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Chapter GG
GEOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOGIC SETTING
by Kenneth J. Bird1
in The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the 1002 Area, Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, by ANWR Assessment Team, U. S. Geological
Survey Open File Report 98-34.
1999
1 U.S. Geological Survey, MS 969, Menlo Park, CA 94025
This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey
editorial standards (or with the North American Stratigraphic Code). Use of trade, product, or firm
names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U. S. Geological
Survey.
The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

GG-1 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area, Alaska
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Introduction
Geography
Plate Tectonic Setting
Surface Geology
Subsurface Geology
Structure
Stratigraphy And Tectonics
Franklinian Sequence
Ellesmerian Sequence
Beaufortian Sequence
Brookian Sequence
Paleogeographic Reconstructions
Summary
Acknowledgments
References
FIGURES
GG1. Map of plate-tectonic setting

GG2. North Slope tectono-stratigraphic stages
GG3. Regional tectonic map, Point Barrow to Mackenzie delta
GG4. Ellesmerian onlap map
GG5. Ellesmerian onlap sections
GG6. Lower Cretaceous Unconformity subcrop map
GG7. Analysis of Niguanak/Aurora area
GG8. Brookian depocenters of northern Alaska
PLATES
GG1. Geologic map of the northern part of the ANWR (1 of 2 sheets)

Key to Geologic map of the northern part of the ANWR (2 of 2 sheets)
GG2. Prudhoe Bay to Camden Bay well-correlation section with geologic
restorations
GG3. Canning River and offshore well-correlation section with geologic
restorations
GG4. Paleogeographic reconstructions and present-day structural features of
northeastern Alaska

ABSTRACT
The 1002 area comprises the northernmost eight percent of the 19 million
acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This part of the ANWR lies
in the coastal plain between the Arctic Ocean and the Brooks Range. It is a
treeless, tundra-covered wetland characterized by rolling hills and numerous
northward-flowing braided streams. Native Alaskans own land within the
1002 area and about 200 individuals live in the village of Kaktovik located on
the coast.
Bedrock geologic exposures are limited within the 1002 area because of
extensive Quaternary surficial deposits. Information on the bedrock geology
comes mainly from surface exposures in the mountains to the south, from
wells to the west and offshore, and from geophysical data within the 1002
area that provide images of the subsurface geology.
The 1002 area is part of the North Slope geologic province, in which
petroleum prospective rocks are restricted mostly to Mississippian and
younger strata. The same geologic units that are oil-productive at Prudhoe
Bay and oil- and gas-bearing in the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada are
found in the 1002 area. The North Slope province is part of a continental
microplate whose origin is still the subject of debate. The geologic history of
this microplate includes development of (1) a Devonian to Triassic south-
facing (in present-day coordinates) passive continental margin; (2) a Jurassic
to Early Cretaceous northern rifted margin; and (3) a Jurassic to Recent
southern orogenic margin with a related foreland basin and fold- and thrust-
belt.
Structures within the 1002 area consist of closely-spaced folds and faults
(thin-skinned deformation) within foreland basin strata and broad, domal
faulted structures (thick-skinned deformation) in pre-foreland basin and
basement strata. These structures formed in one or more episodes of Brooks
Range-related deformation during Cenozoic time. Devonian and perhaps
older structures are also known in this area, and the grain of these structures
has controlled the orientation of some younger Cenozoic structures.

This part of the North Slope geologic province is an unusual area of
converging regional geologic trends. This convergence has produced a
geologic complexity that is greater than that found elsewhere in northern
Alaska. This is where the youngest foreland basin strata were deposited on a
rifted margin and where the Brooks Range fold- and thrust-belt intersects and
incorporates pre-Mississippian basement rocks, rift related strata, and passive
margin strata. Deformation has frequently been synchronous with deposition
in Tertiary time and continues to the present-day.
INTRODUCTION
In the northeastern corner of Alaska, just west of the Canadian border and
north of the Brooks Range lies the 1.5-million-acre parcel of land known as
the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Fig. AO1). This is the
northernmost part of the 19-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The
1002 area is about 105 miles across from east to west, and varies from 16 to
40 miles across in a north-south direction. The area is bounded on the west by
the Canning and Staines Rivers, on the north by the Beaufort Sea, and on the
east by the Aichilik River. The south boundary follows township lines and
approximates the 1000-foot elevation contour (Plate GG1). For more than
100 miles south of the 1002 area, the land between the Canning River and the
Canadian border, an area of about 8 million acres, is designated as wilderness
(Fig. AO1). Within the northern part of the 1002 area, approximately 100,000
acres are Alaskan Native lands belonging to the Kaktovik Inupiat
Corporation. The village of Kaktovik, population about 200, is located within
this area on Barter Island. Kaktovik is one of eight villages in northern Alaska
and is the only one within the refuge.
The geologic history of this region includes development of a Devonian to

Triassic south-facing (in present-day coordinates) passive continental margin.
That margin in its northern part was rifted in Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
time away from its (unknown) parent continent. Co-eval with rifting in the
north, an arc-continent collision occurred in the south, producing an orogenic
landmass and adjacent foreland basin. As the foreland basin filled, continuing
deformation resulted in a foreland fold- and thrust-belt. The 1002 area is
located in the eastern part of this province where one finds the youngest

foreland basin sediments, where the fold- and thrust-belt intersects and
overrides the earlier-formed rift margin, and where deformation and related
sedimentation continues to the present. The 1002 area is, therefore, an area of
convergence of regional geologic trends and this results in a geologic
complexity that is greater than that found elsewhere in northern Alaska.
The 1002 area is part of the North Slope geologic province, a region in which
petroleum-prospective rocks are restricted mostly to Mississippian and
younger rocks. The same geologic units that are oil-productive at Prudhoe
Bay and oil- and gas-bearing in the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada are
also found in the 1002 area. This chapter describes the geographic and
geologic setting of the 1002 area and places it in a regional context.
GEOGRAPHY
The 1.5-million acre 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lies
mostly within the Arctic Coastal Plain physiographic province; a small part
along the southern margin, constituting less than 5 percent of the area, lies
within the Arctic Foothills physiographic province (Wahrhaftig, 1965). Most
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge outside of the 1002 area is part of the
Brooks Range physiographic province, a continuation of the Rocky Mountain
system, and the Porcupine Plateau physiographic province, a continuation of
the North American intermontane plateaus system. Similar to most lands
north of the Brooks Range, the 1002 area is treeless, tundra-covered, and 99
percent wetland according to the Fish and Wildlife Service classification
scheme (Cowardin and others, 1979).
The proportion of landform types within the 1002 area are foothills (45%),
river floodplains (25%), hilly coastal plains (22%), lagoons and ocean (5%),
thaw lake plains (3%), and mountains (<1%) (Clough and others, 1987). The
coastal 1002 area is characterized by beaches, low bluffs, barrier islands,
shallow lagoons, and river deltas. South of the coast, rolling hills gradually
rise to elevations of more than 1000 feet. Cutting through these hills are
numerous northward-flowing streams and rivers, most of them braided. The
larger streams have their headwaters in the mountains south of the 1002 area
where one encounters the highest peaks of the Brooks Range which have

elevations of slightly more than 9000 feet. Panoramic photomontages by
Takahashi (Chap. IG) provide views of most of these physiographic features
within and adjacent to the 1002 area.
Additional information on the 1002 area relating to the physiography, climate,

permafrost, soils, water resources, seismicity, erosion, mass movement,
noise, and air quality can be found in the report by Brewer (1987) and the
report to the Congress of the United States (Clough and others, 1987). In this
report, Wang (Chap. SA) provides an updated summary of the water
resources literature and describes new analyses of water quality from Hue
Creek in the Ignek Valley and from the Sadlerochit and Red Hill springs in
the Sadlerochit Mountains area.
PLATE TECTONIC SETTING
Northern Alaska is considered part of a small continental fragment, called the

Arctic Alaska microplate by Hubbard and others (1987), the boundaries of
which are only approximately known (Fig. GG1). This microplate includes
the North Slope and its continental shelves, most of the Brooks Range and its
extension into Canada, and part of northeastern Siberia. Smith (1987)
envisioned the Arctic Alaska microplate as composed of two smaller
continental fragments, the Seward-Chukotka microplate and a North Alaska
microplate (Fig. GG1), both of which were originally part of a much larger
(Barents) plate. These and other fragments of the Barents plate are postulated
to comprise most of the lands now bordering the Arctic Ocean exclusive of
Canada and Greenland.
The plate tectonic history of northern Alaska remains a controversial topic

with many competing hypotheses, most of which have been summarized by
Lawver and Scotese (1990). Cretaceous rifting and the opening of the oceanic
Canada basin of the Arctic Ocean is a key event in most prevailing
hypotheses. But the nature of Cretaceous rifting and pre-rift geography is not
well known. Although many stratigraphic and structural similarities exist
between northern Alaska and other lands bordering the Arctic Ocean, the
absence of clear magnetic seafloor stripes in the Canada basin precludes a
unique solution to the plate history of this region.

The most common plate tectonic interpretation for northern Alaska is the
rotational hypothesis (Carey, 1958; Tailleur, 1973; Grantz and others, 1998).
In this hypothesis, northern Alaska originally lay in a position adjacent to the
Canadian Arctic Islands (Fig. GG1). Cretaceous rifting resulted in a rotational
opening of the Canada basin by which northern Alaska moved counter
clockwise, away from Canada through a 60-degree arc, about a pole of
rotation located in the general area of the Mackenzie delta. Some recent papers
challenge this hypothesis (Lane, 1997) and others support it (Grantz and
others, 1998). Although these papers offer significantly different plate
histories, a common theme is that opening of the Canada basin was more
complex in both plate geometry and plate trajectory than proposed in earlier
models.
SURFACE GEOLOGY
More than 95 percent of the 1002 area is covered by a veneer of

unconsolidated, frozen sediments of late Cenozoic (mostly Quaternary) age,
generally less than 100 ft thick (Carter and others, 1986). Despite the arctic
climate prevailing during the Pleistocene epoch, only about 10 percent of the
area was glaciated as indicated by morainal deposits which generally extend
only a few miles into the southernmost parts of the 1002 area. Surficial
deposits of the 1002 area consist of silt- to gravel-sized sediments mostly of
nonmarine origin. The regional distribution of surficial deposits, including
their offshore extent, age, stratigraphy, and composition are described in
Dinter and others (1990).
A bedrock geologic map of the 1002 area and adjacent areas is provided in
Plate GG1. This map is an updated version of that previously compiled by
Bader and Bird (1986). It emphasizes the petroleum-prospective rocks and
generalizes those rocks considered to have little petroleum potential.
Accordingly, all surficial deposits are shown by a single map unit, and the
multitudinous (more than 60) pre-Mississippian rock units mapped by Reiser
and others (1971, 1980) are shown by only three map units. Within the 1002
area, bedrock exposures are mostly Tertiary deposits of the Sagavanirktok,
Jago River, and Canning Formations and a few small exposures of

Cretaceous or Jurassic deposits of Hue Shale, pebble shale unit, and Kingak
Shale in the Niguanak area. The oldest bedrock exposures are Mississippian
Lisburne Group limestones found in the southernmost part of the 1002 area
near the eastern end of the Sadlerochit Mountains (Plate GG1).
For limited parts of the region south of the 1002 area, detailed geologic maps
are also available. One of the most significant of these is the mile-per-inch-
scale geologic map of the Sadlerochit and Shublik Mountains (Robinson and
others, 1989). This map region is important in that it documents some of the
best exposures and critical stratigraphic relations of rocks that lie beneath the
North Slope, including formations that are oil-producing in the Prudhoe Bay
area, 90 miles to the northwest. Elsewhere, detailed geologic maps of small
areas have been produced by the State Division of Geologic and Geophysical
Surveys in collaboration with the University of Alaska (e.g., Anderson, 1991;
Camber and Mull, 1986; Hanks, 1988, 1989; and Ziegler, 1988).
SUBSURFACE GEOLOGY
The subsurface geology of the 1002 area and area to the west is summarized
in two well correlation sections (Plates GG2 and GG3). These sections are
similar to those in USGS Bulletin 1778 (Plate 1 in Bird and Magoon, 1987),
but have been updated with several new wells and extended offshore using
reflection seismic data. The section in Plate GG2 trends from Camden Bay,
within the 1002 area, westward about 70 miles along the coast to Prudhoe
Bay; the section in Plate GG3 trends from the latitude of the Sadlerochit
Mountains, less than 10 miles west of the 1002 area, northward along the
Canning River and offshore to the Galahad well.
Each section has been restored to show its stratigraphic development at

various stages in time. These time-slice restorations were accomplished by
using regional unconformities or the uppermost surface of delta plain deposits
as approximate horizontal datums. Such restorations remove structural
deformation, show original stratigraphic relations, and allow estimation of
amounts of eroded strata in areas of uplift or missing section. In addition to
the present-day setting, both sections show restorations at 130 Ma (mid-
Hauterivian) on the regional Lower Cretaceous unconformity. The coastal

section (Plate GG2) shows a restoration at ~55 Ma (Eocene-Paleocene
boundary) near the top of the Staines Tongue of the Sagavanirktok
Formation. The Canning River section (Plate GG3) also shows restorations at
~60 Ma (mid Paleocene), at the top of an unnamed tongue of sandstone
within the Sagavanirktok Formation, and at ~40 Ma (middle Eocene), at the
top of the Mikkelson Tongue of the Canning Formation. The geochronology
followed in this paper is that of Harland and others (1990) for the pre-
Mesozoic, Gradstein and others (1994) for the Mesozoic, and Berggren and
others (1995) for the Cenozoic.
STRUCTURE
At least two generations of compressional folding and faulting are represented

