Susan Karl
Sedimentology, stratigraphy, tectonics, geochemistry, and economic geology of southeast Alaska
Biography
Education
Ph.D. 1982 Stanford University
Classes 1975-1976 University of Alaska Fairbanks
B.A. 1973 Middlebury College
Professional Experience
1977-Present Research Geologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK
1976 Earth Science Associates, Palo Alto, CA
1975 WGM mining, Brooks Range, AK
1974 Rio Tinto mining, Wrangell Mts, AK
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
Fellow: Geological Soc. America, Geological Assoc. Canada
Member: American Geophysical Union, American Assoc. Petrol. Geol.
President: Alaska Geological Society
Honors and/or Awards
UAF 1976
Shell grants 1978, 1980
GSA Harold Stearns best student proposal award 1978
USGS achievement 1979
Sigma XI grants1980, 1981
GSA grant 1981
UNESCO grant 1986
USGS star 1999
Science and Products
Petrology, Tectonic Setting, and Potential for Concentration of Rare Earth Elements (REE) and High Field Strength Elements (HFSE) in the High-K Darby and Kachauik Plutons, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
One of the geologic environments that host rare earth and other critical and strategic element deposits are alkaline intrusive rocks.
GIS Prospectivity Analysis for Critical Minerals in Ore-Forming Systems in Alaska
Alaska is dominated by a history of tectonic events that foster mobilization and concentration of a wide variety of mineral commodities that are critical to the US economy and are vital to national defense, renewable-energy, and emerging electronics technologies.
Evaluation of the analytical methods used to determine the elemental concentrations found in the stream geochemical dataset compiled for Alaska
A recent U.S. Geological Survey data compilation of stream-sediment geochemistry for Alaska contains decades of analyses collected under numerous Federal and State programs. The compiled data were determined by various analytical methods. Some samples were reanalyzed by a different analytical method than the original, resulting in some elements...
Wang, Bronwen; Ellefsen, Karl J.; Granitto, Matthew; Kelley, Karen D.; Karl, Susan M.; Case, George N.D.; Kreiner, Douglas C.; Amundson, Courtney L.
Detrital zircon geochronology along a structural transect across the Kahiltna assemblage in the western Alaska Range: Implications for emplacement of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular terrane against North America
The Kahiltna assemblage in the western Alaska Range consists of deformed Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous clastic strata that lie between the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular (AWP) terrane to the south, and the Farewell and other peri-cratonic terranes to the north. Differences in detrital zircon populations and sandstone petrography allow geographic...
Box, Stephen E.; Karl, Susan M.; Jones, James V.; Bradley, Dwight C.; Haeussler, Peter; O'Sullivan, Paul B.
Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3)—Including “Best Value” Data Compilations for Rock, Sediment, Soil, Mineral, and Concentrate Sample Media
The Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3) contains new geochemical data compilations in which each geologic material sample has one “best value” determination for each analyzed species, greatly improving speed and efficiency of use. Like the Alaska Geochemical Database Version 2.0 before it, the AGDB3 was created and designed to compile...
Granitto, Matthew; Wang, Bronwen; Shew, Nora B.; Karl, Susan M.; Labay, Keith A.; Werdon, Melanie B.; Seitz, Susan S.; Hoppe, John E. The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
The Neogene Peters Hills basin is a small terrestrial basin that formed along the south flank of the Alaska Range during a time in which there was regional shortening. The formation of the Peters Hills basin is consistent with it being a wedge-top basin that formed on top of the active southeast-vergent Broad Pass thrust fault. Movement along this...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Saltus, Richard W.; Stanley, Richard G.; Ruppert, Natalia; Lewis, Kristen; Karl, Susan M.; Bender, Adrian M.
Geospatial analysis identifies critical mineral-resource potential in Alaska
Alaska consists of more than 663,000 square miles (1,717,000 square kilometers) of land—more than a sixth of the total area of the United States—and large tracts of it have not been systematically studied or sampled for mineral-resource potential. Many regions of the State are known to have significant mineral-...
Jacques, Katherine; Landowski, Claire; Karl, Susan M.; Labay, Keith A.
Regional patterns of Mesozoic-Cenozoic magmatism in western Alaska revealed by new U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages
In support of regional geologic framework studies, we obtained 50 new argon-40/argon-39 (40Ar/39Ar) ages and 33 new uranium-lead (U-Pb) ages from igneous rocks of southwestern Alaska. Most of the samples are from the Sleetmute and Taylor Mountains quadrangles; smaller collections or individual samples are from the Bethel, Candle, Dillingham,...
