Revised age and structural interpretations of Nuka Formation at Nuka Ridge, northwestern Alaska: Geologic notes

New collections of foraminifers and macrofossils from Nuka Ridge, the type area of the enigmatic Nuka Formation, demonstrate that the type Nuka Formation is not a continuous stratigraphic sequence as originally described. Paleontologic evidence indicates the presence of a structurally repeated sequence at Nuka Ridge consisting of Upper Mississippian (Meramec and younger) strata overlain by Permian beds which, in turn, are succeeded by Triassic(?) and Cretaceous rocks. Mississippian calcareous mudstone and limestone units are correlated with the Lisburne Group; microcline-bearing arkose units with Mississippian and Permian macrofossils and microfossils represent the Nuka Formation; units of chert are inferred to be of Permian and Triassic age; and wacke at the top of the sequence resembles unnamed wacke assigned to the Cretaceous elsewhere. These new data and their interpretations indicate that the type section of the Nuka Formation is inadequate. The standard for the Nuka Formation is therefore referred to a newly measured section of the middle arkosic unit of the old section.