ABSTRACT The Shublik Formation (Middle and Upper Triassic) is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate-phosphatic unit in northern Alaska. It generated oil found in Prudhoe Bay and other accumulations and is a prospective self-sourced resource play on Alaska’s North Slope. Its distal, deeper-water equivalent—the Otuk Formation—consists largely of radiolarian chert, mudstone, and limestone and contains potential gas accumulations in the Brooks Range foothills to the south. New petrographic, fossil, geochemical, spectral gamma-ray, and zircon U-Pb data yield insights into facies changes in these units, which were deposited across a shallowly dipping shelf margin in a high-latitude setting. Samples come from four localities along a transect that extends ~410 km from present-day northeast (proximal) to southwest (distal) in northwest Alaska. Proximal Shublik facies (Brontosaurus 1 well) contain abundant siliciclastic detritus and local phosphate. Shublik-Otuk transitional facies occur in the probable onshore extension of the Hanna Trough (Surprise Creek); new zircon U-Pb data indicate an early Norian age for a bentonite bed in this section. Distal Otuk facies (Red Dog district, Cape Lisburne) are fine grained, biosiliceous, and organic rich. New detrital zircon U-Pb data from a distinctive sandstone member in the Otuk Formation at Cape Lisburne reinforce previous interpretations of a provenance to the present-day northwest and indicate a protracted history of Triassic magmatism for this source area. Triassic facies patterns in northwestern Alaska were shaped by sea-level change, climate, and regional tectonism. Organic-rich facies developed best at times (Ladinian–middle Norian) and/or in settings (distal shelf, Hanna Trough) with minimal dilution of organic matter by other detritus.

ABSTRACT The Neoproterozoic–Early Devonian platformal succession of the North Slope subterrane, northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska, represents a carbonate-dominated peri-Laurentian continental fragment within the composite Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate. The basal ca. 760–720 Ma Mount Weller Group consists of an ~400 m thick mixed siliciclastic and carbonate succession that records the onset of regional extensional tectonism associated with the separation of southeastern Siberia from northern Laurentia during the break-up of Rodinia. These strata are overlain by ca. 720 Ma continental flood basalts of the Kikiktat volcanic rocks, which provide a link between the northeast Brooks Range platformal succession and the ca. 723–717 Ma Franklin large igneous province (LIP) of northern Laurentia. The overlying Sturtian Hula Hula diamictite and Cryogenian–Ediacaran Katakturuk Dolomite record abbreviated thermal subsidence of the northeast Brooks Range platformal succession prior to renewed Ediacaran–early Cambrian extensional tectonism and deposition of the overlying lower Paleozoic Nanook Group (new name). Equivalent strata of the deep-water Cryogenian–lower Cambrian(?) Ikiakpuk Group (new name) are identified herein with new δ 13 C carb and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotopic data from the Fourth Range of the northeastern Brooks Range. The Nanook Group is formally divided herein into the Black Dog and Sunset Pass formations, which record isolated peri-Laurentian platformal carbonate sedimentation along the northern margin of Laurentia, in an analogous tectonic position to the modern Bahama Banks. A profound Late Ordovician(?)-Early Devonian unconformity within the platformal succession is marked by subaerial exposure, paleokarst development, and tilting of the northeast Brooks Range peri-Laurentian platformal fragment prior to deposition of the overlying Lower Devonian Mount Copleston Limestone.

ABSTRACT The Neoproterozoic–Early Devonian(?) northeast Brooks Range basinal succession of northern Alaska and Yukon represents a peri-Laurentian deep-marine carbonate and siliciclastic succession within the composite Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate. The basal Firth River Group consists of a mixed siliciclastic and carbonate succession that is divided into the informal Redwacke Creek, Malcolm River, and Fish Creek formations. New U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology and δ 13 C carb and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotopic data from these strata, in combination with previously reported and new trace fossil discoveries, suggest the Firth River Group is Cryogenian(?)–middle(?) Cambrian in age. These strata interfinger with or are depositionally overlain by the siliciclastic-dominated lower Cambrian–Middle Ordovician(?) Neruokpuk and Leffingwell (new name) formations, which potentially record a distal expression of Cambrian extension and condensed passive margin sedimentation along the northern margin of Laurentia. All of these units are unconformably overlain by the synorogenic Clarence River Group, which is divided into the informal Aichilik and Buckland Hills formations. New U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology and previous macrofossil collections suggest the Clarence River Group is Late Ordovician-Early Devonian(?) in age. Here, we present new sedimentological observations, stratigraphic subdivisions, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Lu-Hf isotope geochemistry, detrital muscovite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology, and carbonate δ 13 C carb and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope geochemistry from the basinal succession that revise previous tectono-stratigraphic models for this part of Arctic Alaska and support correlations with age-equivalent strata in the Franklinian basin of the Canadian Arctic Islands and Greenland.

