Maps showing sedimentary basins, surface thermal maturity, and indications of petroleum in the Central Alaska Province

This publication includes two maps (at 1:2,500,000 scale) and a pamphlet that describe sedimentary basins, surface thermal maturity, and 95 reported occurrences of petroleum in natural seeps, wells, and rock outcrops in central Alaska.

No commercial petroleum production has been obtained from central Alaska, in contrast to the prolific deposits of oil and gas that have been found and developed in northern Alaska and the Cook Inlet region. Nevertheless, confirmed indications of petroleum in central Alaska include (1) natural seeps of methane gas on the Yukon Delta; (2) occurrences of methane gas in wells in the Bethel, Kotzebue, Nenana, Northway, and Yukon Flats basins; (3) oil and methane gas in seeps and wells in Norton Sound; (4) small quantities of liquid and solid hydrocarbons associated with mercury ore in the Kuskokwim Mountains; (5) oil shale and numerous occurrences of bitumen in the Kandik area; and (6) tasmanite, a form of oil shale, in the uplands north of Yukon Flats.