in this region, and normal faulting related to rifting and to slope failure is also
present. Structures in this region have been studied by a large number of
workers many of whom are referenced in this report in chapters BC, BD,
NA, and SM. Regional structural summaries have been presented by Wallace
and Hanks (1990) for the onshore area and by Grantz and others (1987;
1990) for the offshore area.
The northeast Brooks Range north of about 69-degrees latitude and the 1002
area south and east of the Marsh Creek anticline (Plate GG1) are part of the
Brooks Range fold- and thrust-belt. Here, deformation occurred episodically
throughout Cenozoic time. Brookian structures in this region have either an
east-northeast-trend, such as the Marsh Creek anticline, or an east-trend such
as the Sadlerochit and Shublik Mountains. East-northeast structural trends
probably are normal to the direction of Cenozoic tectonic transport. East-
trends are probably controlled by the pre-Mississippian structural grain and
are the result of a deepening or stepping-down of the level of structural
detachment into the pre-Mississippian basement rocks. Regional zones of
detachment occur in Jurassic to Cretaceous shales, Mississippian shales, and
at some unknown horizon deep within the pre-Mississippian basement rocks.
Structural style varies with the rocks involved. Structure in the Brooks Range
is dominated by a series of broad, regional-scale anticlinoria, each with a
central core of pre-Mississippian rocks and a Mississippian and younger

cover deformed into shorter wavelength folds. The pre-Mississippian rocks
display north-vergent duplex structures, whereas the Mississippian and
younger cover rocks display a variable sense of vergence and relatively few
thrust faults compared to the rest of the Brooks Range. Structure north of the
Brooks Range is characterized by closely-spaced folds and faults, described
as thin-skinned deformation, that are developed in Cenozoic and Mesozoic
strata above a detachment in Cretaceous or Jurassic shales. At depth, several
broad domal structures are present that are believed to have developed mostly
in pre-Mississippian rocks and are therefore similar to those structures
exposed in the Brooks Range.
Structures involving only pre-Mississippian rocks are also present in this

region. They have been recognized in the Brooks Range, in seismic images
beneath the western 1002 area, and in well penetrations along the coast as far
west as Point Barrow. These structures may represent more than one pre-
Mississippian deformational event, but they are usually ascribed to the
Devonian Ellesmerian orogeny. In outcrop, these structures are characterized
by penetrative cleavage and folding of incompetent units, low-grade
metamorphism, and regional faulting. They lie beneath a regional
unconformity referred to here as the pre-Mississippian unconformity (Fig.
GG2). In the subsurface, long-wavelength antiforms and synforms are
imaged on seismic records and steep dips and small-scale faults in argillite
and phyllite are observed in well core samples. Most, but not all, workers
interpret these structures as north vergent, similar to the younger Cenozoic
Brooks Range deformation.
Across the North Slope west of the 1002 area and beneath the continental
shelves, Mississippian age normal faulting and development of basins and
half-grabens is widespread (Hubbard and others, 1987; Grantz and others,
1990). In the coastal region and offshore northern Alaska, normal faulting
related to Jurassic and Early Cretaceous rifting and to massive slope failure of
the Beaufort passive margin in Tertiary time is well documented by Grantz
and May (1983) and Hubbard and others (1987). Examples of these normal
faults are illustrated in the cross sections in Plates GG2 and GG3.

STRATIGRAPHY AND TECTONICS
In 1973, Lerand provided a comprehensive review of the Phanerozoic

stratigraphy and tectonics of the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic. In that review
he offered a synthesis, elegant in its simplicity, based on tectonics and
sediment source-area location. He summarized the 550 m.y. stratigraphic
record of this region in three sequences: Franklinian (Cambrian through
Devonian); Ellesmerian (Mississippian through Jurassic); and Brookian
(Cretaceous and Tertiary). Later, to emphasize those strata deposited during
Mesozoic rifting in northern Alaska, other workers proposed a fourth
sequence, referring the Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous part of the
Ellesmerian sequence to the Beaufortian sequence.
Lerand's sequences have provided a unifying concept and a useful way of

synthesizing large volumes of data. Figure GG2 summarizes the sequence
subdivision of the stratigraphic column and provides schematic sections that
illustrate the post-Devonian tectonic development of northern Alaska. Figure
GG3 illustrates the areal distribution of rocks comprising these sequences and
the major tectonic features of northern Alaska and nearby parts of Canada. I
refer to Lerand's subdivisions as "tectono-stratigraphic sequences" to
distinguish them from "sequences" which have come to mean seismic-
stratigraphic sequences in the now widely-used method of analysis pioneered
by Vail and others (1977). Houseknecht and Schenk (Chap. BS) provide a
seismic sequence stratigraphic analysis of Brookian rocks in the 1002 area.
Franklinian Sequence
Franklinian rocks of northeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada consist

of a thick succession of variously deformed and metamorphosed sedimentary
strata with locally significant amounts of volcanic and intrusive igneous
rocks. They lie beneath a regional unconformity often referred to as the pre-
Mississippian unconformity. These rocks are extensively exposed in the
northeastern Brooks Range and its Canadian extension, the British
Mountains; they are penetrated by numerous wells along the coast west of the
1002 area, and they are seismically imaged in the western part of the 1002
area (Fisher and Bruns, 1987; Cole and others, Chap. SM; Kelley, Chap.

BR). Ages, stratigraphic relations, and thicknesses of these rocks are, for the
most part, only approximately known.
Lerand’s (1973) Franklinian sequence included strata of middle Cambrian to

Devonian age and did not include Proterozoic strata, which are also present in
many areas. As used in Alaska, however, this term has generally included all
pre-Mississippian rocks, a succession that includes not only early Paleozoic
rocks, but also probable Proterozoic rocks. This term is now little used in
Canada and some investigators have questioned whether Franklinian rocks
represent a single, genetically related sequence (Moore and others, 1987).
Two distinct assemblages of lithofacies exist within the Franklinian sequence
of northeastern Alaska—a shallow marine facies composed mainly of
carbonate rocks and a deeper marine facies composed of clastic deposits,
chert, thinly-bedded carbonate rocks, and volcanic rocks. Both assemblages
appear to span approximately the same time interval, Proterozoic to
Devonian.
The shallow marine carbonate facies is best known in the Sadlerochit and
Shublik Mountains area where the succession consists of more than 12,000 ft
of dolomite and limestone. These rocks are assigned to the Katakturuk
Dolomite of probable Proterozoic age, the Nanook Limestone of Cambrian,
Ordovician and possible Proterozoic age, and the Mount Copleston
Limestone of Lower Devonian age. No Silurian strata have been identified,
and unconformities, some with angular relations of as much as 15 degrees,
separate each of the formations. Clough (1989) interpreted these rocks as
representing a long-lasting, south-facing (in present-day coordinates)
carbonate bank environment. The carbonate facies, structurally and perhaps
stratigraphically, overlies several hundred meters of quartzite, argillite, and
undated tholeiitic basalt in the Shublik Mountains (Moore, 1987) and
interbedded sandstone and shale intruded by 700 to 800 Ma diabase in the
Sadlerochit Mountains (Clough and others, 1990).
The deeper marine facies is more areally widespread than the carbonate facies,
but is less well understood. Rocks of this facies are exposed throughout the
Romanzof and British Mountains where they have been studied by Reed
(1968), Moore (1987), Lane (1991), Mull and Anderson (1991), Kelley and

others (1994), and Lane and others (1995). Rock types include quartzite,
quartz wackes, conglomerate, phyllite, argillite, limestone, chert, granite, and
volcanic rocks including tuffs, flows, and volcaniclastic rocks.
The geologic history of these rocks is complex and includes multiple

deformation events. Intense imbrication makes it difficult to distinguish
between intact stratigraphy and structural repetition (Lane and others, 1995).
Fossils indicate that Cambrian through Devonian strata are present;
Proterozoic strata are inferred to be present by stratal position below
Cambrian rocks. Similarities have been noted between the Franklinian
succession in this region and that of the Selwyn Basin, 1000 km to the
southeast in Canada. As envisioned by Lane (1991 and references therein),
Franklinian paleogeography of this region consisted of a complex of
carbonate banks and deepwater troughs or basins on the northwestern margin
of cratonic North America. The origin of the coarser-grained clastic rocks is
unknown.
Compressional deformation, uplift, and erosion ascribed to the Ellesmerian

orogeny resulted in a regional unconformity, which marks the end of
Franklinian sequence deposition in northeastern Alaska. The timing of
deformation, constrained by the age of strata above and below the regional
unconformity, appears to be limited to about 5 m.y. between late Early and
early Middle Devonian. That age is bracketed by the Early Devonian
(Emsian) Mount Copleston Limestone (Blodgett and others, 1992) below the
unconformity and early Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Ulungarat formation
(Anderson and others, 1994) above the unconformity. A 380 Ma (Middle
Devonian) cooling age from the Okpilak batholith, interpreted as post-
orogenic (Dillon and others, 1987), seems consistent with the stratigraphic
age constraints placed on the deformation. Devonian compressional
deformation is interpreted by some workers as north vergent, similar to
younger Brookian deformation (Reed, 1968; Mull and Anderson, 1991;
Kelley and others, 1994; and Lane and others, 1995; Cole and others, Chap.
SM of this publication) and by others as south vergent (Oldow and others
1987).

An unusual feature of the Franklinian rocks in the subsurface of the western
part of the ANWR 1002 area is that they are reflective in seismic images
(Fisher and Bruns, 1987; Cole and others, Chap. SM; Kelley, Chap. BR).
Elsewhere on the North Slope, reflections from within these rocks are
nonexistent or rare (e.g., Kirschner and Rycerski, 1988). Cole and others
(Chap. SM) interpret these seismically reflective Franklinian rocks in the
western part of the 1002 area as part of a north-vergent thrust belt. It may be
noteworthy that Proterozoic and early Paleozoic rocks in the Mackenzie Delta
region are also seismically reflective and that this is the general area to which
the ANWR 1002 area would restore in the rotational hypothesis for opening
of the Canada basin. Seismic images in the Mackenzie Delta area are
interpreted as imaging the margin of a south-vergent thrust belt of Late
Devonian age (Coflin and others, 1990).
Ellesmerian Sequence
The Ellesmerian sequence as described in this report consists of marine and

nonmarine clastic strata and marine carbonate rocks of Middle Devonian to
Triassic age that, taken together, are thousands of feet thick. The sequence
rests on a regional unconformity, the erosion surface related to the
Early/Middle Devonian (Ellesmerian) orogeny. A characteristic of the
Ellesmerian sequence in northern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada is an
overall northward-onlapping trend. This trend is illustrated in map view (Fig.
GG4) and in cross sections (Fig. GG5). Overall sediment characteristics,
patterns of stratal onlap, and extensional faulting suggest a south-facing
passive margin origin for the Ellesmerian sequence (Moore and others,
1994). In the Brooks Range, the Middle Devonian Ulungarat formation
(Anderson and others, 1994) evidently dates the onset of extension and rifting
and thick Late Devonian formations (Beaucoup Formation, Hunt Fork Shale,
and Kanayut Conglomerate) are interpreted as recording the main episode of
rift-margin deposition. None of these rocks are present in the 1002 area; they
are found to the south (Fig. GG3, shown by the yellow conglomerate pattern)
and are allochthonous. Predeformational reconstructions place them even
farther south where they form basins that lap-out northward. Ellesmerian
rocks are absent from a broad area extending from just east of Prudhoe Bay
southeastward across the western part of the 1002 area; their absence is the

product of erosion by the Lower Cretaceous unconformity (Fig. GG6; Plates
GG2, GG3).
The Endicott Group is the basal unit of the Ellesmerian sequence in most
areas (Figs. GG4, GG5). In the Brooks Range southwest of the 1002 area,
the Endicott Group consists of more than 10,000 feet of Late Devonian rift-
margin deposits. However, immediately south of the 1002 area and in the
North Slope subsurface, these rocks are generally not present. Instead, the
Endicott Group consists of Mississippian coal-bearing sandstone,
conglomerate, and shale of the Kekiktuk Conglomerate and transitional to
marine shale of the Kayak Shale (Brosgé and others, 1962). In the Prudhoe
Bay area subsurface (Plate GG2), the Kayak grades laterally and upward into
a redbed facies known as the Itkilyariak Formation (Mull and Mangus, 1972).
In the northeast Brooks Range, the Kekiktuk and Kayak units are documented
as filling in paleotopography on the regional unconformity (LePain and
others, 1994). In the subsurface west of the 1002 area, these units locally
occupy basins and half-grabens where thicknesses are generally much greater
than observed in most outcrops (Plate GG2). Kelley and Brosgé (1995)
interpreted these basins as Devonian and Mississippian in age, although
Devonian strata have not been sampled in any of these basins. The Kekiktuk
is an oil-bearing reservoir in the Endicott and the Tern Island/Liberty oil fields
(Plate GG2). In the northeast Brooks Range, the Kayak Shale is a zone of
structural detachment (Wallace and Hanks, 1990; Kelley and Foland, 1987;
Cole and others, Chap. SM).
In Mississippian and Pennsylvanian time, clastic sedimentation in northern

Alaska was largely replaced by deposition of limestone and dolomite of the
Lisburne Group, resulting in development of a broad carbonate platform.
Carbonate rock thicknesses are generally 1500 to 3000 feet (Bird and others,
1987, fig. 7.6). In most areas, the Lisburne Group gradationally overlies the
Kayak Shale or Itkilyariak Formation, but in up-dip basin margin positions,
the Lisburne may lie directly on Franklinian rocks (Figs. GG4, GG5). A
relative sea level fall sometime during Middle Pennsylvanian to Early
Permian time produced a regional erosional unconformity that separates the
Lisburne from the overlying Sadlerochit Group. Domoulin (Chap. CC)
summarizes the Lisburne Group in northeastern Alaska and Jameson (1994)

provides details of the Lisburne in the subsurface of the Prudhoe Bay area
where it produces oil and gas.
The Sadlerochit Group, about 1000 feet of Permian and Early Triassic strata,
represents renewed subsidence of the basin and uplift of the northern
landmass. Transgressive marine sandstone and siltstone (Echooka
Formation) at the base of the group records this subsidence. The overlying
Ivishak Formation records the deposition of offshore muds followed by
regressive deltaic deposits composed of sandstone and conglomerate that
indicates uplift in the source area. The uppermost part of the Ivishak records a
change of deposition from deltaic sandstone to finer grained marine siltstone
and sandstone indicating continued subsidence and or a wearing down of the
source area. The Sadlerochit Group crops out throughout the northeast
Brooks Range (Detterman and others, 1975; McMillen and Colvin, 1987;
Crowder, 1990) and is found in the subsurface to the west (Bird and others,
1987, fig. 7.8). The Ledge Sandstone Member of the Ivishak Formation is the
main oil-producing reservoir in the Prudhoe Bay oil field (Morgridge and
Smith, 1972; Jones and Speers, 1976; Nelson and Bird, Chap. FP; Plate
GG2).
The Shublik Formation of Middle and Late Triassic age is a distinctive dark-
colored unit consisting of fossiliferous limestone and calcareous shale. It
represents continued subsidence of the basin following Sadlerochit
deposition, limited influx of clastic sediment, and significant carbonate
production. It conformably overlies the Sadlerochit Group, except in basin
margin areas where it becomes unconformable, overstepping older units
northward (Figs. GG4, GG5). The Shublik has an irregular thickness pattern
(Plate PS2), ranging from less than 100 feet in the Prudhoe Bay area to more
than 500 feet south of the 1002 area. The Shublik is rich in organic carbon
and is considered to be an important source rock for Prudhoe Bay oil (Seifert
and others, 1980; Magoon and others, Chap. PS; Lillis and others, Chap.
OA).
The Karen Creek Sandstone is a Late Triassic quartzose, very fine to silty
sandstone that is discontinuous in occurrence; it is as much as 125 feet thick
in outcrop south of the 1002 area (Bird and others, 1987, fig. 7.10). The Sag

