Analysis of Collisional Basins, Nutzotin and Mentastna Mountains, Alaska

The Nutzotin basin is part of a series of basins that formed inboard of the Wrangellia composite terrane as it collided with the former North American continental margin. Most of these Jurassic-Cretaceous basins have been highly deformed and metamorphosed so little is known about the stratigraphy, depositional environments, and structural configuration of the basins. The Nutzotin basin is the least deformed of the collisional basins and is well exposed in the eastern Alaska Range. We are completing a sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and structural characterization of the Nutzotin basin. In this project, we are working closely with the staff of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park.

Jeff Manuszak, Nutzotin Mtns. Backpacking into the Nutzotin Mtns, eastern Alaska Range. Bush Transportation. Kink fold in Mentasta Mtns. Person (blue shirt) lower left.