David L. LePain

Early Carboniferous Transgression on a Passive Continental Margin: Deposition of the Kekiktuk Conglomerate, Northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska

The base of the Ellesmerian sequence in the northeastern Brooks Range is a widespread terrigenous clastic succession assigned to the Kekiktuk Conglomerate (late Tournaisian-Visean). The Kekiktuk is situated above a regional angular unconformity and is the base of a transgressive succession that is thought to record coastal onlap associated with the formation of a passive continental margin. Six depositional units have been recognized in the Kekiktuk Conglomerate. Unit A consists of clast-supported and rare matrix-supported pebble and cobble conglomerate with minor interbeds of pebbly sandstone. It records deposition at the base of incised paleovalleys from high-sediment-concentration flows and debris flows. Units B, C, and D consist of multistory fining-upward cycles that record deposition within incised paleovalleys from low-sinuosity bed-load-dominated streams, low to moderate-sinuosity bed-load-dominated streams, and high-sinuosity mixed-load streams, respectively. Unit E consists of multistory fining-upward cycles and laminated sandstone with thin conglomerate stringers. It records deposition in the distal regions of incised paleovalleys in a variety of marginal-mari e settings, including fluvial channel, channel-mouth bar, beach ridge, and coastal swamp environments. Unit F consists of horizontally bedded sandstone, interbedded sandstone, and organic-rich mudstone. It records deposition over paleotopographic highs on the sub-Mississippian unconformity from sheetfloods and in associated coastal swamp and mud-flat settings. Relative sea level rise is thought to have initiated fluvial deposition in the northeastern Brooks Range by the latest Tournaisian-earliest Visean. Coal-bearing fluvial channel-fill and flood-basin successions and palynologic data suggest that this part of Arctic Alaska was situated in a humid climatic zone during the Early Carboniferous. The stratigraphic and sedimentologic organization of the Kekiktuk Conglomerate indicates that once base-level rise began to affect the northeastern Brooks Range, local and regional variations in paleotopography along the sub-Mississippian unconformity exerted primary control on accommodation and consequent distribution of Kekiktuk depositional environments. The stratigraphic position of the Kekiktuk Conglomerate above a regional angular unconformity nd below marginal-marine and shallow-marine shales, combined with its limited thickness, widespread distribution, and suite of paleoenvironments, suggests deposition in an upland region situated landward of the tectonic hinge zone along a steadily subsiding passive continental margin. Thermal subsidence combined with eustatic sea level rise were probably responsible for relative sea level rise in Arctic Alaska and the resulting regional transgression. End_Page 679------------------------------

Reconnaissance stratigraphic studies in the Susitna basin, Alaska, during the 2014 field season

The Susitna basin is a poorly-understood Cenozoic successor basin immediately north of Cook Inlet in south-central Alaska (Kirschner, 1994). The basin is bounded by the Castle Mountain fault and Cook Inlet basin on the south, the Talkeetna Mountains on the east, the Alaska Range on the north, and the Alaska–Aleutian Range on the west (fig. 2-1). The Cenozoic fill of the basin includes coal-bearing nonmarine rocks that are partly correlative with Paleogene strata in the Matanuska Valley and Paleogene and Neogene formations in Cook Inlet (Stanley and others, 2013, 2014). Mesozoic sedimentary rocks are present in widely-scattered uplifts in and around the margins of the basin; these rocks differ significantly from Mesozoic rocks in the forearc basin to the south. Mesozoic strata in the Susitna region were likely part of a remnant ocean basin that preceded the nonmarine Cenozoic basin (Trop and Ridgway, 2007). The presence of coal-bearing strata similar to units that are proven source rocks for microbial gas in Cook Inlet (Claypool and others, 1980) suggests the possibility of a similar system in the Susitna basin (Decker and others, 2012). In 2011 the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) and Alaska Division of Oil and Gas, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey, initiated a study of the gas potential of the Susitna basin (Gillis and others, 2013). This report presents a preliminary summary of the results from 14 days of helicopter-supported field work completed in the basin in August 2014. The goals of this work were to continue the reconnaissance stratigraphic work begun in 2011 aimed at understanding reservoir and seal potential of Tertiary strata, characterize the gas source potential of coals, and examine Mesozoic strata for source and reservoir potential.

Sedimentary petrology and reservoir quality of the Middle Jurassic Red Glacier Formation, Cook Inlet forearc basin: Initial impressions

The Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys and Division of Oil & Gas are currently conducting a study of the hydrocarbon potential of Cook Inlet forearc basin (Gillis, 2013, 2014; LePain and others, 2013; Wartes, 2015; Herriott, 2016 [this volume]). The Middle Jurassic Tuxedni Group is recognized as a major source of oil in Tertiary reservoirs (Magoon, 1994), although the potential for Tuxedni reservoirs remains largely unknown. As part of this program, five days of the 2015 field season were spent examining outcrops, largely sandstones, of the Middle Jurassic Red Glacier Formation (Tuxedni Group) approximately 6.4 km northeast of Johnson Glacier on the western side of Cook Inlet (fig. 4-1). Three stratigraphic sections (fig. 4-2) totaling approximately 307 m in thickness were measured and described in detail (LePain and others, 2016 [this volume]). Samples were collected for a variety of analyses including palynology, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance, detrital zircon geochronology, and petrology. This report summarizes our initial impressions of the petrology and reservoir quality of sandstones encountered in these measured sections. Interpretations are based largely on hand-lens observations of hand specimens and are augmented by stereomicroscope observations. Detailed petrographic (point-count) analyses and measurement of petrophysical properties (porosity, permeability, and grain density) are currently in progress.

Stratigraphic reconnaissance of the Middle Jurassic Red Glacier Formation, Tuxedni Group, at Red Glacier, Cook Inlet, Alaska

The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are implementing ongoing programs to characterize the petroleum potential of Cook Inlet basin. Since 2009 this program has included work on the Mesozoic stratigraphy of lower Cook Inlet, including the Middle Jurassic Tuxedni Group between Tuxedni and Iniskin bays (LePain and others, 2013; Stanley and others, 2013; fig. 5-1). The basal unit in the group, the Red Glacier Formation (fig. 5-2), is thought to be the principal source rock for oil produced in upper Cook Inlet, and available geochemical data support this contention (Magoon and Anders, 1992; Magoon, 1994). Despite its economic significance very little has been published on the formation since Detterman and Hartsock’s (1966) seminal contribution on the geology of the Iniskin–Tuxedni area nearly 50 years ago. Consequently its stratigraphy, contact relations with bounding formations, and source rock characteristics are poorly known. During the 2014 field season, a nearly continuous stratigraphic section through the Red Glacier Formation in its type area at Red Glacier was located and measured to characterize sedimentary facies and to collect a suite of samples for analyses of biostratigraphy, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance, and sandstone composition (fig. 5-3).

Storm-influenced deltaic deposits of the Middle Jurassic Gaikema Sandstone in a measured section on the northern Iniskin Peninsula, Cook Inlet basin, Alaska

Middle Jurassic strata of the Gaikema Sandstone were deposited about 170 million years ago on a delta that was located on the western shoreline of the Cook Inlet basin (Detterman and Hartsock, 1966; LePain and others, 2011, 2013). The delta was built by swift, sediment-laden rivers that flowed southeastward from a mountainous volcanic terrane west of the Bruin Bay fault (fig. 6-1). Upon reaching the edge of the Jurassic sea, the rivers dumped abundant sand, gravel, and mud into a depocenter on the northern Iniskin Peninsula, about 240 km southwest of Anchorage (figs. 6-1, 6-2).