River Sandstone is the subsurface unit with which the Karen Creek is
correlative and is oil-productive in the Prudhoe Bay area (Nelson and Bird,
Chap. FP) and contains gas in the Kavik field (Plate PS5). Marine
transgression followed deposition of the Karen Creek Sandstone, marking the
end of Ellesmerian sequence deposition and, with deposition of the overlying
Kingak Shale, the beginning of the Beaufortian sequence.
Beaufortian Sequence
Jurassic and Early Cretaceous strata represent a change in the tectonic regime
of northern Alaska, from slowly subsiding passive margin to an active rift
margin. Therefore, the corresponding upper part of Lerand's Ellesmerian
sequence was re-designated as the Barrovian sequence (Carman and
Hardwick, 1983), the Beaufortian sequence (Hubbard and others, 1987) or
Upper Ellesmerian sequence (Moore and others, 1994). The term Beaufortian
is used here (Fig. GG2).
Jurassic and Early Cretaceous normal faulting, a defining characteristic of the

Beaufortian, is limited to the coastal and offshore areas of northern Alaska.
The Dinkum graben is the most prominent feature formed by this faulting
(Fig. GG3). Northward onlap, a characteristic of the Ellesmerian sequence, is
also a feature of the Beaufortian, but is sometimes obscured by faulting and
later erosion (Figs. GG4, GG5). In the coastal area, sediment thicknesses are
highly variable with more than 10,000 feet estimated for the Dinkum graben
(Hubbard and others, 1987). Well penetrations indicate that sediments
deposited in this area consist of marine shale (Kingak Shale and Mileuveach
Formation) and local sandstone units, the most important of which is the
Kuparuk River Sandstone (Carman and Hardwick, 1983). The Kuparuk
River is a discontinuous, multi-storied, Early Cretaceous sandstone that hosts
several oil accumulations, including the Kuparuk River, Milne Point,
Cascade, Point McIntyre, and Niakuk oil fields. Recently, oil was discovered
in Late Jurassic sandstones (Alpine and Nuiqsut sandstones) in the Colville
River delta area (Kornbrath and others, 1997).
South of the area that contains Jurassic-Cretaceous normal faults, Beaufortian

sediments are mostly mudstones of shelfal and deeper marine origin (Kingak

Shale) that reach a maximum thicknesses of about 3500 feet (Bird, 1987).
The Kingak Shale is present south of the 1002 area and in limited exposures
in the Niguanak area and just north of the eastern end of the Sadlerochit
Mountains (Plate GG1). In these areas, the Kingak is a zone of detachment
for thrust faults (Kelley and Foland, 1987; Wallace and Hanks, 1990; Chaps.
SM, BD, NA). Other details of the Kingak in these areas can be found in
Detterman and others (1975) and Bird and Molenaar (1987). Nearly 1900 feet
of Kingak Shale and a Kuparuk River-like sandstone are present just east of
the 1002 area in the Aurora well (Banet, 1992; Paul and others, 1994; Keller
and others, Chap. SR). A Beaufortian section similar to that penetrated in the
Aurora well was also penetrated in the Roland Bay and Spring River wells
(Fig. GG6), 100 miles to the southeast in Canada. Here, the Beaufortian rests
directly on Franklinian rocks (J. Dixon, Geological Survey of Canada,
personal communication).
Uplift along the rift margin in Early Cretaceous time produced the regional
Lower Cretaceous unconformity or LCU. This unconformity extends 50
miles or more south of the present-day coastline where it dies out into a
conformable sedimentary section. A subcrop map showing the distribution of
rock units beneath this unconformity is presented in Figure GG6. It shows a
complex pattern of erosion and preservation of Ellesmerian and Beaufortian
deposits in the coastal area. To the south, the map shows uniformly
Beaufortian deposits. Significant amounts of erosion occurred locally along
this margin. The most prominent area is that extending southeast of Prudhoe
Bay and into the western part of the 1002 area where several thousand feet of
Ellesmerian and Beaufortian strata were removed (Fig. GG6; Plates GG2,
GG3). The LCU is the most areally widespread and easily recognizable
unconformity in northern Alaska and is considered the break-up
unconformity for the Early Cretaceous opening of the Canada basin (Grantz
and May, 1983).
Subsidence of the rift margin resulted in a northward transgression of the sea

across the LCU with deposition of local sand bodies (Kemik Sandstone,
Thomson sand, etc.) and several hundred feet of marine shale, the pebble
shale unit (Macquaker and others, Chap. SS). Together these units seldom
exceed a thickness of 500 feet. Although separated from the underlying

Kingak Shale by a regional unconformity, the Kemik and related sandstones
and the pebble shale unit are included in the Beaufortian sequence because
they have generally northern, but local sources. As the rift margin became
completely submerged, local sources ceased to exist and Beaufortian
sequence deposition ended. Hemipelagic clays and bentonites comprising the
overlying Hue Shale are considered in this report as part of the southern-
sourced Brookian sequence.
The rift shoulder remains a broad subsurface structural feature known as the
Barrow arch. It separates gently southward-dipping Ellesmerian and
Beaufortian deposits and thick Cretaceous-Tertiary foreland basin deposits on
the south from limited Ellesmerian deposits, locally thick Beaufortian
deposits (e.g., Dinkum graben), and thick Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits of
the Beaufort passive margin on the north (Figs. GG2, GG3; Plate GG3). The
Barrow arch and the stratigraphic complexity related to rifting are key
elements in the migration and trapping of the large volumes of oil in northern
Alaska (Bird, 1987; Hubbard and others, 1987). The Kingak Shale and
pebble shale unit are source rocks for some oil in the Prudhoe Bay area
(Morgridge and Smith, 1972; Jones and Speers, 1976; Seifert and others,
1980) and for gas in the 1002 area (Chaps. OA, PS).
Regional Relations and the Niguanak/Aurora Area. The answer to the

question of whether Ellesmerian strata with Prudhoe Bay-type reservoirs are
present in the eastern part of the 1002 area and specifically on the two large
structures in the northeastern part of this area (the Niguanak High and Aurora
Dome, Figs. GG4, GG6) is of considerable importance to the oil and gas
potential of this area. This is a long-running question that has yet to be
unequivocally answered by reflection seismic or other geophysical methods
(Chaps. NA, AM, GR). It is mainly the presence of Beaufortian rocks
(Kingak Shale) on the surface in the Niguanak area and in the lowermost
1200 feet of the Aurora well that offers the possibility of Ellesmerian strata
being present. These occurrences are markedly different than stratigraphic
relations observed in the western part of the 1002 area where Early
Cretaceous deposits (Kemik Sandstone and pebble shale unit) rest
unconformably on Franklinian rocks (Fig. GG6, Plate GG3).

Consideration of regional characteristics of the Ellesmerian and Beaufortian
sequences such as onlap, normal faulting, and erosion related to rift-margin
uplift offers insight and some constraints on the range of possibilities. In
Figure GG7 these regional characteristics and their implications are illustrated
in a schematic cross section extending from the Brooks Range northward
across the Niguanak/Aurora area. It is concluded from this analysis that
regional onlap trends make it likely that if Ellesmerian strata are present at all
they are probably thin and represent only the upper part of the sequence; this
might include Sadlerochit, Shublik, and Karen Creek units. The observed
occurrences of Kingak Shale, described above, may be explained by
insignificant erosion on the LCU and little or no normal faulting (Fig. GG7A)
or by significant erosion on the LCU, normal faulting, and development of
north- or south-dipping half grabens (Fig. GG7B-D).
Brookian Sequence
In northern Alaska, the Brookian sequence consists of thick, northeasterly-

prograding clastic deposits derived from the ancestral Brooks Range orogenic
belt to the south and southwest. These deposits filled the Colville foreland
basin adjacent to the orogenic belt and spilled northward across the subsiding
rift shoulder (Barrow arch) to accumulate in the ancestral Arctic Ocean
forming the Beaufort passive margin (Fig. GG3; Plate GG3). Brookian
deposits have different names and ages in different areas (Bird and Molenaar,
1992), but generally show a similar succession everywhere. That succession
is complex in detail but simple in gross aspect. It consists of a basal
condensed facies, a deep-water shale and turbidite sandstone (flysch) facies,
and a deltaic sandstone and shale (molasse) facies.
The Colville basin filled longitudinally. Figure GG8, modified from Moore
and others (1994), shows three depocenters—Early Cretaceous, Late
Cretaceous, and Tertiary—that record the progressive west to east filling of
the basin. Seismic mapping in the central part of the 1002 area suggests that
as much as 30,000 ft of Tertiary fill is present in the youngest depocenter
(Chaps. NA and BD). This figure also illustrates the degree to which the
eastern part of the Brooks Range orogen has migrated northward, overriding
the Early Cretaceous rift margin and disrupting the passive margin. Figure

GG3 shows that in this area, the fold- and thrust-belt extends far offshore and
eastward as far as the Mackenzie delta in Canada.
The basal unit of the Brookian sequence in the 1002 area and to the west is a
black fissile shale and bentonite unit as much as 1000 feet thick known as the
Hue Shale (Molenaar and others, 1987). The Hue Shale is a distal condensed
shale facies deposited on the north side of the Colville basin, on the Barrow
arch, and to the north of the arch. The Hue represents about 50 m.y. of time
(Aptian to Maestrichtian) and an average rate of accumulation of about 20
ft/m.y. (calculated using the compacted thickness). Age-equivalent strata in
the central part of the Colville basin accumulated at least 15 times faster than
the Hue Shale. The Hue Shale is organic-carbon rich and is considered a good
to excellent oil-prone source rock (Magoon and others, Chap. PS; Lillis and
others, Chap. OA; and Keller and others, Chap. SR).
The Canning Formation (Molenaar and others, 1987) is a thick, dominantly

shale unit that conformably overlies the Hue Shale and underlies thick, deltaic
deposits of the Sagavanirktok Formation. Thickness of the Canning is 6000
feet or more (Plate GG2, GG3). Within the Canning, two facies are
recognized: a basinal and lower-slope shale and turbidite sandstone facies and
a thick upper-slope and shelf shale facies. Water depths of several thousand
feet for the turbidite facies are calculated from seismically-imaged clinoform
bedding. With improved resolution of seismic records, stratigraphic details
including mounds, channels, slumps, and scours have been observed
(Houseknecht and Schenk, Chap. BS). Seismic records also reveal a number
of slump or scour surfaces that locally remove significant amounts of strata,
including part or all of the underlying Hue Shale (Plates GG2, GG3; and
Chap. BS). Canning turbidite sandstones are reservoirs for oil in the Badami
oil field and in many wells in the Point Thomson area (Plate PS4).
The Sagavanirktok Formation is a thick, deltaic shallow marine and

nonmarine unit overlying and intertonguing with the Canning Formation.
Total thickness of the Sagavanirktok in northeastern Alaska, including
tongues of Canning Formation, is more than 8000 feet (Bird and others,
1987, fig. 7.12; Plates GG2, GG3). Regionally, the Sagavanirktok-Canning
formation boundary is time transgressive, ranging from Late Cretaceous

southwest of the 1002 area to Oligocene offshore (Molenaar and others,
1987; Plates GG2, GG3). Some of the youngest exposures of the
Sagavanirktok have been studied on the north flank of the Marsh Creek
anticline (Plate GG1) by Fouch and others (1990). Here, the Nuwok Member
of the Sagavanirktok (Detterman and others, 1975) consists of more than 600
feet of silty to pebbly marine sandstone that is variously reported as
Oligocene, Miocene, and possibly as young as Pliocene (McNeil and Miller,
1990; Marincovich and others, 1991; Brouwers, 1994). Sagavanirktok
sandstones are reservoirs for oil in the Hammerhead and Kuvlum oil
accumulations (Fig. AO2). A synclinal remnant of the Sagavanirktok
Formation, the Jago River Formation of Buckingham (1987), is located in
the south-central part of the 1002 area (Plate GG1). The Jago River
Formation is reportedly more than 10,000 feet thick and Late Cretaceous and
Paleocene in age. Seismic interpretation (Potter and others, Chap. BD)
suggests that it was deposited in part in a contemporaneously growing
syncline, a piggyback basin.
PALEOGEOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS
A series of six maps have been prepared in collaboration with D.

