Dynamic Computer Model
for the Metallogenesis and
Tectonics of the Circum-North Pacific
By
W.J. Nokleberg (U.S. Geological Survey), C.R. Scotese (University of Texas, Arlington), T.K. Bundtzen (Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc.), L.M. Parfenov (Yakutian Academy of Sciences), J.W.H. Monger, K.M. Dawson (Geological Survey of Canada), A.I. Khanchuk, N.A. Goryachev, V.I. Shpikerman (Russian Academy of Sciences), and I.O. Norton (Exxon Exploration Company)
The metallogenic
and tectonic development of the Circum-North Pacific (Russian Far East, Alaska,
Canadian Cordillera, and adjacent offshore areas) is illustrated in a dynamic
computer model
that portrays the formation of a series of metallogenic belts.
The Phanerozoic metallogenic and tectonic evolution of the Circum-North Pacific
(Russian Far East, Alaska, and the Canadian Cordillera) is recorded in the
cratons, craton margins, and orogenic collages of the Circum- North Pacific
mountain belts that separate the North Pacific from the eastern North Asian and
western North American Cratons. The collages consist of tectonostratigraphic
terranes with older metallogenic belts that are composed of fragments of igneous
arcs, accretionary-wedge and subduction-zone complexes, passive continental
margins, and cratons; they are overlapped by continental-margin- arc and
sedimentary-basin assemblages with younger metallogenic belts. The metallogenic
and geologic history of terranes, overlap assemblages, cratons, and craton
margins is highly complicated because of post-accretion dismemberment and
translation during strike-slip faulting that occurred subparallel to continental
margins.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90008©2002 AAPG Pacific Section/SPE Western Region Joint Conference of Geoscientists and Petroleum Engineers, Anchorage, Alaska, May 18–23, 2002.