Using GPlates to Help Refine the Transport History of the Yakutat Block, Alaska

• Main Author: Le, Nhan
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Carleton Digital Commons 2021
• Subjects: Alaska; North America; Pacific Basin; plate reconstruction; tectonics; Pacific; Prince Rupert; Rupert; Yakutat
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.carleton.edu/comps/2909

Alaska is made up of many allochthonous terranes that collided with and accreted to North America throughout the Cenozoic. The Yakutat terrane is a microplate that formed ~53 Ma as an oceanic plateau most likely along the Kula-Farallon ridge to the south and is currently colliding with North America in Southern Alaska. The transport history of the Yakutat block is still unclear. Previously published plate tectonic reconstructions either place the Yakutat block near Prince Rupert, for a northern transport history, or near northern California for a southern transport history. For this study, GPlates, an open-source interactive plate reconstruction program, was used to test the northern and southern movement histories within the North American margin. These traced back the movement history of the Yakutat block in reference to other plate boundaries and terranes, including the Resurrection plate. The results suggest that the Yakutat terrane likely formed adjacent to northern California and southern Oregon and had a longer transport history.