Marl occurs in several localities in the Cook Inlet area in south-central Alaska. The most significant known deposits are found in the Wasilla area, about 30 miles north of the city of Anchorage.
In this area marl has been deposited in three fresh water lakes--Wasilla Lake, Finger Lake and Lucile Lake. The accumulation of the high-lime material (which is still in progress) has taken place in sheltered embayments and shallow marginal areas of the lakes with algae probably acting as precipitating agents. In some instances the embayments have been completely filled with marl and subsequently overlain by a layer of muskeg, effectively sealing off the deposits from the lake proper.
The marl in and adjacent to Wasilla and Finger Lakes attains a maximum thickness of about 21 feet, while the deposits in Lucile Take are generally thinner and discontinuous, but relatively widely distributed.
Some of the material probably would be of suitable composition for the manufacture of portland cement, but the amount of such material discovered to date is insufficient for this purpose.
