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AAEO – Arctic Alaska and Eurasian Orogens

Map showing The Uralian, Caledonian, and Timanian orogens disappear beneath the Arctic Ocean.

 

 

Three Eurasian orogens (Timanides, Caledonides, and Uralides) are known to strike across the Eurasian Arctic continental shelves, yet beyond the shelf-ocean basin transition they are unrecognized.  Some tectonic reconstructions suggest that the Caledonian and Timanian orogens should occur in the Brooks Range fold and thrust belt (BR FTB) of Alaska.To test this hypothesis our multidisciplinary, Swedish-American initiative investigates the BR FTB through combined field studies and modern (single grain U-Pb laser ablation dating and in-situ laser argon dating) analytical techniques in order to determine the age of units, characterize deformational style and time of metamorphism, and assess sediment provenance.