ABSTRACT The Whale Mountain allochthon is a structural complex composed of lower Paleozoic mafic volcanic and marine sedimentary rocks that are exposed within three fault-bounded, east–west-trending belts in the northeastern Brooks Range of Alaska and Yukon. Each belt is characterized by a unique structural and stratigraphic architecture. Trace-element systematics from the volcanic rocks define distinctive suites that are geographically restricted to each belt. The volcanic rocks of the southern belt (the Marsh Fork volcanic rocks) have a tholeiitic character and rare earth element trends that resemble modern mid-ocean-ridge basalt. The volcanic rocks of the central belt (the Whale Mountain volcanic rocks) and northern belt (Ekaluakat formation; new name) both have an alkaline character, but the northern belt rocks are significantly more enriched in the incompatible trace elements. New zircon U-Pb data from two volcaniclastic rock units, one from the southern belt and another from central belt, yield unimodal age populations that range from ca. 567 to 474 Ma, with weighted averages of 504 ± 11 and 512 ± 1.4 Ma for each sample. In the central and southern belts of the allochthon, basalt flows are interbedded with discontinuous limestone and dolostone units that contain trilobites and agnostoid arthropods. Three distinct trilobite faunas of late Cambrian (Furongian) age were recovered from widely separated localities. The scarcity of uniquely Laurentian genera, coupled with an abundance of distinctive species that could not be assigned to any established Furongian genus, argues against models that invoke extrusion of these volcanic rocks onto the autochthonous Laurentian shelf or slope. It is thus proposed that the Whale Mountain allochthon formed in a peri-Laurentian setting, possibly as disparate fragments of the northern Iapetus Ocean that were assembled in an ancient accretionary wedge and subsequently accreted to the northern margin of Laurentia during the early Paleozoic.

Abstract This paper synthesizes the framework and geological evolution of the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate (AACM), from its origin as part of the continental platform fringing Baltica and Laurentia to its southward motion during the formation of the Amerasia Basin (Arctic Ocean) and its progressive modification as part of the dynamic northern palaeo-Pacific margin. A synthesis of the available data refines the crustal identity, limits and history of the AACM and, together with regional geological constraints, provides a tectonic framework to aid in its pre-Cretaceous restoration. Recently published seismic reflection data and interpretations, integrated with regional geological constraints, provide the basis for a new crustal transect (the Circum-Arctic Lithosphere Evolution (‘CALE’) Transect C) linking the Amerasia Basin and the Pacific margin along two paths that span 5100 km from the Lomonosov Ridge (near the North Pole), across the Amerasia Basin, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea, and ending at the subducting Pacific plate margin in the Aleutian Islands. We propose a new plate tectonic model in which the AACM originated as part of a re-entrant in the palaeo-Pacific margin and moved to its present position during slab-related magmatism and the southward retreat of palaeo-Pacific subduction, largely coeval with the rifting and formation of the Amerasia Basin in its wake. Supplementary material: Supplementary material Plate 1 (herein referred to as Sup. Pl. 1) comprises Plate 1 and its included figures, which are an integral part of this paper. Plate 1 contains regional reflection-seismic-based cross sections and supporting material that collectively constitute CALE Transects C1 and C2 and form an important part of our contribution. Plate 1 is referred to in the text as Sup. Pl. 1, Transects C1 and C2 as Plate 1A and 1B, and plate figures as fig. P1.1, fig. P1.2, etc.). Supplementary material 2 contains previously unpublished geochronologic data on detrital zircon suites and igneous rocks. Supplementary material are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3826813

Abstract Mid-Palaeozoic assembly models for the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate predict the presence of cryptic crustal sutures, the exact locations and deformational histories of which have not been identified in the field. This study presents data on the provenance of polydeformed and metamorphosed strata in the southern Brooks Range Schist Belt and Central Belt of presumed Proterozoic–Devonian depositional age, as well as for the structurally overlying strata, to help elucidate terrane boundaries within the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate and to add new constraints to the palaeogeographical evolution of its constituent parts. The protoliths identified support correlations with metasedimentary strata in the Ruby terrane and Seward Peninsula and suggest a (peri-) Baltican origin in late Neoproterozoic–early Palaeozoic time. Proximity to Laurentia is only evident in what are inferred to be post-early Devonian age strata. By contrast, the North Slope and Apoon terranes originated proximal to Laurentia. The mid-Palaeozoic boundary between these (peri-) Baltican and (peri-) Laurentian terranes once lay between rocks of the Schist/Central belts and those of the Apoon terrane, but is obscured by severe Mesozoic–Cenozoic deformation. Whether this boundary represents a convergent or transform suture, when exactly it formed and how it relates to broader Caledonian convergence in the North Atlantic are still unresolved questions. Supplementary material: Details of the analytical methods together with zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic data tables are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3805696