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Old Crow Tephra: A New Late Pleistocene Stratigraphic Marker Across North-Central Alaska and Western Yukon Territory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John A. Westgate ,
Thomas D. Hamilton  and
Michael P. Gorton
John A. Westgate
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada Physical Sciences Division, Scarborough College, University of Toronto, West Hill, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada
Thomas D. Hamilton
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Gould Hall, APU Campus, University Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99504 USA
Michael P. Gorton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada
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Abstract

Old Crow tephra is the first extensive Pleistocene tephra unit to be documented in the northwestern part of North America. It has a calc-alkaline dacitic composition with abundant pyroxene, plagioclase, and Fe–Ti oxides, and minor hornblende, biotite, apatite, and zircon. Thin, clear, bubble-wall fragments are the dominant type of glass shard. This tephra can be recognized by its glass and phenocryst compositions, as determined by X-ray fluorescence, microprobe, and instrumental neutron activation techniques. It has an age between the limits of 60,000 and 120,000 yr, set by 14C and fission-track measurements, respectively.

Old Crow tephra has been recognized in the Koyukuk Basin and Fairbanks region of Alaska, and in the Old Crow Lowlands of the northern Yukon Territory, some 600 km to the east-northeast. The source vent is unknown, but these occurrences, considered in relation to the distant locations of potential Quaternary volcanic sources, demonstrate the widespread distribution of this tephra and underscore its importance as a regional stratigraphic marker.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 38 - 54
Copyright
University of Washington

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