Revealing the structure of a terrane in southern Alaska

Abstract

In southern Alaska, multiple terranes—slabs that have broken off from larger tectonic plates and shuffed around—create a complex patchwork that makes it challenging for scientists to untangle the tectonic history and structure of the region. One of these, the Yakutat terrane, which lies just offshore southern Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska, is converging with the North American plate and driving the growth of the Chugach–St. Elias mountains. The structure of this terrane has not been well studied until now. Worthington et al. conducted seismic studies to create a two‐ dimensional seismic velocity model of the Yakutat terrane. The model allows them to constrain the crustal thickness and composition of the terrane.

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