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Irvin L. Tailleur

Publications and source records attributed to Irvin L. Tailleur.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2004

Geologic and Fossil Locality Maps of the West-Central Part of the Howard Pass Quadrangle and Part of the Adjacent Misheguk Mountain Quadrangle, Western Brooks Range, Alaska

The map depicts the field distribution and contact relations between stratigraphic units, the tectonic relations between major stratigraphic sequences, and the detailed internal structure of these sequences. The stratigraphic sequences formed in a variety of continental margin depositional environments, and subsequently underwent a complexde formational history of imbricate thrust faulting and folding. A compilation of micro and macro fossil identifications is included in this data set.

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map↗
USGS1983

Stratigraphy, structure, and palinspastic synthesis of the western Brooks Range, northwestern Alaska

This report is an effort to describe and decipher the mid-Paleozoic to Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy and the orogenic evolution of the western Brooks Range. The western Brooks Range primarily is composed of stacks of complexly deformed thrust sheets that contain mostly coeval sequences of rocks with slightly different lithologic facies. In order to simplify the thrust-faulted stratigraphy and palinspastic restoration, the rocks are grouped into eight principal structural levels. The lowest structural level is believed to be autochthonous or parautochthonous and above that, each succeeding level is designated allochthon one through seven. Allochthon seven is composed of the remnants of an extensive ophiolite sheet. Allochthon six is composed of pillow basalt with subordinate intermediate volcanic rocks, chert, and Devonian limestone. It is not certain whether this allochthon was formed in a continental or oceanic setting. Allochthons five through one consist of distinctive and coeval sequences of Devonian to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks that were deposited in a continental setting. The present geographic distribution of each structural level is shown on the allochthon map of the western Brooks Range. The stratigraphy of the southern part of northern Alaska has been reconstructed by systematically unstacking lower allochthons to the north of higher allochthons. The palinspastic map that results from this procedure shows that the minimum thrust displacement between allochthon seven and the autochthon is approximately 700 to 800 km. Schematic cross sections drawn across the palinspastic map show how the stratigraphy of the southern part of northern. Alaska most likely appeared prior to the orogeny. During Devonian and Mississippian time, the sedimentary sequences that are now part of allochthons one to five are inferred to have been deposited in an ensialic basin with both northern and southern margins. During Pennsylvanian time, the sequences seem to have become part of a southward-sloping continental shelf when a southern land area moved away from northern Alaska by an inferred plate tectonic process of rifting or strike-slip motion. In Early Jurassic time just prior to the Brooks Range orogeny, northern Alaska probably was an extensive continental shelf with oceanic conditions to the south and land to the north. The Brooks Range orogeny seems to have begun in the Middle Jurassic as the Arctic Alaska plate was underthrust (subducted) southward beneath oceanic crust of allochthon seven. At progressively later stages in the underthrusting process, the upper parts of the continental shelf were detached from the subthrust basement on which they were deposited, resulting in the other allochthons of the western Brooks Range. The period of major thrusting ceased by Albian time in the Early Cretaceous. During middle and Late Cretaceous time, epeirogenic uplift in the Brooks Range caused large quantities of clastic detritus to be shed into successor basins to the north and south. Broad folds and reverse faults in Upper Cretaceous sediments north of the Brooks Range provide evidence for a later period(s) of less intense deformation in northern Alaska.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1973

Probable rift origin of the Canada basin, Arctic Ocean

Formation of the Canada basin by post-Triassic rifting seems the most workable and logical hypothesis with information available. Speculated counterclockwise rotation of the Alaska-Chukchi continental edge best rationalizes the complex geology of northern Alaska, whereas a single continental block before the Jurassic makes the best palinspastic fit for Arctic America. The Arctic Ocean is the focus of present-day spreading and probably was the focus of earlier stages of spreading in which spread of the Canada basin would be an initial stage. If the Atlantic formed by seafloor spreading, spread of the Canada basin is probable because analogies between the Arctic and Atlantic edges indicate a common origin for the ocean basins. Late Cretaceous and younger deflections of the Cordillera in the Arctic and diabasic emplacements in the northern Arctic Islands may reflect later stages of spreading. Pre-Mesozoic plate tectonism may be represented by the widespread Proterozoic diabasic emplacements in the Canadian Arctic and by the Franklinian-Innuitian tract where the volcanogenic rocks and deformation resulted not from a classical eugeosyncline-miogeosyncline couple but from the junction of a mid-Paleozoic continental edge and another plate on closure of a pre-Arctic Ocean.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1973