Houseknecht to summarize the Brookian paleogeography and present-day
structural features of northeastern Alaska (Plate GG4). These maps are made
possible by new information gathered over the last 10 years, including
biostratigraphic control from outcrops and wells, improved seismic records,
ties between onshore and offshore seismic, and mapping of seismic
sequences (Houseknecht and Schenk, Chap. BS). The maps show inferred
positions of tectonic and stratigraphic features for six time slices: Albian,
Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Holocene. Together, they
illustrate the progradational filling of the Colville basin and the accompanying
tectonic deformation during the last 100 m.y. in northeastern Alaska.
The map of Albian paleogeography (Plate GG4) shows the eastern part of the
now completely filled Early Cretaceous depocenter of Figure GG8 and the
deep marine conditions that prevailed to the east of the depocenter. This time
slice shows the inferred area of deposition of (1) the condensed facies
represented by the Hue Shale gamma-ray zone and the Boundary Creek

Formation in Canada and (2) the flysch facies represented by the Arctic Creek
facies (Molenaar and others, 1987; Mull and Decker, 1993), the Bathtub
Greywacke (Detterman and others, 1975), and the Albian flysch of the Rapid
Depression in Canada (Dixon, 1996). In the Aurora well, foraminiferal-
bearing Albian strata are present (Keller and others, Chap. SR) but they
display only moderate to low gamma-ray log response. We note that this is
anomalous, being only 25 miles northeast of (thrust-faulted) outcrops of the
gamma-ray zone on the Jago River (Bird and Molenaar, 1987, fig. 5.8E).
The map of Paleocene paleogeography shows that northward progradation of

Brookian strata since Albian time had reached the 1002 area. Plate GG3
shows the considerable thickness and stratigraphic complexity of Paleocene
deposits just west of the 1002 area. The shelf-edge trend represents that of the
latest Paleocene Staines Tongue of the Sagavanirktok Formation. In the
eastern part of the 1002 area, deposition was synchronous with thrusting; the
Jago River Formation was deposited in the Sabbath Creek sub-basin adjacent
to the growing Aichilik high. To the south, uplift and erosion (cooling) is
indicated by fission-track analysis in the Bathtub syncline area (O'Sullivan
and others, 1993). West of the 1002 area, significant coal deposits formed at
this time (Roberts, 1991; Roberts and others, 1992).
The map of Eocene paleogeography shows continuing syndepositional

deformation in the eastern part of the 1002 area and offshore with the
development of a series of sub-basins and ridges. Fission track analysis
(O'Sullivan and others, 1993) demonstrates uplift and erosion (cooling) in the
Sadlerochit Mountains and Leffingwell Ridge areas. To the south, significant
crustal loading is suggested by an early or middle Eocene transgression
which flooded the late Paleocene and early Eocene delta plain (Staines
Tongue), resulting in a southward shifting of the shoreline by more than 30
miles. Progradation resumed with deposition of the Mikkelsen Tongue of the
Canning Formation, a southward thickening wedge that probably records the
maximum burial of strata in the Sadlerochit Mountains area (see Plate GG3
restoration at ~40 Ma). In the eastern part of the 1002 area, northward
propagating thrusting reached as far north as the Jago Ridge area.

The map of Oligocene paleogeography shows continuing and northward-
expanding syndepositional deformation in the eastern part of the 1002 area
and offshore. The Camden anticline and Barter sub-basin began to form
during this time as did the Marsh Creek anticline. Fission track analysis
(O'Sullivan and others, 1993) shows additional uplift and erosion (cooling) in
the Sadlerochit Mountains. Oligocene was a time of major clastic influx,
progradation, and development offshore of growth faults. During this time
the Brookian sequence completely filled the old foreland basin, overtopped
the Barrow arch, and built a northward-thickening wedge forming a major
part of the Beaufort passive margin (Plate GG3).
The map of Miocene paleogeography shows continuing syndepositional

deformation in the eastern part of the 1002 area, the offshore, and the Marsh
Creek anticline area. The shelf edge position was strongly controlled by
uplifted areas such as the Camden and Belcher anticlines and by subsiding
areas such as the Barter sub-basin, a shelf edge re-entrant.
The Holocene map shows the present-day location of the coastline, shelf
edge, sub-basins, ridges, and areas of growth faulting. Pleistocene and
Holocene sediment thickness variations on the shelf, warped terrace deposits
onshore, and earthquake epicenters (recorded between 1966 to 1978) all attest
to continuing contractional deformation in this area (Grantz and others, 1987).
Sedimentation continues to be active with modern fan deltas being built from
the south into the Demarcation subbasin.
SUMMARY
The 1.5-million acre 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a
treeless, tundra-covered wetland situated between the Brooks Range and the
Arctic Ocean. It lies mainly within the Arctic Coastal Plain physiographic
province which, in this area, is characterized by rolling hills cut by numerous
northward-flowing braided streams. The 1002 area is mantled by a thin
veneer of frozen surficial deposits, which nearly completely mask the bedrock
geology in most areas. Our understanding of the bedrock geology comes
primarily from geophysical remote sensing of the rocks beneath the 1002

area, from observations of surface exposures mostly in the mountains south
of the area, and from well penetrations west and north of the area.
Northern Alaska is part of a small, poorly-defined continental fragment with a

controversial plate tectonic history. At the heart of the controversy is the
nature of Cretaceous rifting and the pre-rift geography. Many stratigraphic
and structural similarities exist between northern Alaska and other lands
bordering the Arctic Ocean; however, the lack of clear magnetic seafloor
stripes in the oceanic Canada basin precludes a unique solution to the plate
history of this region.
Structures within the 1002 area consist of closely-spaced folds and faults
(thin-skinned deformation) within foreland basin strata and broad, domal
faulted structures (thick-skinned deformation) in pre-foreland basin and
basement strata. These structures formed in one or more episodes of Brooks
Range-related deformation during Cenozoic time. Devonian and perhaps
older structures are also known in this area, and the grain of these structures
has controlled the orientation of some younger Cenozoic structures. Across
the North Slope west of the 1002 area and beneath the continental shelves,
normal faulting is related to rifting in Mississippian and Jurassic and Early
Cretaceous time and to massive slope failure of the Beaufort passive margin
in Tertiary time.
The sedimentologic history of northern Alaska can be summarized in four

tectono-stratigraphic sequences. The oldest sequence is the Franklinian, which
consists of a thick succession of metamorphosed sedimentary, volcanic, and
igneous rocks of Proterozoic to Early Devonian age, all of which are
generally considered non-prospective for petroleum. The overlying
Ellesmerian sequence of Middle Devonian to Triassic age represents a south-
facing passive margin which includes some of the main oil producing
reservoirs in the Prudhoe Bay area. The Beaufortian sequence records
Jurassic and Cretaceous rifting which severed the continental connection of
northern Alaska and opened the Canada basin. All major north Alaskan oil
accumulations owe their origin to geologic structures related to the rift
margin. The Brookian sequence, Jurassic to Recent in age, consists of debris
shed from a southern orogenic land mass, the ancestral and modern Brooks

Range, and deposited in foreland basin and passive margin settings. Brookian
rocks provided the deep burial necessary to generate North Slope oil and gas
and they are oil bearing in both deep- and shallow-marine reservoirs found in
areas adjacent to the 1002 area.
The 1002 area is located in the eastern part of the North Slope geologic
province, an unusual area of converging regional geologic trends. This
convergence has produced a geologic complexity that is greater than that
found elsewhere in northern Alaska. This is where the youngest foreland
basin strata were deposited on a rifted margin and where the Brooks Range
fold- and thrust-belt intersects and incorporates pre-Mississippian basement
rocks, rift-related strata, and passive margin strata. Deformation has
frequently been synchronous with deposition in Tertiary time and continues to
the present-day.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are extended to Kevin Evans, Heather Marshall, and Mike Sinor for
the application of their considerable computer skills to producing the figures
and plates and to reviewers, Frances Cole and Tom Moore, for their
thoughtful comments and helpful suggestions.
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Click here or on this symbol
So
Canada Basin
ut h
(oceanic crust)
Any
ui
Arctic
Alaska
S u t u re
"microplate"
Chukotka
Peninsula Canadian
Arctic Islands
Seward-Chukotka
microplate of North Alaska
Smith (1987) microplate of No
Smith (1987) rth
Slo
Bro pe
o ks
Ra
ng
e
Mackenzie
delta
Accreted
terranes North American
plate
400 miles
Figure GG1. Map showing major plate tectonic elements of the Alaskan arctic. Heavy dashed line in Canada basin
is a gravity anomaly interpreted by Laxon and McAdoo (1994, 1998) to be an extinct seafloor spreading center about
which northern Alaska, the Arctic Alaska microplate, rotated away from northern Canada during Early Cretaceous time.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area, Alaska
Open File Report 98-34
Tectono-Stratigraphic Schematic Cross Sections

Sequences South North
SW NE
Ma
Gubik Fm. Brooks Range
2 Beaufort passive margin
Colville (foreland) Basin
CENOZOIC Sagavanirktok
40 Brookian Barrow Arch
Formation
65 Compressional deformation Canada
g Fm
.
and uplift in the south; Brookian rocks basin
Ca nnin
96 subsidence to the north
n
CRETACEOUS ufortia basement
n an d Bea
Hue Shale Kemik & Ellesmeria (Franklinian)
Thomson Ss.
pebble shale unit Lower Cretaceous unconformity (LCU)
Kuparuk Fm.
Beaufortian Lower Cretaceous unconformity (LCU)
144
Kingak
Extensional faulting, Beau fortian rocks
JURASSIC Shale differential subsidence,
and rifting Ellesmerian
208
Sag River Ss. basement
Shublik Fm. (Franklinian)
TRIASSIC
Sadlerochit
245 Group
R
PERMIAN
286
Ellesmerian
PENNSYLVANIAN Lisburne
Subsidence and onlap;
320 Group Ellesmerian rocks
extensional faulting in basement
MISSISSIPPIAN Endicott
Group
Devonian and Mississippian. (Franklinian)
360
Pre-Mississippian unconformity
. .. . . . . Franklinian
DEVONIAN TO
.. . . . .
PROTEROZOIC
Marine and nonmarine Marine shale Granite

clastic deposits
Hiatus or erosion Condensed Basalt
marine shale
Limestone
Argillite
and dolomite
Figure GG2. Stratigraphic column for northeastern Alaska showing the tectono-stratigraphic subdivisions and schematic
sections illustrating the post-Devonian geologic evolution of northern Alaska.
155° 150° 145° 140° 135° 130°
Point CANADA BASIN

Barrow
la
su
nin
Pe
71°
D in
S
kum
Gra BSB
ben
k
tu
L
ak
toy
k
NPRA
Tu
DSB
70° 1002 AREA
Mackenzie
TAP
S
Delta
L
S
UNITE
C A NA
CB
D STA
ANWR
DA
CB
TES
Canada Basin
(oceanic crust)
69º
Arctic
Alaska
plate No
rth
Bro Slo
ok pe
sR
an
ge Mackenzie
delta
Accreted terranes
North American
Area of Map plate
Oil accumulation 0 100 miles

Brookian (Cretaceous and Tertiary) rocks
Ellesmerian and Beaufortian (Middle Devonian Gas accumulation
to Early Cretaceous) rocks Northern boundary of fold- and thrust-belt
Franklinian (Pre-Middle Devonian) rocks Zone of truncation of Ellesmerian rocks by
the Lower Cretaceous unconformity (LCU)
Figure GG3. Map of part of northern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada showing the regional tectonic setting of the
ANWR 1002 area. BSB, Barter sub-basin. CB, Colville basin. DSB, Demarcation sub-basin. L, Northern onlap
limit of Lisburne Group rocks. NPRA, National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska. S, Northern onlap limit of Sadlerochit
Group rocks. TAPS, Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Figure modified from Bird and Bader (1987).

160° 155° 150° 145° 140°

72°
Exploratory well
Endicott zero edge. Map area
Sa
g Shublik zero edge. Lisburne on basement
Ri Point
ve Sag River or Kingak on to the north.
rS Barrow ALASKA
s. basement to north Lisburne onlap edge.
Kingak Shale
Sadlerochit on basement
north of this line
71°
Shublik Fm. Line of cross section
(figure GG5)
Sadlerochit zero edge.
? Shublik on basement
Sadlero chit Group
Sadlerochit Group ? to the northeast.
Aurora Dome
?
?
?
? Niguanak High
Endicott
Lisburn Gp.
e Group
Line of cross section Endicott Group
70° (figure GG5) ?
1002 Area ?
? ?
Sh sbu
so ?
southern limit of control uth ? ?
ub rne
Li
southern limit of control ern
lik
lim
it o Kingak
fc
on Shale ?
Gr
tro
ou
l Endicott Group
p
?
69° Lisburne on basement
See Miall (1973)
restored stratigraphic
in Sadlerochit Mountains
cross section
Canad
Alaska
100 miles
68° Trans-Alaska
a
Pipeline
Figure GG4. Map showing the general, but irregular, northward onlap of successively younger Ellesmerian rock units onto
pre-Mississippian basement rocks in northern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. Colors indicate which Ellesmerian
rock unit directly overlies basement rocks. Stratigraphic relations in the western part of the ANWR 1002 Area and
offshore westward to about 154 W. longitude are unknown because of stratigraphic section removed beneath the
regional Lower Cretaceous unconformity.

