Proceedings

Discoveries of natural gas in Alaska have resulted from the search for oil, which has continued intermittently since about 1898. In northern Alaska two gas fields and two prospective gas fields, as well as two oil fields and one prospective oil field, have been discovered in Mesozoic rocks. All other discoveries have been made in Tertiary rocks along the southern coast of Alaska. Except for a small shallow oil field at Katalla, all of these discoveries have been in the Cook Inlet subprovince, which contains a fully developed major oil field, an undeveloped oil field, two major natural gas fields, eight unevaluated or smaller gas fields, and important gas prospects. Alaska is grossly similar in geology, as well as in physiography, to the western part of the conterminous United States and western Canada. During Paleozoic and early Mesozoic time, it was a part of the Cordilleran geosyncline—the eugeosynclinal part over southern Alaska and the miogeosynclinal part over northern Alaska. In mid-Mesozoic time the bedrock surface of Alaska was warped into alternating geanticlines and geosynclines. The sediments that filled the geosynclines were predominantly clastic, and for the most part graywacke assemblages. Alaska has been largely emergent since the end of the Cretaceous Period. During the Tertiary Period, local downwarping formed several elongate basins that were filled with clastic sediments. Most of these were nonmarine, but marine invasions entered a few marginal basins at the southern and northern borders of Alaska. Areas considered for gas and oil possibilities include the Alaska Peninsula-Cook Inlet province, the Bristol Bay Tertiary province, the Pacific-margin Tertiary province, and the Bering Sea shelf in southern Alaska; the Arctic Slope province across northern Alaska; and the Yukon-Koyukuk and Yukon-Porcupine provinces of western and eastern interior Alaska, respectively. The Alaska Peninsula-Cook Inlet province consists of a long, narrow prism (more than 900 mi long and 5 to 60 mi wide) of slightly to moderately deformed late Mesozoic marine clastic rocks, whose composite thickness exceeds 30,000 ft. In the Cook Inlet subprovince, coal-bearing nonmarine, slightly to moderately deformed, Tertiary clastic rocks, whose composite thickness may exceed 25,000 ft, overlie the Mesozoic rocks. The Mesozoic rocks contain several gas and oil seeps and have produced shows of oil and gas in test wells, but no commercial production has been found. The Tertiary rocks contain the major known reserves and the only significant production of oil and gas in Alaska. The area considered to have petroleum possibilities is 5-60 mi wide and about 250 mi long. The Bristol Bay Tertiary province, about 250 mi long and as much as 30 or more miles wide, is underlain by poorly exposed marine and nonmarine Tertiary clastic rocks. No indications of petroleum have been reported, and three test wells were dry. Rocks of the Pacific-margin Tertiary province crop out along the coast from Icy Point in southeastern Alaska to Chirikof Island (southwest of Kodiak Island), and these rocks may extend offshore to fringe the entire Pacific margin and form a belt roughly 40,000 sq mi in area. Many oil seeps, gas seeps, and petroliferous beds occur in the Katalla-Yakataga area. Exploration has been without success, however, probably because of complex structure of asymmetric folds and north-dipping thrust faults, and the failure to find suitable reservoir rocks. Though little is known of the geology of the Bering Sea shelf, it should be considered for petroleum possibilities in view of its large size, possible extension across it of belts of late Mesozoic rocks, and possible Tertiary deposition along its outer edge. Except for the southern part of the Brooks Range, most of the Arctic Slope province, an area of about 125,000 sq mi, may be considered potentially petroliferous. It is underlain by calcareous and clastic miogeosynclinal rocks of Paleozoic and early Mesozoic ages and by clastic rocks of middle and late Mesozoic age. Structure, complex in the Brooks Range, decreases in complexity northward across the foothill belts and the Arctic Coastal Plain. Significant gas and oil reserves have been found in Cretaceous rocks. Gently deformed marine and nonmarine clastic Tertiary rocks crop out in limited areas in the northeastern part of the province. The Yukon-Koyukuk province in west-central Alaska has an area of about 85,000 sq mi. Large parts of the province are underlain by unmetamorphosed mid-Cretaceous rocks that may be locally petroliferous, although the great bulk of these rocks appear to be high-rank graywacke with poor reservoir characteristics. The Yukon-Porcupine province, an area of 15,000 sq mi, is underlain by a thick sequence of moderately deformed, largely unmetamorphosed Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata. Though no real evaluation can be made until test wells are drilled, the province appears to be relatively the most promising area in central Alaska.