Dumoulin, Julie A.; Bradley, Dwight C.; Miller, Marti L.; Friedman, Richard M.; Layer, Paul W.; Bleick, Heather A.; Jones, James V.; Box, Steven E.; Karl, Susan M.; Shew, Nora B.; White, Timothy S.; Till, Alison B.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Bundtzen, Thomas K.; O'Sullivan, Paul B.; Ullrich, Thomas D.
GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for critical minerals in six selected groups of deposit types in Alaska
Alaska has considerable potential for undiscovered mineral resources. This report evaluates potential for undiscovered critical minerals in Alaska. Critical minerals are those for which the United States imports more than half of its total supply and which are largely derived from nations that cannot be considered reliable trading partners. In...
Karl, Susan M.; Jones, James V.; Hayes, Timothy S. Volcanogenic massive sulphide and orogenic gold deposits of northern southeast Alaska
This five-day field trip visits the most significant mineral deposits in northern southeast Alaska. The trip begins and ends with regional transects in the interior Intermontane terranes around Whitehorse, Yukon, and the Insular terranes along the northern Chatham Strait region of southeast Alaska (Fig. A-1 and Fig. A-2; Plate-1). To put the...
Sack, Patrick J; Karl, Susan M.; Steeves, Nathan; Gemmell, J Bruce
GIS-Based Identification of Areas with Mineral Resource Potential for Six Selected Deposit Groups, Bureau of Land Management Central Yukon Planning Area, Alaska
This study, covering the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Central Yukon Planning Area (CYPA), Alaska, was prepared to aid BLM mineral resource management planning. Estimated mineral resource potential and certainty are mapped for six selected mineral deposit groups: (1) rare earth element (REE) deposits associated with peralkaline to carbonatitic...
Jones, James V.; Karl, Susan M.; Labay, Keith A.; Shew, Nora B.; Granitto, Matthew; Hayes, Timothy S.; Mauk, Jeffrey L.; Schmidt, Jeanine M.; Todd, Erin; Wang, Bronwen; Werdon, Melanie B.; Yager, Douglas B.
Geologic map of Alaska
Summary This map and associated digital databases are the result of compilation and interpretation of published and unpublished 1:250,000-scale and limited 1:500,000- to 1:63,360-scale maps. Covering the entire state of Alaska, it reflects more than a century of work by a host of geologists and almost two decades of compilation work. There are two...
Wilson, Frederic H.; Hults, Chad P.; Mull, Charles G.; Karl, Susan M. Field guide to the Mesozoic arc and accretionary complex of South-Central Alaska, Indian to Hatcher Pass
This field trip traverses exposures of a multi-generation Mesozoic magmatic arc and subduction-accretion complex that had a complicated history of magmatic activity and experienced variations in composition and deformational style in response to changes in the tectonic environment. This Mesozoic arc formed at an unknown latitude to the south, was...
Karl, Susan M.; Oswald, P.J.; Hults, Chad P.
Geologic Map of Baranof Island, southeastern Alaska
This map updates the geology of Baranof Island based on fieldwork, petrographic analyses, paleontologic ages, and isotopic ages. These new data provide constraints on depositional and metamorphic ages of lithostratigraphic rock units and the timing of structures that separate them. Kinematic analyses and thermobarometric calculations provide...
Karl, Susan M.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Himmelberg, Glen R.; Zumsteg, Cathy L.; Layer, Paul W.; Friedman, Richard M.; Roeske, Sarah M.; Snee, Lawrence W.
Geologic Map of Baranof Island, Southeastern Alaska Now Online
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In the 20th century, Baranof Island in Southeastern Alaska has drawn attention for its gold, chrome and nickel deposits, timber industry, potential activity of the dormant Mount Edgecumbe volcano, and for numerous commercially developed hot springs.
Research on Rare Earth Elements in Alaska Could Help Make Them Less Rare
A unique deposit of heavy rare earth elements at Alaska's Bokan Mountain could help scientists understand how rare earth element deposits form, according to new research by geologists from Saint Mary's University in Halifax and the U.S. Geological Survey. Rare earth elements are important, but scarce, elements used in components in many cutting edge electronic and defense technologies.