Pliocene Cosmogenic Nuclide Burial Ages of the Nenana Gravel: Progress in Dating and Implications for Alaska Range Evolution

Abstract:

The Nenana Gravel is an up to 1.2 km thick foreland basin deposit that spans the north flank of the Alaska Range. It is uplifted relative to the active foreland basin to the north. It is also deformed to various degree dependent on its location within the northern Alaska Range thrust system. Because this foreland basin sequence records the unroofing and northward propagation of the Alaska Range, direct dating of the Nenana Gravel, especially over wide spatial distribution along the Alaska Range, will substantially advance our understanding of the style and timing of deformation of the Alaska Range. At present though, age estimates for the Nenana Gravel are limited to a single maximum limiting age and uncertain minimum limiting age with no little or no insight as to the spatial variation in Nenana Gravel deposition timing. We present the first direct dates of deposition ages of the Nenana Gravel using cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Results indicate that deposition of the Nenana Gravel began ca. 6.5 Ma, in stratigraphic agreement with a maximum limiting tephra age from the underlying Usibelli Group. Additional samples from the Nenana Gravel basal contact and higher in the section are presently underway. The resultant burial ages are amongst the oldest ²⁶Al-¹⁰Be burial ages ever produced and highlight the potential of the method to directly date sediments in the Pliocene, particularly given recent advancements in the accelerator mass spectrometry measurement of ²⁶Al/²⁷Al isotope ratios.