Abstract: Use of IR Color Photography and Canyon Photos in Photogeologic Mapping, Central Brooks Range, Alaska

S. J. Reber

In 1973, the Standard Oil Company of California WOI entered into an exploration agreement with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), an Alaskan native association covering part of the Brooks Range and adjoining Foothills province on the north, to evaluate the oil and gas potential of lands covered by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. One of the evaluation steps undertaken by Standard was photogeologic mapping of the region utilizing high-resolution infrared color photography and low-angle oblique-view canyon photos.

The interpretation of geology in this region has challenged the imagination of geologists for years. This is especially true of the Foothills province which is characterized by scattered and often isolated outcrops, ranging in age from Devonian to Cretaceous, that are thought to comprise parts of several thrust or gravity-slide plates.

The IR color photography and oblique-view pictures used in conjunction with stratigraphic data derived from prior field work made possible the identification and correlation of 40 different rock units. The lithology of outcrops as small as 5 ft (1.7 m) in diameter were identifiable from the photography. Various thrust and/or gravity-slide plates were identified and the structural history of the region was reconstructed.

The integration of the IR photogeologic mapping with seismic and gravity-magnetic data is aiding in the identification of prospective oil and gas acreage in this part of Alaska so that such information can be utilized by ASRC together with other land values in making their land selection.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90976©1976 AAPG-SEPM-SEG Pacific Section Meeting, San Francisco, California