Click here or on this symbol Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area, Alaska
South North
~70 mi
Kugrua Peard Brontosaurus Walakpa-2 S. Barrow-3 S. Barrow-16 Barrow

12 mi 27 mi 12 mi 12 mi 9 mi
LCU
area
Kingak Shale Datum: Base of Kingak Shale
Sag River Ss.
Shublik Fm.
Ivishak Fm. 1000 ft

Pre-Mississippian basesment
Kavik Sh. Mbr. V.E. = 26x
Lisburne of Ivishak Fm.
0 ft
Group 0 5 miles
Echooka Fm.
Northern edge
? of Carboniferous
Meade basin
Endicott Gp.
d
d
n
n
be
be
~40 miles Northwest ~30 miles Northeast

South North South North
Placid et al. Prudhoe Bay Reindeer Beaufort Sea

Placid et al. Prudhoe Bay Reindeer State #1 State #1
State #1 State #1 Island #1 Northstar #1 Sandpiper #2 Island #1 Block 54 #1
8 mi 13 mi 12 mi 8 mi 8 mi 13 mi 9 mi
Kingak Shale
Sag River Ss. Kingak Shale
Datum: Base of Kingak Shale Sag River Ss. Datum: Base of Kingak Shale
?
Ivishak Fm. Shublik Fm. ? Shublik Fm.
Ivishak Fm. ?
Kavik Shale Mbr. Kavik Shale Mbr.
Pre-Mississippian
Echooka Fm. of Ivishak Fm. Echooka Fm. of Ivishak Fm. Pre-Mississippian
basement
basement
Lisburne Group 2000 ft Lisburne Group
Kayak Shale Kayak Shale
VE = 26 x
Pre-Mississippian Carboniferous
Kekiktuk basement Kekiktuk Reindeer Island fault
Conglomerate Pre-Mississippian (after Woidneck and
0 Conglomerate
basement others, 1987, figure 9a)
0 10 miles
Prudhoe area, NW Prudhoe area, NE

Figure GG5. Well correlation sections illustrating characteristics of Ellesmerian onlap relations in northern
Alaska. See Figure GG4 for location of sections. See Miall (1973) for a similar section showing restored
stratigraphic relations in northwestern Canada (Fig. GG4).
155° 150° 145° 140°

Map area
72° 100 miles Beaufortian rocks
ALASKA
Exploratory well
Sag River and Shublik Formations
Sadlerochit Group
Sag River Ss. Lisburne Group
?
Shublik Fm. Endicott Group
Basement (Franklinian)
71° ? Beaufortian (Jurassic
? ? and Early Cretaceous)
Dinku ? rocks in Aurora well
m Gra
ben ? Aurora Dome
Beaufortian (Middle
? Jurassic) rocks outcrop
in Niguanak area
? Niguanak
High
?
70° 1002 Area ? ? ?
? Roland Bay
? ? ?
Spring River
Area of
?
Canad
Figure GG7.
Alaska
Approximate southern extent of the
Trans-Alaska Lower Cretaceous unconformity (LCU).
a
Pipeline
69°
Figure GG6. Map showing rock units that subcrop beneath the regional Lower Cretaceous unconformity (LCU) in
northern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. Colors indicate rock units that lie directly beneath the unconformity.
South ~50 miles North
Margin of Niguanak Aurora
Brooks Range High Dome
A. LCU
Kingak Beaufortian
ELLESMERIAN
Sag/Shublik
Sadlerochit
basement AND BEAUFORTIAN
(Franklinian)
Lisburne
Kayak & Kekiktu
k
Ellesmerian
ONLAP
Northward onlap is the regional style of Ellesmerian and Beaufortian deposition.
Where Carboniferous extensional faulting is present, abrupt differences
are noted across faults, but only at the Endicott and Lisburne level.
Regionally, rates of onlap vary significantly. Causes of variation are unknown.
B. LCU BEAUFORTIAN
NORMAL FAULTING
basement
(Franklinian)
(south dipping)
Onlap relations are preserved and Beaufortian is present as northward-thickening
wedges within each fault block. South-dipping normal faults would be more likely to
be re-activated by later Brookian compressional deformation than north-dipping normal faults.
Truncation by the LCU in southern 1002-area structures requires

normal faulting to preserve Beaufortian strata to the north as
observed in Aurora well.
C. LCU
BEAUFORTIAN
basement
(Franklinian) NORMAL FAULTING
(north dipping)
Brookian thin-skinned Outcrop of allochthonous mid-Jurassic (Kingak) strata

thrust faulting on Niguanak High indicates that LCU-truncation had not
removed all Kingak at the site of its original deposition.
Critical question is where does the outcrop of Kingak restore to?
D.
LCU
BROOKIAN
basement
COMPRESSIONAL
(Franklinian)
DEFORMATION
Truncation by the LCU in southern 1002 area is incompatible with the presence of Beaufortian strata in the
Aurora well without normal faulting. With a low rate of northward Ellesmerian onlap, one could have a
nearly complete Ellesmerian section at Aurora Dome; with a high rate, one could have only Beaufortian strata.
Carboniferous normal faulting would not affect the post-Lisburne Ellesmerian section and the analysis
above would still apply to Sadlerochit and younger rocks.
Figure GG7. Regional stratigraphic and tectonic factors that bear on the distribution of Ellesmerian and Beaufortian rock
units in the Niguanak High and Aurora Dome areas, notheastern 1002 area. Aurora well, located on the Aurora Dome,
confirms the presence of Beaufortian strata at this location. See figure GG6 for location.
71° 165° 160° 155° 150° 145° 140°

Area shown
2 Ba ALASKA
rro
1 wA
70°
3 rch
2 Tertiary
4 0
Early Cretaceous 1 depocenter
5 depocenter 3 0 2 4 6 8 8
69° 6 4 Late Cretaceous

6 6
5 depocenter 2
3
Disturbed Belt 6 1 4
68°
Belt GE
isturb
ed RAN
D
BROOKS 100 miles
Figure GG8. Map illustrating the longitudinal west-to-east-filling of the Colville (foreland) basin. Isopachs (in km)
showing present-day thicknesses reveal a pattern of successive eastward-shifting depocenter development through time.
The Barrow Arch, a buried rift shoulder, marks the boundary between the Colville basin to the south and the Beaufort
(passive) margin to the north.
B ull en
K aktovik
K uluru ak
(Site)
Y U K O N T E R R IT O R
ALASKA
Y
R E F U G E
A L W I L D L I F E
A R C T I C N A T I O N
A R C T I C N A T I O N A L W I L D L I F E R E F U G E
U N IT E D S T A T E S
CANADA
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OPEN-FILE REPORT 98-34
PLATE GG1 (SHEET 2 OF 2)
CORRELATION OF MAP UNITS

