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Catherine L. Hanks, Research Assistant Professor
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Alaska is at the meeting point of the North American and Eurasian continents and the Pacific and Arctic Ocean basins. Because of this unique geographic position, Alaska has been geologically dynamic for many millions of years, and remains so today. Structural studies by the Tectonics and Sedimentation Research Group aim to develop a better understanding of the Alaska's deformational history, with a focus on the deformational behavior of rocks at shallow crustal levels in the Brooks Range fold-and-thrust belt.
A major focus of structural studies during the late 1980's and early 1990's was a multidisciplinary study of the northeastern Brooks Range in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This project (sponsored by the petroleum industry and the U.S. Department of Energy) involved many graduate students and several faculty members. Structural studies included constructing regional balanced cross sections, detailed studies of fold geometry and evolution, apatite-fission track studies to evaluate timing and the amount of uplift, fracture analysis of potential hydrocarbon reservoir horizons, and regional studies using synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
More recently, research has shifted west into other parts of northern Alaska. Structural studies in the central Brooks Range have focused on the geometry and evolution of the northern part of the range, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey's Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT) project. Several student projects have focused on specific structural problems along this transect.
Current structural studies will continue to focus on the structural evolution of northern Alaska at a variety of scales. These studies will range from regional studies of the crustal scale evolution of the region , detailed studies of the geometry and evolution of detachment folds and its relationship to fracture development and reservoir behavior, as well as specific studies of the structural history and geometry of significant parts of the fold-and-thrust belt.
Members of the group have also been involved in structural studies in other parts of Alaska and the Russian Far East.
Possible graduate student research projects in structural geology
Past theses and dissertations in structural geology
For more information about Geology and Geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
This site is maintained by Catherine.Hanks@gi.alaska.edu
Last updated on August 16, 2000