Probable rift origin of Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

Formation of the Canada basin by post-Triassic rifting seems the most workable and logical hypothesis on the basis of available information. Speculated counterclockwise rotation of the Alaska-Chukchi continental edge best rationalizes the complex geology of northern Alaska, whereas the assumption that a single continental block was present before the Jurassic makes the best palinspastic fit for Arctic America. The Arctic Ocean is the focus of present-day spreading and probably was the focus of earlier stages of spreading in which spread of the Canada basin would have been an initial stage. Spread of the Canada basin is probable if the Atlantic formed by sea-floor spreading, because analogies between the Arctic and Atlantic edges indicate a common origin for the ocean basins. Late Cretaceous and younger deflections of the Cordillera in the Arctic and diabasic emplacements in the northern Arctic Islands may reflect later stages of spreading. Pre-Mesozoic plate tectonism may be represented by the widespread Proterozoic diabasic emplacements in the Canadian Arctic and by the Franklinian-lnnuitian tract, where the volcanogenic rocks and deformation resulted not from a classical eugeosyncline-miogeosyncline couple, but from the junction of a mid-Paleozoic continental edge and another plate on closure of a pre-Arctic Ocean.

Book chapter↗
USGS1971

The Shublik Formation and adjacent strata in northeastern Alaska description, minor elements, depositional environments and diagenesis

The Shublik Formation (Middle and Late Triassic) is widespread in the surface and subsurface of northern Alaska. Four stratigraphic sections along about 70 miles of the front of the northeastern Brooks Range east of the Canning giver were examined and sampled in detail in 1968. These sections and six-step spectrographic and carbon analyses of the samples combined with other data to provide a preliminary local description of the highly organic unit and of the paleoenvironments. Thicknesses measured between the overlying Kingak Shale of Jurassic age and the underlying Sadlerochit Formation of Permian and Triassic age range from 400 to more than 800 feet but the 400 feet, obtained from the most completely exposed section, may be closer to the real thickness across the region. The sections consist of organic-rich, phosphatic, and fossiliferous muddy, silty, or carbonate rocks. The general sequence consists, from the bottom up, of a lower unit of phosphatic siltstone, a middle unit of phosphatic carbonate rocks, and an upper unit of shale and carbonate rocks near the Canning River and shale, carbonate rocks, and sandstone to the east. Although previously designated a basal member of the Kingak Shale (Jurassic), the upper unit is here included with the Shublik on the basis of its regional lithologic relation. The minor element compositions of the samples of the Shublik Formation are consistent with their carbonaceous and phosphatic natures in that relatively large amounts of copper, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium and rare earths are present. The predominantly sandy rocks of the underlying Sadlerochit Formation (Permian and Triassic) have low contents of most minor elements. The compositions of samples of Kingak Shale have a wide range not readily explicable by the nature of the rock: an efflorescent sulfate salt contains 1,500 ppm nickel and 1,500 ppm zinc and large amounts of other metals derived from weathering of pyrite and leaching of local shale. The only recorded occurrence of silver and 300 ppm lead in gouge along a shear plane may be the result of metals introduced from an extraneous source. The deposits reflect a marine environment that deepened somewhat following deposition of the Sadlerochit Formation and then shoaled during deposition of the upper limestone-siltstone unit. This apparently resulted from a moderate transgression and regression of the sea with respect to a northwest-trending line between Barrow and the Brooks Range at the International Boundary. Nearer shore facies appear eastward. The phosphate in nodules, fossil molds and oolites, appears to have formed diagenetically within the uncompacted sediment.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1970

Lead-, zinc-, and barite-bearing samples from the western Brooks Range, Alaska, with a section on petrography and mineralogy

Concentrations of base metal and barite of potential economic significance may be present in the western De Long Mountains, northwestern Alaska. Greater than 2 percent lead and 1 percent zinc were detected semiquantitatively in sulfide-bearing hand samples from one locality, and more than 10 percent lead was analyzed in a related stream sediment sample. The base metals as sulfides, along with barite, have been concentrated in Paleozoic and(or) Mesozoic sedimentary chert. Several other localities at which sulfides appear to be weathering are present within a 100-square-mlle area. Systematic prospecting should determine if the mineralization has regional significance and has resulted in deposits' of possible economic importance.