Kk Kongakut Formation (Cretaceous)-Restricted on this map to exposures in Bathtub Mke Kekiktuk Conglomerate-Resistant massive quartzite and granule to cobble
Ridge area. Lower part is mostly dark-gray, locally fossiliferous (Valanginian) shale conglomerate. Quartzite is generally light gray, clean, and weathers light gray;
Qs QUATERNARY (clay shale member or correlative with upper part of Kingak Shale), which is locally iron stained. Conglomerate is interbedded and lenticular within quartzite;
Unconformity overlain by thin discontinuous, very fine grained, quartzose sandstone beds (Kemik clasts predominantly of quartz and chert. Locally contains anthracite. Thickness
Sandstone Member), which in turn is overlain by manganiferous shale containing variable, 0-130 m. The Kekiktuk is oil and gas bearing in Endicott field.
TKs TERTIARY rare chert and quartzite pebbles (pebble shale member). Upper part is dark-gray silty gr Granite (Devonian?)-Granitic rocks, predominantly quartz monzonite. Muscovite and
TKc shale in which lower half is more resistant to erosion (siltstone member). Part below biotite common accessory minerals within main pluton (Okpilak batholith) and in
TKj
pebble shale member is 350-400 m thick and is part of the northerly derived stock (Jago stock) in T. 2 S., R. 35 E. Hornblende abundant but restricted to small
Ellesmerian sequence. Part above pebble shale member is about 700 m thick, is part stock at head of Jago River in Tps. 3 and 4 S., R. 35 E. Potassium-argon age of 431
Kh
of the southerly derived Brookian sequence and is not recognized in foothills and ± 13 Ma on hornblende. Lead-alpha ages of 310 ± 25 and 405 ± 45 Ma on zircon
Ka
coastal plain. Age is Early Cretaceous. and potassium- argon ages of 125 and 128 Ma on biotite from Okpilak batholith
Kb
CRETACEOUS Kke Kemik Sandstone (Cretaceous)-Resistant, ridge-forming, medium- to light-gray, very (Sable, 1965, 1977). Alteration of Mississippian (?) rocks in contact with granitic
Kp
fine to fine-grained quartzose sandstone containing tripolitic chert grains. As much rocks indicate post-Mississippian (Cretaceous?) remobilization.
Kke Kk
as 30 m thick. North of Sadlerochit Mountains in T. 4 N., areas mapped as Kemik DZnc Nanook Limestone and Mount Copleston Limestone, undivided (Devonian to
Sandstone consist of fault repetitions involving the Kemik and parts of adjacent Cambrian or Late Proterozoic)-The Mount Copleston Limestone (Blodgett and
Unconformity KJs pebble shale unit and Kingak Shale (Kelley and Molenaar, 1988). Its absence in others, 1992) consists of thin- to medium-bedded dark gray limestone as much as 72
KJk JURASSIC outcrops generally east of Sadlerochit River and north of Bathtub Ridge is thought to m thick. Limited to the Shublik Mountains. Formerly, these rocks were included in
result from nondeposition. Shallow marine deposits. In subsurface, near mouth of the uppermost part of the Nanook Limestone. Unconformably overlain by the
k J u
ks Canning River, the stratigraphically equivalent, informally designated Thomson sand Kekiktuk Conglomerate. Disconformably overlies Nanook Limestone. Age is Early
u TRIASSIC
s is present in some wells and is the main gas- and oil-bearing reservoir of Point Devonian. Nanook Limestone consists of thin- to thick-bedded limestone, silicified
Thomson field. Age is Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian). limestone, and vuggy dolomite with minor amounts of siltstone and shale. More than
Ps PERMIAN KJs Shale (Cretaceous and Jurassic)-Dark-gray. Lower part is the Jurassic and Lower 1,220 m thick (Clough and others, 1990). Unconformably overlain by either Mount
Unconformity Cretaceous Kingak Shale and upper part, which contains rounded, frosted quartz Copleston Limestone or Ellesmerian sequence. Age is Ordovician to Cambrian or
Ml
PENNSYLVANIAN sand grains and rare chert and quartzite pebbles, is the informally designated pebble Late Proterozoic.
Mlk shale unit. These two units are not easily distinguished when the Kemik Sandstone, P
Lk Katakturuk Dolomite (Proterozoic)-Predominantly dolomite with minor amounts of
Mk which separates them, is missing. As much as 550 m thick. Marine deposits. Age is nodular chert. Dolomite is crossbedded, oolitic, stromatolitic, pisolitic, and vuggy.
MISSISSIPPIAN
Me Ms Silty shale in lower part. More than 1,035 m thick. Lies disconformably (?) beneath
Mke Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous.
KJk Kingak Shale (Cretaceous and Jurassic)-Dark-gray, nonbentonitic shale containing Nanook Limestone and conformably (?) above unnamed, white, vuggy dolomite.
Unconformity
Stratigraphic common ironstone concretions. As much as 450 m thick. Marine deposits. Age is Age is Proterozoic based on stratigraphic relations with overlying Nanook
relations with
other units gr DEVONIAN (?) Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (early Neocomian) in this area. Limestone (Blodgett and others, 1986)
uncertain DEVONIAN TO J u Kingak Shale (part) (Cretaceous and Jurassic), Shublik Formation (Jurassic), and pMu Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, undivided (pre-Mississippian)-
CAMBRIAN OR
DZnc PRE- Karen Creek Sandstone (Triassic), undivided-As much as 650 m thick. Greater than 3,000 m thick. In order to emphasize the petroleum prospective rocks in
pMu LATE MISSISSIPPIAN
Disconformity (?) PROTEROZOIC k Karen Creek Sandstone (Triassic)-Dark-gray, very fine grained, quartzitic sandstone the area, these rocks, which have been mapped in considerable detail by Reiser and
P
Lk PROTEROZOIC
and siltstone. Locally calcareous or dolomitic. Phosphatic nodules common. Unit others, (1970, 1971, 1974, 1980), have been shown as a single map unit.
absent in Bathtub Ridge area because of possible structural complexities. As much
as 38 m thick. Age is Late Triassic.
s Shublik Formation (Triassic)-Interbedded black shale, black calcareous siltstone, and
black limestone. Abundantly fossiliferous. Rich oil-prone source rock, but
Contact-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed; queried where
overmature in outcrop belt. Unit mostly absent in Bathtub Ridge area because of
uncertain
possible structural complexities. As much as 140 m thick. The Shublik is gas bearing
in Kemik field and oil and gas bearing in Prudhoe Bay field. Fault-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed; queried where
ks Karen Creek Sandstone and Shublik Formation, undivided (Triassic)-As much as uncertain
170 m thick. Thrust fault-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed; queried
DESCRIPTION OF MAP UNITS u Sedimentary rocks, undivided (Triassic) where uncertain
High-angle fault-Ball and bar on downthrown side; dashed where approximately
Description of map units modified from Reiser and others (1971, 1980), and stratigraphic units of Ps Sadlerochit Group, undivided (Triassic and Permian)-Composed of the Ivishak and located; dotted where concealed; queried where uncertain
Molenaar and others (1987). Includes units from unpublished mapping by C. M. Molenaar, A. R. Kirk, Echooka Formations. These formations are readily recognized in field (e.g., Anticline-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed
L. B. Magoon, and A. C. Huffman (1980, 1982-85). Robinson and others, 1989) but are mapped here as Sadlerochit Group, undivided Overturned anticline-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed;
owing to limits of scale and field control: Ivishak Formation, (Lower Triassic) showing direction of dip of limbs
consists of three lithologic units. Upper unit, Fire Creek Siltstone Member, medium- Syncline-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed
Qs Surficial deposits (Quaternary)-Alluvium, beach deposits, colluvium, alluvial fans, dark-gray, thin bedded to massive, commonly laminated siliceous siltstone, minor
terrace deposits, marine terrace deposits, glacial deposits, glacial fluvial deposits, Overturned syncline-Dashed where approximately located; dotted where concealed;
silty shale, and argillaceous sandstone. Contains middle Early Triassic (Smithian)
and landslides. See maps by Reiser and others (1971, 1980) for descriptions and showing direction of dip of limbs
fossils. As much as 135 m thick. Middle unit, Ledge Sandstone Member, clean,
areal distribution of these units. In order to emphasize petroleum prospective rocks Strike and dip of strata-Arrow indicates aerial or distant evaluation
light-gray, massive sandstone. Weathers red to reddish brown. Locally 20 70
in this area, these rocks, which have been mapped in considerable detail by Reiser conglomeratic. As much as 134 m thick. This is main oil-producing reservoir in Inclined
and others (1971, 1974, 1980), have been shown as single map unit. Prudhoe Bay field. It is gas bearing in Kavik field. Lower unit, Kavik Member, dark-
70 20
Overturned
TKs Sagavanirktok Formation (Tertiary and Cretaceous)-Poorly consolidated gray colored, laminated to thin bedded silty shale and siltstone with minor argillaceous Horizontal
siltstone, mudstone, sandstone, and lesser amounts of conglomerate. As much as sandstone beds. Fossils of Early Triassic (Griesbachian) age collected from this unit
1,500 m thick on north flank of Marsh Creek anticline and 2,300 m thick in wells Vertical
(Detterman and others, 1975). As much as 200 m thick. Echooka Formation (Upper
near mouth of Canning River. Nonmarine and shallow marine deposits. Some 3 km Depth to Eocene unconformity-Depth in kilometers; from Grantz and May, 1983
and Lower Permian) consists of two lithologic units. Upper unit, Ikiakpaurak
shallow marine deposits are oil and gas bearing in the Hammerhead and Kuvlum Member, red-weathering resistant ferruginous orthoquartzite, quartzitic sandstone, Tectonic hingeline-Arrow on downwarped side
wells offshore from the Point Thomson area. and siltstone. Contains Late Permian (Guadalupian) fossils at base of upper unit, Seismic line
TKc Canning Formation (Tertiary and Cretaceous)-Gray shale and siltstone containing 19
probably equivalent in age to top of lower unit, south of Demarcation Point Oil well-Showing surface hole location (SHL) and bottom hole location (BHL)
interbeds of mostly thin-bedded, very fine to fine-grained lithic sandstone quadrangle. Thickness of upper unit 50 to 110 m; thins to north. Lower unit, Joe 20
(turbidites). 1,500 to 1,800 m thick in wells west of Canning River. Common Creek Member, almost entirely restricted to extreme southern part of Demarcation Oil and gas well-Number refers to figure 1
'floating' chert pebbles in Tertiary marine shales. Deep-water marine deposits. Some Point quadrangle. Best exposed in ridge north of Joe Creek, 3 km south of map area. 21
Gas well
turbidities are oil and gas bearing in wells near mouth of Canning river. Age is Top of lower unit is thin- to medium-bedded quartzose calcarenite and limestone
Cretaceous and early Tertiary. 22
that includes brachiopod coquinas. Thickness approximately 20 m. Top of lower unit Dry or unknown well
TKj Jago River Formation (Tertiary and Cretaceous)-Well-indurated thick-bedded, fine- to underlain by about 25 m of medium- to thick-bedded chert and siliceous siltstone. Oil seep, oil-stained rock, or oil-soaked tundra
coarse-grained, lithic sandstone, conglomerate, and minor amounts of coal and Base of lower unit is dusky yellow, thin-bedded limy mudstone and calcareous
carbonaceous shale. Nonmarine and minor shallow marine deposits. Approximately siltstone. Thickness approximately 50 m. Lower unit yields Early and Late Permian Boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
3,000 m thick in type section along Igilatvik (Sabbath) Cree k. Age is latest (Wolfcampian to Guadalupian) fossils. Total thickness for lower unit about 100 m; Boundary of the Section 1002 area of the Alaska National Interest Lands
Cretaceous and earliest Tertiary (Buckingham, 1987). thins rapidly to northwest (Detterman and others, 1975). Conservation Act (ANILCA); includes all lagoons within boundary
Kh Hue Shale (Cretaceous)-Dark-gray, bentonitic shale in which fine-grained pyroclastic Ml Lisburne Group (Pennsylvanian and Mississippian)-Upper unit (Wahoo Limestone) Boundary of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation; includes all i slands within
rock fragments weather yellow, greenish gray, and in areas surrounding Sadlerochit fine-grained limestone and oolitic limestone, some glauconite and minor dolomite. boundary
Mountains, bright red. Unit is 220 m thick at Ignek Valley. The 40-m-thick, gamma- Weathers characteristic light gray to yellowish cream. Contains megafauna and
ray zone at base is Albian (?) in age. Rich oil-prone source rocks in lower part microfauna of Morrowan and Atokan (Early and Middle Pennsylvanian) age.
(Albian? to Santonian). As mapped in Ignek Valley, includes some interbedded shale Thickness of upper unit variable owing to erosion, 0 to about 375 m. Lower unit
and turbidite sandstone assigned to the Canning Formation. Deep-water marine (Alapah Limestone) gray bioclastic limestone, dolomite, and black chert. Weathers
deposits. Age is Early and Late Cretaceous in mapped area. gray to dark gray. Contains megafauna and microfauna of Meramecian and
Ka Arctic Creek facies (Cretaceous)-Complexly folded, dark gray, and in part bentonitic Chesterian (Late Mississippian) age. Thickness of lower unit 275 to 655 m. In REFERENCES CITED
shale and thin- to thick-bedded, very fine to fine-grained lithic sandstone extreme south-central part of Demarcation Point quadrangle, unit includes Alaska Department of Natural Resources, 1983, Geothermal resources of Alaska: Alaska E Series Map,
(turbidities). Deep-water marine deposits. Probably Albian and younger in age. unmapped areas of Joe Creek Member of Echooka Formation (Lower Permian). In scale 1:2,500,000, 1 sheet.
Kp Pebble shale unit (Cretaceous)-Nonbentonitic shale containing matrix-supported, well- Bader, J.W., and Bird, K.J. 1986, Geologic Map of the Demarcation Point, Mt. Michelson, Flaxman
southern part of Mt. Michelson quadrangle, lower part of unit is shaly and basal
rounded, frosted quartz sand grains and common to rare chert and quartzite pebbles; Island, and Barter Island Quadrangles: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellanceous Investigations Series
contact is obscure. Dolomite reservoirs in the Lisburne are oil and gas bearing in Map I-1791, scale 1:250,000, 1 sheet.
about 100 m thick. Marine deposits. Age is Early Cretaceous (upper Neocomian). Prudhoe Bay field.
Kb Bathtub Graywacke (Cretaceous)-Greenish-gray, mostly thick-bedded, fine-grained Blodgett, R.B., Clough, J.G., Dutro, J.T., Jr., Ormiston, A.R., Palmer, A.R., and Taylor, M.E., 1986. Age
Mlk Lisburne Group (Pennsylvanian and Mississippian) and Kayak Shale revisions for the Nanook Limestone and Katakturuk Dolomite, northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska, in
lithic sandstone (graywacke). Contains common bimodal medium to coarse sand (Mississippian), undivided Bartsch-Winkler, Susan, and Reed, K.M., eds., Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological
grains and minor amounts of conglomerate. Sandstone units are separated by thick to Me Endicott Group, undivided (Mississippian)-In this area consists of Kayak Shale, Survey during 1985: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 978, p. 5-10.
thin, dark-gray, silty shale units. Measured unit is 750+ m thick (top not exposed). Itkilyariak Formation, Kekiktuk Conglomerate, and unnamed siltstone. Locally not Blodgett, R.B., Clough, J.G., Harris, A.G., and Robinson, M.S., 1992, The Mount Copleston Limestone, a
Exposed only at Bathtub Ridge in T. 4 S., Rs. 39-41E. Deep-water marine deposits. differentiated from Lisburne Group. As much as 380 m thick. The Kekiktuk is oil new Lower Devonian formation in the Shublik Mountains, northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska, in
Age is Early Cretaceous, possibly as young as Albian. and gas bearing in Endicott field. Locally divided into: Bradley, D.C., and Ford, A.B., eds., Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1990:
Ms Siltstone-Dark-gray phyllitic siltstone with laminae and knots of red- weathering U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1999, p. 3-7.
ferruginous siltstone. Locally contains anthracite. Distingu ished only in Buckingham, M.L., 1987, Fluvio-deltaic sedimentation patterns of the upper Cretaceous to lower Tertiary
Jago River Formation, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), northeastern Alaska, in Tailleur, I.,
southwestern part of Mt. Michelson quadrangle.
and Weimer, P., eds., Alaskan North Slope Geology: Bakersfield, California and Anchorage, Alaska,
Mk Kayak Shale-Dark gray to black. Locally interbedded with gray- to red-weathering Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and Alaska Geological
limestone. Locally contains anthracite at base. Includes un mapped area of Society, p. 529-540.
Itkilyariak (?) Formation in secs. 2 and 12, T. 1 S., R. 39 E. and in secs 13 and 16, T. Clough, J.G., Robinson, M.S., Pessel, G.H., Imm, T.A., Blodgett, R.B., Harris, A.G., Bergman, S.C., and
1 N., R. 44 E. As much as 250 m thick. Foland, K.A., 1990, Geology and age of Franklinian and older rocks in the Sadlerochit and Shublik
Mountains, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska [abs.]: Geological Association of Canada and
Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, Program with Abstracts, v. 15, p. A25.
Detterman, R.L., Reiser, H.N., Brosge', W.P., and Dutro, J.T., Jr., 1975, Post-Carboniferous stratigraphy,
northeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 886, 46 p.
Ebbley, Norman, Jr., 1944, Oil seepages on the Alaskan Arctic slope: Mining and Metallurgy, v. 25, p.
54 415-419.
Grantz, Arthur, Dinter, D.A., and Biswas,N.N.,1983, Map, cross sections, and chart showing late
Quaternary faults, folds, and earthquake epicenters on the Alaskan Beaufort shelf: U.S. Geological
Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1182-C, scale 1:500,000, 3 sheets.
49 Beaufort Sea Grantz, Arthur, and May, S.D., 1983, Rifting history and structural development of the continental margin
16 50 53 north of Alaska, in Watkins, J.S., and Drake, C.L., eds., Studies in continental margin geology:
17 51 55 59 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 34, p. 77-100.
52
18-20 Hanna, G.D., 1963, Oil seepages on the Arctic coastal plain, Alaska: Occasional Papers of the California
25 30 31 32 48 Academy of Sciences, no. 38, 18 p.
21 44 45
22 26 Kelley, J.S., and Molenaar, C.M., 1989, Geologic map of the north flank of the Sadlerochit Mountains,
33 37 46 47 Mount Michelson C-1, C-2, C-3 quadrangles, northeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File
23 27 38 43 58
29 34 57 Report 89-11, scale 1:63,360, 1 sheet.
24 35 42 Leffingwell, E. de K., 1919, The Canning River region, northern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey
28 39 41
36 State-Federal Professional Paper 109, 251 p.
er
40 56
er
15 MacNeil, F.S., 1957, Cenozoic megafossils of northern Alaska, in Shorter contributions to General
Riv
14 boundary
Riv
k r
ve geology 1956: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 294-C, p. 99-123.
Ok
Ri
i
v iov
Molenaar, C.M., Bird, K.J., and Kirk, A.R., 1987, Cretaceous and Tertiary stratigraphy of northeastern
p i lak
River
ng
R iv er
i
Creek
Alaska, in Tailleur, I.L., and Weimer, Paul, eds., Alaska North SlopeGeology: Pacific Section Society
s
nn
Sha
er
St a i n e
MAP BOUNDARY
Ca
R iv
of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, p. 513- 528.

Riv
13 Reiser, H.N., Dutro, J.T., Jr., Brosge', W.P., Armstrong, A.K., and Detterman, R.L., 1970, Progress map,
uk
1002 AREA
er
K a t a ktur
geology of the Sadlerochit and Shublik Mountains, Mt. Michel son C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4
Marsh
12 go quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 70-273, scale 1:63,360, 5 sheets.
la
Ja
ahu
Reiser, H.N., Brosge', W.P., Dutro, J.T., Jr., and Detterman, R.L., 1971, Preliminary geologic map, Mt.
Michelson quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 70-273, scale 1:200,000 2
Hul
11
Ka sheets.
5 vi k 10 Exploratory or delineation well --------1974, Preliminary geologic map of the Demarcation Point quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological
7
6 8 Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-610, scale 1:200,000, 1 sheet.
9 1. Kemik-2 13. Alaska State J1 25. West Mikkelsen-2 37. Point Thomson-1 50. Hammerhead-1 --------1980, Geologic map of the Demarcation Point quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey
2. Kemik-1 14. Leffingwell-1 26. Badami-2 38. Point Thomson-3 51. Kuvlum-2
4 3. Fin Creek-1 15. Yukon Gold-1 27. Badami-1 39. Alaska State C1 52. Kuvlum-1
Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1133, scale 1:250,000, 1 sheet.
Riv
4. Shaviovik-1 16. Jeanette Island-1 28. Mikkelsen Bay-1 40. Sourdough-2 53. Kuvlum-3 Robinson, M.S., Decker, J., Clough, J.G., Reifenstuhl, R.R., Dillon, J.T., Combellick, R.A., and
er
3 5. Gyr-1 17. Karluk-1 29. East Mikkelsen-1 41.Sourdough-3 54. Galahad-1 Rawlinson, S.E., 1989, Geology of the Sadlerochit and Shublik Mountains Arctic National Wildlife
2 6. Kavik-2 18. Tern-1 30. Challenge Island-1 42. Staines River State-1 55. Corona-1 Refuge, northeastern Alaska: Professional Report 100, Alaska Department of Natural Resources,
7. Kavik-1 19. Tern-2 31. Alaska Island-1 43. North Staines River-1 56. Warthog-1 Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, scale 1:63,360, 1 sheet.
1 8. Kavik-3 20. Tern-3 32. Alaska State F1 44. Alaska State D1 57. KIC Jago River-1 Sable, E.G., 1965, Geology of the Romanzof Mountains, Brooks Range, northeastern Alaska: U.S.
9. Canning River A1 21. West Mikkelsen-4 33. Point Thomson-4 45. Alaska State A1 58. Aurora-1
10. Canning River B1 22. West Mikkelsen-3 34. Point Thomson-2 46. Alaska State G2 59. Belcher-1
Geological Survey Open-File Report 65-141, 218 p.
11. Beli-1 23. West Mikkelsen-1 35. West Staines-1 47. Stinson-148. Wild Weasel-1 -------1977, Geology of the Romanzof Mountains, Brooks Range, northeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological
12. West Kavik-1 24. Alpenglow-1 36. West Staines-2 49. Hammerhead-2 Survey Professional Paper 897, 84 p.
U.S. Department of the Interior-Alaska Planning Group, 1974, Proposed Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
0 10 20 30 mi Alaska-Final environmental statement: U.S. Department of the Interior, 668 p.
U.S. Department of the Interior, 1983, Proposed oil and gas exploration within the coastal plain of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska-Final environmental impact statement and preliminary final
Index map showing location of wells near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 area. regulations: U.S. Department of the Interior, 463 p., 3 plates.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OPEN-FILE REPORT 98-34
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PLATE GG2
Oil and gas accumulations Prudhoe Bay (Sadlerochit and Lisburne pools) Endicott Tern Island/Liberty Badami Point Thomson Flaxman Island Oil and gas accumulations
Arco Sohio Exxon Arco Humble Exxon Exxon
Prudhoe Bay State-1 Sag Delta-2 Duck Island Unit-3 West Mikkelsen State-1 East Mikkelsen Bay State-1 Point Thomson Unit-2 Alaska State A-1
API 50-029-20001 API 50-029-20234 API 50-029-20510 API 50-029-20278 API 50-089-20002 API 50-089-20006 API 50-089-20003 Camden Bay
KB 40 ft.; TD 12,005 ft. KB 38 ft.; TD 12,535 ft. KB 38 ft. ; TMD 11,800 ft. KB 51 ft.; TD 15,620 ft. KB 38 ft.; TD 15,205 ft. KB 49 ft.; TD 14,117 ft. KB 41 ft.; TD 14,206 ft.
12 miles (19.4 km) 6 miles (9.7 km) 14 miles (22.7 km) 11 miles (17.8 km) 9 miles (14.6 km) 12 miles (19.4 km) 26 miles (42 km)
Shoreline
0 DATUM: Sea Level 0
Plio-Pleistocene
Sagavanirktok C Miocene
Paleontological
Formation Sagavanirktok Formation
ages from
Prudhoe Bay State-1 D
Sagavanirktok Miocene
E
Eocene Formation Early to Late
Eocene Unconformity F Oligocene Sagavanirktok Formation
5000 Eocene Unconf
5000
Paleocene Mikkelsen Tongue of Canning ormity
Formation Early Oligocene
?
Campanian- Canning Fm. Approximate top of zone of oil
generation (vitrinite reflectance 0.6%) Staines Tongue of Sagavanirk
Maestrichtian Pebble Shale & Kemik
Ss., undivided
tok Formation Middle to Late
Eocene
Turonian-Santonian Hue Shale
LCU
Sadlerochit Group
Tertia Top of abnormal pressure zone
Kingak Shale, Canning Formation Cretac
ry based on mud weight (>12 lb./gal.)
Sag River Sandstone, eous Middle Eocene
and Shublik Formation, Lisburne Group
and pressure measurements from
drill-stem tests
Canning Formation Oligocene
Hue Shale Pebble Shale and
10,000 undivided
LCU
Kemik Sandstone,
undivided
10,000
Itkilyariak Fm.
Endicott
Kayak Shale
Group Lisburne Early Eocene
FEET
Kekiktuk Congl. Group Canning Formation