Cambrian–Lower Ordovician carbonate rocks that likely formed as part of the Laurentian continental margin, and may thus have been part of the Cambrian–Ordovician great American carbonate bank, occur in east-central Alaska in the Nation Arch area. These strata accumulated on the southwestern margin (present-day coordinates) of the Yukon stable block, a broad area of early Paleozoic carbonate platform deposition in the northern Yukon Territory, and constitute two successions. The first consists of approximately 900 m (2950 ft) of shallow-water limestone and dolostone that are in part silicified, laminated, oolitic, and pisolitic, and make up the lower member of the Jones Ridge Limestone. Conodonts, trilobites, archaeocyathids, and brachiopods indicate an age of Early Cambrian to early Early Ordovician (Tremadoc; Ibexian) and have Laurentian biogeographic affinities. Upper Ordovician bioclastic limestone (the upper member of the Jones Ridge Limestone) unconformably overlies these strata. A roughly coeval, but somewhat deeper water, succession crops out near the Jones Ridge Limestone and consists of, in ascending order, the Funnel Creek Limestone, Adams Argillite, and Hillard Limestone. The Funnel Creek (15–400 m [50–1310 ft] thick) is mainly nonfossiliferous, extensively silicified, commonly oolitic limestone and dolostone and is assumed to be Lower Cambrian in age. It is overlain by argillite, siltstone, cross-laminated quartzite, and oolitic to sandy limestone of the Adams Argillite (90–180 m [295–550 ft] thick). This unit contains the trace fossil Oldhamia and Lower Cambrian archaeocyathids and trilobites that have Siberian affinities. The Hillard (30–150 m [100–490 ft] thick) is chiefly limestone, with local ooids, edgewise and boulder conglomerate, and phosphatic horizons, and likely formed in a platform-margin setting. Trilobites and brachiopods from this unit are Early Cambrian to earliest Ordovician in age and have mainly Laurentian affinities. Slope and/or basinal rocks of the Road River Formation that are as old as Early Ordovician (early middle Arenig; Ibexian) unconformably overlie the Hillard Limestone. Abrupt facies transitions between the two Nation Arch area carbonate successions may reflect relatively steep paleoslopes and/or telescoping of facies by imbricate thrust faults. Carbonate strata of Cambrian–Ordovician age are also found north of the Nation Arch area in the Porcupine terrane. These rocks have been little studied, and their precise stratigraphic succession and paleogeographic setting are uncertain. The few fossil collections indicate mainly Laurentian affinities and include Cambrian(?) trilobites and Lower and Middle Ordovician conodonts. Lower Paleozoic strata of the Porcupine terrane probably formed at or near the northwestern edge (present-day coordinates) of the Yukon stable block. Cambrian–Ordovician carbonate strata occur widely in northern Alaska (parts of the Arctic Alaska, York, and Seward terranes) and interior Alaska (Farewell terrane). These rocks share distinctive lithologic and faunal features and were deposited in a range of shallow-shelf to basinal environments. Carbonate platform successions in northern and interior Alaska include fossils of both Laurentian and Siberian biotic provinces and may have formed on a single crustal fragment that rifted away from the Siberian craton during the late Proterozoic. These Alaskan strata were most likely in faunal exchange with, but not physically attached to, the great American carbonate bank. Lower–Middle Ordovician carbonate and siliciclastic rocks are also found in the White Mountains, Livengood, and Ruby terranes of interior Alaska, the Alexander terrane in southeastern Alaska, and the Goodnews terrane in southwestern Alaska. These successions were likely not attached to Laurentia during their deposition, although some authors have proposed Laurentian origins for the White Mountains and Livengood terranes. Little detailed information is available on the resource potential of Cambrian–Ordovician successions in Alaska. Most have low porosity and are too thermally mature to be prospective for oil and gas, although a few units in east-central and northern Alaska may have some potential as petroleum source and reservoir rocks. Strata of this age have potential for metallic mineral resources; strata-bound Zn-Pb Ag occurrences are known in the Funnel Creek Limestone in east-central Alaska, as well as several units of possible Cambrian and/or Ordovician age in northern and interior Alaska.

Two opposing hypotheses have been presented to explain reduced tree growth at the treeline, compared with growth in lower elevation or lower latitude forests: the carbon source and sink limitation hypotheses. The former states that treeline trees have an unfavorable carbon balance and cannot support growth of the magnitude observed at lower elevations or latitudes, while the latter argues that treeline trees have an adequate carbon supply, but that cold temperatures directly limit growth. In this study, we examined the relative importance of source and sink limitation in forest and treeline white spruce (Picea glauca) in three mountain ranges from southern to northern Alaska. We related seasonal changes in needle nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content with branch extension growth, an approach we argue is more powerful than using needle NSC concentration. Branch extension growth in the southernmost Chugach Mountains was much greater than in the White Mountains and the Brooks Range. Trees in the Chugach Mountains showed a greater seasonal decline in needle NSC content than trees in the other mountain ranges, and the seasonal change in NSC was correlated with site-level branch growth across mountain ranges. There was no evidence of a consistent difference in branch growth between the forest and treeline sites, which differ in elevation by approximately 100 m. Our results point to a continuum between source and sink limitation of growth, with high-elevation trees in northern and interior Alaska showing greater evidence of sink limitation, and those in southern Alaska showing greater potential for source limitation.

