Storm-influenced deltaic deposits of the Middle Jurassic Gaikema Sandstone in a measured section on the northern Iniskin Peninsula, Cook Inlet basin, Alaska

Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Alaska Division of Oil and Gas
By: , and 

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Abstract

Middle Jurassic strata of the Gaikema Sandstone were deposited about 170 million years ago on a delta that was located on the western shoreline of the Cook Inlet basin (Detterman and Hartsock, 1966; LePain and others, 2011, 2013). The delta was built by swift, sediment-laden rivers that flowed southeastward from a mountainous volcanic terrane west of the Bruin Bay fault (fig. 6-1). Upon reaching the edge of the Jurassic sea, the rivers dumped abundant sand, gravel, and mud into a depocenter on the northern Iniskin Peninsula, about 240 km southwest of Anchorage (figs. 6-1, 6-2). This report provides a preliminary description and interpretation of a detailed, 34-m-thick measured section in the Gaikema Sandstone on the south shore of Chinitna Bay at latitude 59.816°N, longitude 153.168°W (figs. 6-1–6-3). The sandstone in this measured section exhibits hummocky cross lamination and other features suggestive of storm-influenced deposition on the shallow-marine, seaward margin of the Gaikema delta. Our field studies of the Gaikema Sandstone were conducted during 2013 and 2014 as part of a collaborative effort by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), Alaska Division of Oil and Gas (DOG), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide the public with reliable information on the geologic framework and petroleum resource potential of Cook Inlet basin (Gillis, 2013, 2014). Jurassic rocks in Cook Inlet, including the Gaikema Sandstone, are of economic interest because they could contain significant undiscovered petroleum resources (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 2011; Stanley and others, 2011a, 2011b, 2013a; LePain and others, 2013).

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype Other Government Series
Title Storm-influenced deltaic deposits of the Middle Jurassic Gaikema Sandstone in a measured section on the northern Iniskin Peninsula, Cook Inlet basin, Alaska
DOI 10.14509/29461
Year Published 2015
Language English
Publisher Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 14 p.
First page 29
Last page 42
Country United States
State Alaska
Other Geospatial Iniskin peninsula
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