Notes on the Geology of the McCall Valley Area

Abstract

Describes mainly the glacial geology of this V-shaped valley, approx. 10 km long and, 800 m wide, cut by McCall Glacier (69 20 N, 144 15 W) and Jago River valley in northern Alaska. The bedrock consists of north-dippping sediments of Upper Mississippian Lisburne limestone and the Permian Sadlerochit formation which abut against a granite batholith. Characteristic deposits of five glacial advances were examined by the author during the McCall Glacier Project in 1957-58, and their sequence correlated with that of the central Brooks Range. Beginning with the earliest, they correspond to the Anaktuvuk or Sagavanirktok, Itkillik, Echooka, Alapah Mountain and Fan Mountain glaciations. Some patterned ground features are described; also an aufeis field from which water was issuing in April, far in advance of the ablation season.