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***Under Construction (April 2018)***
Following the documentation of widespread active faulting across the northern flank of the Alaska Range during my graduate studies, my colleague Jeff Benowitz (UAF) and I recognized the 1) lack of basic data regarding the active structures and tectonics of the Denali region, and 2) how the Denali region was a remarkable example of a major restraining bend in a strike-slip fault system. With funding from the National Science Foundation, we undertook a 2-pronged approach to examining this restraining bend system. Benowitz lead an extensive sampling campaign for low-T thermochronologic analyses where we sought to sample both sides of the Denali fault along its full length through the restraining bend. I led a program of Quaternary geologic mapping, surveying, and geochronologic sampling to document the distribution and characteristics of young restraining bend-related deformation along the north side of the Denali fault through the length of the bend.
We settled on the "Mount McKinley" restraining bend nomenclature shortly prior to the official name change of the mountain during the Obama administration, but we also were acknowledging the potential confusion of having the Denali restraining bend of the Denali fault - especially when the entire fault system is broadly curved!
Oblique, SE-looking view of the Mount McKinley restraining bend from Google Earth. Note the dramatic topographic asymmetry across the Denali fault, where the dramatic uplift is concentrated on the south side of the fault. To the north, relatively low foothills quickly give way to aggradational lowlands.
As we demonstrate in Burkett et al. (2016), there are remarkable along-strike changes in faulting style approaching the restraining bend from the east.
We are currently preparing additional manuscripts that integrate the low-T thermochronologic results with the results of Burkett et al. (2016) and additional Quaternary faulting observations and constraints. Comparisons with scaled physical experiments present tantalizing results as well.
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