TPM Itkilya
FEET
riak F
TPM ormati
Kekik on LCU Hue Shale Late Paleocene
ale LCU
tuk C
onglo Kayak Sh
mera TPM
te Endicott TPM
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, Group Thomson sand Eocene
undifferentiated (basement) Mikkelsen Bay Fault

15,000 15,000
(after Woidneck and others, 1987)
MIKKELSEN HIGH
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, LCU
Paleocene to Early
undifferentiated (basement) Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, TPM Eocene
Present Day undifferentiated (basement)
20,000 20,000
Shoreline
0 DATUM: Top 0
Staines Tongue Sagavanirktok
of Sagavanirktok
Staines Tongue of Sagavanirktok Formation
Fm. (~55 Ma)
Formation
Canning Fm. Canning Formation

Pebble Shale & Kemik Tertiary
Ss., undivided Cretace
Hue Shale Canning Formation ous
LCU
Sadlerochit Group Pebble Shale and
Kingak Shale, Hue Shale Kemik Sandstone,
Sag River Sandstone, LCU undivided
and Shublik Formation, Hue Shale LCU Late Paleocene
Lisburne Group Lisburne G
5000 undivided roup
TPM
5000
TPM Itkilyari LCU Paleocene
ak Fm. k Shale
Itkilyariak Fm. Kaya
FEET
Kekiktu TPM
k Cong Thomson sand
FEET
Kayak Shale lomera
Kekiktuk Congl. te
TPM
MIKKELSEN HIGH Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,

undifferentiated (basement)
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, Mikkelsen Bay Fault
10,000 undifferentiated (basement) (after Woidneck and others, 1987) 10,000
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,

Restoration at ~55 Ma
15,000 15,000
Pebble Shale & Kemik Pebble Shale and
Ss., undivided Kemik Sandstone,
undivided LCU LCU
0 DATUM: LCU
Sadlerochit Group
LCU
Thomson sand
0
(~130 Ma) Lisburne G TPM TPM
roup
Shale
Kingak Shale, Kayak Thomson sand
Sag River Sandstone, Lisburne Group TPM Kekiktu Itkilyari
ak Fm.
and Shublik Formation, k Cong
undivided
lomera
te
FEET
TPM
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, undifferentiated (basement)
FEET
5000 Mikkelsen Bay Fault 5000
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, (after Woidneck and others, 1987)

10,000 10,000
EXPLANATION Time Scale 1 Ma

148° 147° 146° 145°
Pliocene L
E
0 Datum
Prudhoe Bay L References Cited
Sag Delta-2
M
Eocene Unconformity
Endicott
Flaxman Island Oil accumulation Carbonate rocks Miocene
E 20
Duck Island Unit-3 Berggren, W.A., Kent, D.V., Swisher, C.S., III, and Aubry, M ., 1995, A revised
L
Prudhoe Oligocene Cenozoic chronology and chronostratigraphy, in Geochronology, time scales,
Tern Island/Liberty Point Thomson LCU Lower Cretaceous Unconformity E
Bay State-1 Gas accumulation Sandstone and Conglomerate
Tertiary L and global stratigraphic correlation: Tulsa, OK, Society for Sedimentary Geology,
Alaska State A-1 40 SEPM Special Publication No. 54, p. 129-212.
M
Badami
TPM Top Pre-Mississippian Unconformity Eocene
Flaxman Island E Gradstein, F.M., Agterberg, F.P., Ogg, J.G., Hardenbol, J.,van Veen, P.,
West Mikkelsen 55 Datum
Shale L Thierry, J., and Huang, Z., 1994, A Mesozoic time scale: Journal of Geophysical
State-1 Paleocene 60
Paleontological ages E Research, v. 99, no. B12, p. 24,051-24,074.
East Mikkelsen Point Thomson Maastrichtian
Prudhoe Bay (Lisburne Pool)
Bay State-1 Woidneck, K., Behrman, P., Soule, C., and Wu, J., 1987, Reservoir description of the
Prudhoe Bay (Sadlerochit Pool) Unit-2 Camden Bay Shaly carbonate rocks
Log correlation lines Campanian
80 Endicott field, North Slope, Alaska, in Tailleur, I., and Weimer, P., eds.,
10 0 20 MILES Santonian
Coniacian Alaskan North Slope Geology: Bakersfield, Calif., Society of Economic
70° Turonian
10 0 30 KM Metasedimentary rocks Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Pacific Section, p. 43-59.
Lithofacies boundary Cenomanian
Cretaceous 100
Albian
Seismic reflectors
Aptian
Meters Feet 120
Horizontal Scale ANGULAR RELATIONS Barremian
0 5 10 15 km 0 0
ALASKA Hauterivian
Valanginian
130 Datum
0 4 8 mi 0°
500 Berriasian 140
Vertical Scale 2°
1. Based on Berggren and others (1995) and Gradstein and others (1994).
1000 5°
I N D E X
VERTICAL EXAGGERATION = X5
1500 5000 10°
PRUDHOE BAY TO CAMDEN BAY WELL CORRELATION SECTION AND GEOL

OGIC RESTORATIONS
by
Kenneth J. Bird

Oil and gas accumulations Kavik Badami and Point Thomson Hammerhead and Kuvlum Oil and gas accumulations
Sourdough(?)
Exxon Exxon Mobil Exxon Unocal Mobil Exxon Exxon
SOUTH Canning River Unit A-1 Canning River Unit B-1 Beli Unit #1 Alaska State J-1 Leffingwell #1 West Staines State #2 Point Thomson Unit #1 Alaska State D-1
Unocal
Hammerhead #1
AMOCO
Gallahad #1
NORTH
API 50-179-20005 API 50-179-20006 API 50-179-20002 API 50-179-20007 API 50-089-20021 API 50-089-20004 API 50-089-20005 API 50-089-20015
KB 925; TD 8,874 ft KB 696; TD 10,803 ft KB 1052 ft, TD 14,632 ft
KB 474 ft, TD 13,652 ft API 55-171-001 55-171-00007
Pebble shale unit
KB 205 ft; TD 14,821 ft KB 95 ft; TD 13,171 ft KB 33 ft; TD 13,298 ft KB 38 ft; TD 13,050 ft
KB 39 ft; TD 8,034 ft KB 65 ft; TD 9238 ft
LCU and Kemik Ss., 3.88 miles (6.25 km) 3.57 miles (5.75 km) 9.9 miles (16 km) 11 miles (17.6 km) 6.5 miles (10.5 km) 5 miles (8 km) 3.96 miles (6.38 km) 11.54 miles (18.6 km) 26.6 mi (42.9 km)
undivided 0.200 ILD 0
2000GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
0 GR 200
0
0 GR 200
0 2.00 LLD 2000
0.200 ILD 2000
Shublik Formation Shoreline
Tertiary undiff.
Hu 0 0 GR
2.00
200
RILD 2000
Paleo. projected from
0 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
and Sag River Ki e

DATUM: Sea level 0 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 Mobil West Staines #1 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
0 GR 200 200 DT 0
0 0
0 GR 200 0.200 ILD 2000 200
Ss., undifferentiated
ng Sh 1000
1000
Eo 0 0 0
Late Pliocene
0 0
ak al
?
1000 ce Plio-Pleistocene A
ne Pliocene
e 1000
Sh Early Pliocene Late Pliocene
al 2000 2000 Un 1000

1000 1000 1000 1000 Pliocene 1000
e 2000 co B Early Pliocene
Sa nfo 2000 Sagavanirktok C Miocene Late Miocene
dl fault repeat Canning rm 2000 Miocene
er
oc of Kemik Ss. & 3000 3000 ity Formation D
2000 2000 2000
Early to Middle Miocene
2000 2000
hi Kingak Shale Formation 3000
Kayak Shale and tG 3000 Early to Late

Lis ro 3000
Paleocene
4000 3000 Oligocene 3000 3000 3000 3000
Kekiktuk Conglomerate, bu up 4000 E Late Oligocene
undifferentiated rn 4000
probable
e 4000
Gr 4000 F 4000 4000 4000 4000
Late Miocene
4000
ou 5000 5000
Miocene
TPM
p 5000
5000
Early Oligocene
Oligocene
Mikkelsen 5000
5000
5000 6000
6000
6000
of Canning
Tongue 5000 5000
?
5000 5000
5000
6000 Formation G
Maestrichtian
Early Oligocene
Campanian -
gamma-ray 6000
7000
curve shifted
6000 Late Eocene 6000 6000 6000 6000
7000
7000
7000 ?
7000 Early to Middle ?
8000 8000
maximum flooding
7000
Eocene
7000 7000 7000 Oligocene Early to Middle
7000
8000
Staines Tong surface ?
Miocene
8000
ue of Sagav
anirktok Fm. 8000
8874
9000
9000
T
Cre ertia
8000 8000 8000
?
8000
? Miocene
8000
tac ry
eo 9000
Eocene
us
Nanook Limestone 9000
9000
and Katakturuk Dolomite,
10000
unnamed tongue of 9000 9000 9000
10000 Sagavanirktok Fm. Canning Formation
Late 9238
undifferentiated
10000
10000
Paleocene ?
11000 10000 10000 10000 Top of overpressures based
10,000 10803 Ca on >12 lb/gal mudweight 10,000
nn
ing 11000
11000
12000 Fo 11000 11000 11000
Oligocene
rm ?
Sad ati Early
lero on 12000
Paleocene
? 13000 chit 12000
12000 12000 12000
Gro
up 13000
13000
Campanian to
Maestrichtian
Cenomanian to
Late
Cretaceous Hue Shale
Paleocene
? Interpretive top of zone of oil
generation (vitrinite reflectance 0.6%).
Sadlerochit Mountains frontal fault. 14000 Santonian 13000 13000 13000
13652 Albian 13171
A Devonian fault reactivated in 13298
?
Tertiary time.
14632
Hue Shale 14000
Thomson sand ?
? pebble shale unit pebble shale unit
Early Cretaceous
?
LCU ted
rentia
FEET
14821
FEET
diffe
te, un
mera
15,000 Lisburne Group ekik tuk C
onglo TPM ? 15,000
hale and K
kS
Kaya
undifferentiated (basement) Probable
? Mississippian-age Deep structure and stratigraphic relations of offshore area are
normal fault MIKKELSEN HIGH ? ? ? diagrammatic because they are poorly imaged on seismic
records and their depths are approximations based on
velocity vs. depth relations of Grantz and others (1987).
Seismic reflections within ? ?
20,000 Franklinian (pre-Mississippian)
LCU ? ? 20,000
sequence in western ANWR 1002
area projected into line of this section. Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
COLVILLE (FORELAND) BASIN BARROW ARCH BEAUFORT (PASSIVE) MARGIN
?
25,000 ? ? 25,000
?
DINKUM ?
?
? GRABEN ?
(A Jurassic and
Present-day base of graben-fill and bounding faults
? Early Cretaceous
rift basin)
? ?
30,000 are poorly imaged on seismic records ? 30,000
2.00 LLD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000

Shoreline 0 GR 200 0.200 ILD 2000
2.00 RILD 2000
5000
0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 6000
0 GR 200
3000 6000
0 Datum: Eocene Unconformity 5000