Alaska↗
USGS1953

Progress report on the Kiligwa anticlinorium

This report was prepared to assist in the planning of seismic profiles to be run across the anticlinorium in the vicinity pf the Kiligwa River. The stratigraphy and structure of the mapped area south of the anticlinorium are reviewed.

Alaska↗
USGS1951

Stratigraphy and structure of the southern foothills section between the Etivluk and Kiligwa Rivers

The part of the Southern Foothill section, Arctic foothills province, that lies beteween the Etivluk and Kiligwa Rivers was investigated by Navy Oil Unit party 6 during the 1950 field season, A belt about 16 miles wide and 60 miles long (approximately 800 square miles) was mapped in considerable detail (see index map, pl. 1). The mapped area is in the west-central part of the Arctic Foothills province, wholly within the boundaries of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. Major drainage consists of the middle reaches of the Etivluk, Ipnavik, Kuna, and Kiligwa Rivers. Principal objectives of the party, using previous geologic studies in. the Okpikruak-Kiruktagiak Rivers area 1/ ao an initial working base, were stratigraphic and structural studies of the outcrops in the interstream areas. In view of the former interest in possible Lisburne limestone plays, the Lisburne Ridge west of the Etivluk River and the northward nosing of the Triassic complex between the Ipnavik and Kuna Rivers were designated as areas for particular emphasis. The party included six men: two geologists; two field assistants, a cook, and a weasel mechanic. Three weasels were available for transportation; two of which were maintained in operating condition for daily field use. As many exposures as were pertinent or accessible were examined. Vertical photographs were used for plotting data and for areal control; relative vertical control was established with altimeters, The effective working radius from base camp as increased from 8 miles to 20 miles by making frequent 2- or 3-day spike trips.

Alaska↗
USGS1951

Preliminary report on the stratigraphy and structure of the Kiligwa River area, Alaska, 1951

The 1951 field program for Navy Oil Unit party 3 was undertaken with a twofold purpose: (1) to investigate the apparent anticlinorium in the Torok formation (Lower Cretaceous) where exposed along the lower reaches of the Ipnavik, Kiligwa, and Nuna Rivers; and (2) to extend the mapping of the west-central Southern Foothills section initiated in 1950 and determine the relationship of the geology of the foothills to that of the Brooks Range to the south.

Alaska↗
USGS1950

Stratigraphy and structure of the Okpikruak and Kiruktagiak Rivers area, Alaska

Navy Oil Unit Party 4, during the summer field season of 1949, examined the surface geology of the area of the Okpikruak and Kiruktagiak Rivers. The party consisted of six men: two geologists, two field assistants, a weasel mechanic, and a cook. Three weasels were used for transportation in the field. The area covered is bounded on the west by the Okpikruak River, on the east by the Chandler River, and on the south by the north front of the Brooks Range. Tuktu Bluff on the Chandler River and its westward extension forms the northern boundary. The area is drained by the Chandler, Kiruktagiak, Ayiyak, Okokmilaga, and Okpikruak Rivers. The objectives of this summer's work was the geologic mapping and stratigraphic study of the rocks that crop out in this area. All outcrops were visited and the geology was plotted on vertical and trimetrogon oblique aerial photographs. Altitudes were established by an altimeter traverse. Parts of this area had been investigated previously by members of the Navy Oil Unit. During the summer of 1945 George Gryc, E. J. Webber, and Karl Stefansson visited outcrops along the. Chandler and Kiruktagiak Rivers and in the vicinity of Castle Mountain. In the same year L. A. Warner and C. E. Kirschner examined outcrops along the Okpikruak River in conjunction with their survey of the Klink and Colville Rivers. R. L. Detterman included detailed stratigraphic studies of cutbanks near the confluence of the Kiruktagiak and Chandler Rivers in his geological mapping of the lower Chandler during the summer of 1948.

Alaska↗