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<p>The combination of field-based studies and numerical modeling provides a robust tool for
evaluating geologic and geodynamic processes along a convergent margin. Complex and persistent
tectonic activity and a novel suite of geophysical observations make the southern Alaskan
convergent margin a key region to evaluate these processes through both basin analysis studies
and geodynamic modeling. This conceptual approach is utilized to explore the active driving forces
of surface deformation throughout southcentral Alaska, as well as the geologic record of regional
Cenozoic tectonic processes.
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<p>New sedimentologic, chronostratigraphic, and provenance data from strata that crop out
within the central Alaska Range document a previously unrecognized stage of Eocene – early
Miocene strike-slip basin development along the northern side of the central Denali fault system.
This stage was followed by Miocene-Pliocene deformation and exhumation of the central Alaska
Range, and basin development and northward sediment transport into the Tanana foreland basin.
This portion of the study provides insight into Cenozoic tectonics and basin development in the
central Alaska Range.
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<p>How transpressional tectonics are manifest in the modern-day, in combination with shallow
subduction processes, are not well understood for the southern Alaskan convergent margin.
Simulations of the 3-D deformation of this region allow for investigation of the complex
relationship between these tectonic processes and surface deformation. Results from this study
display the far-field affect that strong plate coupling along the shallowly subducting Yakutat slab
has on the surface deformation of southcentral Alaska. Our models also show that partitioning of
this convergence is observed along the Denali fault system. Additionally, our results indicate the
subducting slab is segmented into separate Pacific, Yakutat and Wrangell slab segments. This
variation in slab structure exerts control on the upper plate response to shallow subduction.</p>
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/14477841 |
| Date | 07 May 2021 |
| Creators | Hannah Grace Weaver (10692984) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/INVESTIGATING_EOCENE_TO_ACTIVE_TECTONICS_OF_THE_ALASKAN_CONVERGENT_MARGIN_THROU_GH_GEOLOGIC_STUDIES_AND_3-D_NUMERICAL_MODELING/14477841 |
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