounded on the west by a Paleogene, low-angle, top-to-the northeast detachment (the Eastside detachment). West of the detachment, the Central Gneiss Complex (CGC), which forms the lower plate of the detachment, consists of amphibolite to granulite-facies schist, gneiss, and orthogneiss, intruded by Late Cretaceous to Paleogene plutons. The CGC is characterized by regionally consistent Eocene 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and K-Ar cooling dates. This core belt is bounded on the west by the Paleogene Coast shear zone, a steep crustal-scale structure. Paleogene plutons do not occur west of this belt. West of the Coast shear zone, schists of the Western metamorphic belt show evidence for southwest-verging thrusting, and form an inverted metamorphic sequence with grade dramatically decreasing to the west. These rocks are intruded by Jurassic to Late Cretaceous plutons. We use this transect as a basis to examine the growth of the CMB as a whole, emphasizing commonalities and variations with the batholith and how these traits may reflect magmatic processes that create this and other convergent-margin batholiths. We conclude by highlighting a few of the many open questions regarding the evolution of this complex batholith.

A Lower Permian fusulinid fauna was found in rocks of Mankomen age within a fault block in the Upper Delta River area, east-central Alaska Range. Three members of the M ankomen Formation are recognized and described from this area. They are, in stratigraphic order: a lower Tuffaceous Sandstone Member, an Alternating Limestone-Shale Member, and a Limestone Member. Additional sedimentary rocks occur still higher in the section but are as yet unmapped. The section exposed in this area represents the youngest known Upper Paleozoic sediments in the Alaska Range. Eighteen species of fusulinids belonging to three genera are described from the Alternating Limestone-Shale Member and Limestone Member. They are: Pseudofusulinella valkenburghae n. sp.; P . cf. P. parvula Skinner and Wilde; P. sp. A; Eoparafusulina mendenhalli n. sp.; E. waddelli n. sp.; Schwagerina pseudokaragasensis n. sp.; S. cf. S. emaciata (Beede); S. sp. A; S. rowetti n. sp.; S. callosa (Rauser-Chernousova); S. whartoni n. sp.; S. heineri n. sp.; S. moffiti n. sp.; S. sp. B; S. sp. C; S. rainyensis n. sp.; S. mankomenensis n. sp.; and S. hyperborea (Salter). This fauna is divided into six assemblage zones on the basis of the fusulinid species. Collectively, the zones indicate a Lower Permian age, ranging from late Asselian to middle Artinskian when compared to the zonation of Permian sections in the western Urals, USSR. The fusulinids from the Lower Permian of the Alaska Range belong to the Boreal faunal realm that includes the geosynclinal seas of the Alaskan Cordilleran, Franklinian, and Uralian geosynclines. Faunal evidence indicates temporary marine connections between Alaska and the Pacific north-west, and between the Uralian and Tethyan regions. Correlations are suggested between the Alaska Range section and the following regions: southeastern Alaska; northeastern Alaska; northwestern Yukon Territory; Grinnell Peninsula, Arctic Archipelago; northwest Greenland; Spitsbergen; and the Ural region of the USSR.