Rifting his­tory and structural development of the continental margin north of Alaska

Seismic-reflection profiles in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea and onshore geology indicate that the continental margin north of Alaska is of Atlantic type. Rifting appears to have begun in earliest Jurassic time, about 190 to 185 m.y. ago, when crustal extension created a rift-valley system beneath the Beaufort shelf and part of the adjacent coastal plain. Subsequent crustal warming caused rift-margin uplift and erosion, created a breakup unconformity, and initiated breakup and seafloor spreading in the Canada Basin about 125 m.y. ago. Subsequent cooling caused rapid subsidence of the margin, which was followed by vigorous progradation of the present continental terrace of the Beaufort Sea beginning in Albian time.