6000 ? ? 0
7000
4000 7000
Early to Middle
Mikkelsen Tongue 6000
Eocene
7000
5000
of Canning Formation 8000
8000
7000 ?
maximum flooding surface
D 6000
8000
9000
9000
Eocene
E
gamma-ray
curve shifted 8000
?
k Fm.
9000 Canning Formation
of Sagavanirkto
0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 10000
Staines Tongue
0 7000 Late Paleocene 10000
D ? 9000
1000 8000
unnamed tongue
of Canning Fm.
10000
? 11000
11000 ?
.
gavanirktok Fm
10000
5000 O unnamed tong
ue of Sa 11000 5000
?
?
12000
2000 9000 Early Paleocene 12000
11000
?
Campanian to
12000
Hue Shale 13000
? ? ?
R
3000 10000
Maestrichtian Late Cretaceous 13000
12000
Cenomanian to 13298
0 GR 200
0.200
0
ILD 2000 Santonian 13000
Albian 13171 Early Cretaceous Thomson sand Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,
?
Tertiary
ation
4000 11000
undiff.
g Form
13000
E
Cannin
1000
5000 12000
14000 pebble shale unit
? ?
2000
6000 13000 14821
?
hale ted
10,000 3000
13652 Hue S
iffe
ren
tia
TPM ? MIKKELSEN HIGH TPM
LCU 10,000
nd ?
Paleocene
7000
t e, u
era
4000
8000 LCU
k Con
gl om
(Barrow Arch) DINKUM
tu
FEET
ekik
Canning Formation
5000
Creta
ry
Tertia us
ceo 9000
le and
K Probable
Mississippian-age
? GRABEN
Sha
Maestrichtian
Campanian -
ak normal fault
0.200 ILD 2000
? 6000
10000
Kay (A Jurassic and
?
0 GR 200
0
up Early Cretaceous
Gro
chit
FEET
7000
11000
lero rift basin)
15,000 Sad
1000
? 15,000
2000
8000
12000
eG
ro up ?
urn
9000
13000 Lisb Seismic reflections within base of graben-fill and bounding faults
3000
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian)
pebble shale unit
Shale are poorly imaged on seismic records
and Kemik Ss. Hue
10000
14000
undivided fault repeat
4000 area projected into line of this section.
10803
14632
of Kemik &
?
Kingak Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,
LCU e
5000
S hal undifferentiated (basement)

gak ?
Kin up
6000
20,000 Shublik Fm. and Gr

o 20,000
Sag River Ss., h it
oc
7000
undifferentiated
d ler Sadlerochit Mountains frontal fault.
Sa 8000 A Devonian fault reactivated in
p Tertiary time.
ou
Gr 8874
n e
ur
Kayak Shale and
Kekiktuk Conglomerate,
undifferentiated
Lis
b
Nanook Limestone
undifferentiated
25,000 25,000
TPM
Submarine slump or scour in early
Paleocene time removed Hue Shale, pebble
2.00
2.00
LLD
RILD
2000
2000
Shoreline shale unit, and Thomson sand in this area.
0 GR 200
Datum: Top of unnamed tongue of Sagavanirktok Formation 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 8000
0 GR
9000
200 0.2 ILD 2000
0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
0 2000
9000
9000
9000
0
(Intra-Paleocene, ~ 60 Ma) 9000
D 0 GR 200
3000
10000 10000
10000
0.200
0
ILD 2000
unnamed tongue of Sagavanirktok Fm. 10000
Tertiary
E
undiff.
10000
11000 11000
4000
11000
11000
1000
Early Paleocene
D 11000
12000 Canning Formation 12000
5000
12000
12000
2000 Campanian to
O 12000 Maestrichtian Late Cretaceous
6000
13000
Hue Shale
Cenomanian to
Santonian
Albian
13000
13000
13298
13000
?
Thomson sand
3000 13171
Paleocene
13000
Early Cretaceous
Canning Formation pebble shale unit
R
14000
5000
7000
5000
4000
13652
iate
d 14821 ?
rent
?
8000
iffe
E
Canning Formation 5000

e, und TPM ?
erat Probable ?
Tertiary
9000
ng lom
Maestrichtian
?
Campanian -
ale k Co Mississippian-age
Hue Sh
s
0 GR
0.200
200
0
ILD 2000
Cretaceou 6000
10000 LCU
a nd K
ekik
tu
normal fault MIKKELSEN HIGH LCU
hale
p ak S ?
7000
1000
Grou Kay
chit
8000
11000
Sad
lero
Gro
up (Barrow Arch) Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks, DINKUM
FEET
e undifferentiated (basement)
FEET
2000
burn
10,000
ale
9000
12000
Lis
TPM
? GRABEN 10,000
ue Sh
3000
pebble shale unit H 13000
and Kemik Ss., 10000

(A Jurassic and
? Early Cretaceous
4000
undivided fault repeat of 14000
Seismic reflections within
Kemik & Kingak Franklinian (pre-Mississippian)
10803
rift basin)
LCU ale
5000 14632
Sh
Kin
gak
?
area projected into line of this section. ? ?
p 6000
Shublik Fm. and ou ?

Gr base of graben-fill and bounding faults
Sag River Ss., hit
undifferentiated r oc 7000
dle
Sadlerochit Mountains frontal fault. are poorly imaged on seismic records
15,000 Sa 8000
A Devonian fault reactivated in 15,000
Tertiary time.
oup
Gr 8874
n e
b ur
Lis
Kayak Shale and
Kekiktuk Conglomerate,
undifferentiated Nanook Limestone
TPM undifferentiated
20,000 20,000
pebble shale unit 0 GR
0.200
200
ILD 2000
0 GR 200
0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 Thomson sand was probably deposited at this location
2000 fault repeat 0.200 ILD 2000
0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
and Kemik Ss.
7000 0 GR 200 0.2 ILD 2000
12000 but was later removed by submarine scour or slumping
of Kemik & 10000 13000 12000
pebble shale unit 0 GR 200 0.200 ILD 2000
undivided Kingak 12000 during early Paleocene time.

3000 8000 13000
Lower Cretaceous Unconformity (LCU)
0 Datum: LCU 11000 14000 13000
13171 13298 0
hit Group
13000
Kingak Shale Sadleroc Thomson sand

4000 9000
12000
ayak Sh
ale, und
ivided
14821
DINKUM
and K TPM Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,
lomerate
e Group GRABEN
5000
Cong
10000
Shublik Formation
roup Lisburn Kekiktuk
13000
and Sag River Ss., chit G Probable
undifferentiated Sadlero 6000
10803
Mississippian-age
Pre-M
ississ
?
14000
ippian (A Jurassic and
normal fault Unco
14632 ? nform ? Early Cretaceous
Uplifted and Eroded
7000
?
Gro up ity rift basin)
urne ?
FEET
Lisb ?
FEET
?
8000
5000
5000 Kayak Shale and
Kekiktuk Conglomerate, 8874
Sadlerochit Mountains frontal fault.
A Devonian fault reactivated in Franklinian (pre-Mississippian) rocks,
Seismic reflections within
Franklinian (pre-Mississippian)
Rift Shoulder base of graben-fill and bounding faults
undifferentiated Tertiary time. undifferentiated (basement) sequence in western ANWR 1002
area projected into line of this section.
are poorly imaged on seismic records
TPM
Nanook Limestone
undifferentiated
10,000 10,000
147° 146° 145° EXPLANATION Time Scale 1 Ma
Oil Accumulation ALASKA L

0 Datum
70° 30' Gas Accumulation Gallahad
Pliocene
L
E
References Cited
M
Miocene
E 20
Hammerhead
Hammerhead 1 Carbonate rocks Eocene Unconformity Berggren, W.A., Kent, D.V., Swisher, C.S., III, and Aubry, M ., 1995, A revised
L
Point Thomson Kuvlum I N D E X
Oligocene
E
Cenozoic chronology and chronostratigraphy, in Geochronology, time scales,
Tertiary L and global stratigraphic correlation: Tulsa, OK, Society for Sedimentary Geology,
Badami Alaska D-1 LCU Lower Cretaceous Unconformity 40 Datum SEPM Special Publication No. 54, p. 129-212.
Pt Thomson-1 Sandstone and Conglomerate M
0 ANGULAR RELATIONS Eocene
West Staines 2 6
E Gradstein, F.M., Agterberg, F.P., Ogg, J.G., Hardenbol, J.,van Veen, P.,
Sourdough
TPM Top Pre-Mississippian Unconformity Thierry, J., and Huang, Z., 1994, A Mesozoic time scale: Journal of Geophysical
Leffingwell 0° L
70° 00'
r Shale Paleocene
E
60
Datum Research, v. 99, no. B12, p. 24,051-24,074.
Rive THICKNESS
2° Maastrichtian
ng 1002 Area of the Projected paleontological ages
Alaska J-1 Grantz, A., Dinter, D.A., and Culotta, R.C., 1987, Structure of the continental shelf
i
Cann
Arctic National 5° Campanian

Shaly carbonate rocks 80 north of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in Bird, K.J., and Magoon, L.B.,
Wildlife Refuge Santonian
Log correlation lines Coniacian eds., Petroleum geology of the northern part of the Arctic National Wildlife
10°
Beli 500 M
Turonian Refuge, northeastern Alaska, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1778, p. 271-276.
Canning B-1 Cenomanian
Kavik
0 5 KM Metasedimentary rocks Cretaceous 100
Canning A-1 Seismic reflectors
Albian
69° 30'
DISTANCE Aptian
120
10 0 20 MI Barremian
10 0 30 KM CROSS-SECTION VERTICAL EXAGGERATION = X5 Hauterivian

Valanginian
130 Datum
Berriasian 140
1. Based on Berggren and others (1995) and Gradstein and others (1994).
CANNING RIVER AND OFFSHORE WELL CORRELATION SECTION AND GEOLOGIC RESTORATIONS
by
Kenneth J. Bird

155° 150° 145° 140° 135° 146° 144° 142° 140°

72°
Well
Albian Hue Shale
Map area
ALASKA
Oligocene
gamma-ray zone cline NOT PALINSPASTICALLY RESTORED
Gamma-ray zone absent, anti
present in outcrop en
Bw but age-equivalent (Albian) md
on Jago River and Sh Ca b-basin
strata are present e lf ter su
71°
Niguanak Ridge
Bar idge
in Aurora well Boundary Creek Fm. Ed h er r
gamma-ray zone ge lc
present in wells Be
Roland Bay
Spring River Demarcation r
Shelf Basin i d ge 70°N
plain 1002 Area condensed facies Jago ridge
Slop
70° De
Delta ma
rc a t
Plain
e
flysch facies ? Angun sub-basin ? i o n s u b - b a si n
Arctic Creek Rapid
A high
MC
facies
ilik in
-bas
Bathtub Depression
(flysch) Syncline
(flysch)
Aich sub
Shelf Edge k
Sa bb a t h C r e e
69°
NOT PALINSPASTICALLY RESTORED AFTA 25 Ma

AG
TECTONIC UPLANDS
AtP Southern erosional Southern erosional
limit of Albian rocks limit of Albian rocks
68° TECTONIC
100 miles
UPLA
TECTONIC UPLANDS NDS 30 mi
146° 144° 142° 140° 146° 144° 142° 140°
Paleocene NOT PALINSPASTICALLY RESTORED

Sh
elf
Miocene
cline
Ed
ge anti
en
md
Ca b-basin
ter su idge
Bar er r
lch
NOT PALINSPASTICALLY RESTORED Be
Demarcation r
70°N i d ge 70°N
Jago ridge
ge De
Ed ma
rc a t
? Angun sub-basin ? i o n s u b - b a si n
lf
She high high
A
MC
ilik in ilik in
Aich -bas Aich -bas
sub sub
k k
Sa bb a t h C r e e Sa bb a t h C r e e
TECTONIC UPLANDS
TECTONIC
UPLANDS 30 mi
AFTA 60 Ma
30 mi
146° 144° 142° 140° 146° 144° 142° 140°

Sh
elf
Eocene Earthquake
epicenters
mag = 2.4 - 5.3
E dg
e Holocene
cline
anti
en
md
Ca b-basin
ter su idge
NOT PALINSPASTICALLY RESTORED Bar er r
lch
Be
Ed g e
Shelf Demarcation r Demarcation r
i d ge 70°N
i d ge 70°N
Jago ridge Jago ridge
De De
ma ma
rc a t rc a t
? Angun sub-basin ? i o n s u b - b a si n ? Angun sub-basin ? i o n s u b - b a si n
high A high
MC
ilik in ilik in
Aich -bas Aich -bas
sub sub
k k
Sa bb a t h C r e e Sa bb a t h C r e e
Sadlerochit Mts.
AFTA 45 Ma ge a
ll Rid TECTONIC UPLANDS
PLIFTS we M
ENT U Lef
fing 35 UPLANDS
IPI
FT
A NIC
INC A CT
O
30 mi TE 30 mi
EXPLANATION
Structural Features
Depositional Systems Sediment Transport
Direction MCA Marsh Creek Anticline
Fluvial, Deltaic, Marine Slope Positive Structures
Predominant
& Marine Shelf & Deep Basin Negative Structures
Minor N-Dipping Growth Faults
PALEOGEOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS AND PRESENT-DAY STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF NORTHEASTERN ALASKA

by
Kenneth J. Bird


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Chapter GG

GEOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOGIC SETTING

1 U.S. Geological Survey, MS 969, Menlo Park, CA 94025

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

GG1. Map of plate-tectonic setting

GG1. Geologic map of the northern part of the ANWR (1 of 2 sheets)

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The geologic history of this region includes development of a Devonian to

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Additional information on the 1002 area relating to the physiography, climate,

PLATE TECTONIC SETTING

Northern Alaska is considered part of a small continental fragment, called the

The plate tectonic history of northern Alaska remains a controversial topic

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

More than 95 percent of the 1002 area is covered by a veneer of

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Each section has been restored to show its stratigraphic development at

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

At least two generations of compressional folding and faulting are represented

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Structures involving only pre-Mississippian rocks are also present in this

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

In 1973, Lerand provided a comprehensive review of the Phanerozoic

Lerand's sequences have provided a unifying concept and a useful way of

Franklinian rocks of northeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada consist

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Lerand’s (1973) Franklinian sequence included strata of middle Cambrian to

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The geologic history of these rocks is complex and includes multiple

Compressional deformation, uplift, and erosion ascribed to the Ellesmerian

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The Ellesmerian sequence as described in this report consists of marine and

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

In Mississippian and Pennsylvanian time, clastic sedimentation in northern

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Jurassic and Early Cretaceous normal faulting, a defining characteristic of the

South of the area that contains Jurassic-Cretaceous normal faults, Beaufortian

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Subsidence of the rift margin resulted in a northward transgression of the sea

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Regional Relations and the Niguanak/Aurora Area. The answer to the

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

In northern Alaska, the Brookian sequence consists of thick, northeasterly-

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The Canning Formation (Molenaar and others, 1987) is a thick, dominantly

The Sagavanirktok Formation is a thick, deltaic shallow marine and

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

A series of six maps have been prepared in collaboration with D.

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The map of Paleocene paleogeography shows that northward progradation of

The map of Eocene paleogeography shows continuing syndepositional

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

The map of Miocene paleogeography shows continuing syndepositional

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Northern Alaska is part of a small, poorly-defined continental fragment with a

The sedimentologic history of northern Alaska can be summarized in four

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the

Anderson, A.V., 1991, Geologic map and cross-sections: Headwaters of the

Anderson, A.V., Mull, C.G., and Crowder, R.K., 1993, Mississippian

The Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the