Heavy mineral zonation of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of the central area of northern Alaska

This report presents the general conclusions pertaining to the correlation of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks in test wells and outcrops in the central area of northern Alaska (fig. 1) by means of heavy minerals. Approximately 1.000 drill and outcrop samples have been studied. In order to relate the materiel here presented to the regional geologic picture of the central area, the restored facies cross-sections A-A' and B-B' of T.G. Payne 1/ are used as a basis for the graphic presentation of the heavy mineral zonation. Section C-C' of Payne is not used because most of it lies outside the area treated in this report and because of new geological and geophysical interpretations in the Barrow area as the result of recent exploration. Instead, the heavy mineral zonation along a somewhat different section C-C' (see fig. 1) is discussed but not illustrated.