Ordovician rocks, found in northern, east-central, interior and southern Alaska, formed in a variety of depositional and palaeogeographic settings. Shallow- and deep-water strata deposited along the northwestern Laurentian margin occur in east-central Alaska (Yukon River area) and probably correlative rocks crop out to the north in the Porcupine River area. Ordovician strata elsewhere in Alaska are parts of continental or island arc fragments that, as indicated by faunal and detrital zircon data, have been variously displaced. In northern Alaska, Ordovician rocks are included in the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka Microplate (AACM), a composite tectonic entity with a complex history. Some Ordovician strata in the AACM (parts of the North Slope subterrane) represent displaced fragments of the northern Laurentian margin. Coeval strata in southwestern parts of the AACM (York and Seward terranes, Hammond subterrane) share distinctive lithologic and biotic features with Ordovician rocks in interior Alaska (Farewell and related terranes). Ordovician strata in southeastern Alaska (Alexander terrane) also likely compose a composite crustal fragment that accumulated in a complex arc system. Shared features between many of these units suggest similar origins as part of one or more crustal fragments situated in the palaeo-Arctic between Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia during early Paleozoic time.

The Brooks Range is the northernmost orogenic belt in Alaska. From south to north it consists of a thin belt of oceanic basalt and chert, followed by two belts of high‐pressure/low‐temperature metamorphic rocks (the schist and central belts), a basement‐cored anticlinorium (the Doonerak Window), a fold and thrust belt, and a foreland basin (the Colville Basin). We have used apatite and zircon fission‐track (FT) and 40Ar/39Ar white mica analyses of a N‐S transect of the central Brooks Range to study the cooling history. These data are used with a balanced cross section to constrain the timing of deformational events in northern Alaska. The oldest cooling ages from this study were clusters of ∼185 Ma and ∼135 Ma zircon FT ages from the fold and thrust belt. Based on the similarity of the 185 Ma ages with the age of crystallization of the western Brooks Range ophiolites [Wirth et al., 1993], we suggest that the Brooks Range orogeny in northern Alaska had begun prior to this time. Cooling rates in the fold and thrust belt were very slow from 185 to 135 Ma, suggesting little or no deformation was occurring. Apatite and zircon FT analyses from the fold and thrust belt indicate that a substantial amount of cooling (caused by uplift and erosion) occurred from 135 to 95 Ma. We suggest that an increase in the rate of cooling at ∼135 Ma was caused by contractional deformation associated with renewed subduction with the opening of the Canada Basin. The 40Ar/39Ar white mica cooling ages of 130 to 120 Ma from the schist belt rocks of the southern Brooks Range indicate that peak metamorphism must have occurred prior to 130 Ma. An 40Ar/39Ar muscovite age of 113 Ma from the southernmost Brooks Range is interpreted to be the age of movement on normal faults juxtaposing lower‐grade phyllite belt rocks against schist belt rocks. At the same time, rapid deposition of Brooks Range‐derived sedimentary sequences began to the north, in the Colville foreland basin, and to the south, in the Yukon‐Koyukuk basin. Unstrained high‐level granitic plutons, which intruded the Yukon‐Koyukuk basin and Ruby terrane from 107 to 95 Ma, indicate the end of collision with the Yukon‐Koyukuk arc. By 95 Ma, cooling rates in the Brooks Range had slowed and little or no deformation was occurring. At 60 Ma, a major episode of rapid cooling occurred throughout northern Alaska, when the active plate margin in Alaska was more than 500 km to the south. In the Colville Basin, cooling was caused by thrust faulting and folding, and hence erosion, within the Albian‐age and younger sedimentary rocks. Within the interior of the Brooks Range, a large‐scale basement‐involved anticlinorium (the Doonerak Window) became active at this time. At 25 Ma, another episode of rapid cooling occurred within the Doonerak Window region. Both of these events may be related to shallow subduction of the Kula plate from the southern Alaskan plate margin.

Permafrost, or perennially frozen ground, covers 9×105km2 or 55% of the landmass of Alaska. The continuous zone of permafrost encompasses the physiographic subdivisions of the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Arctic Foothills, the northern Norton Sound Highlands, and the Brooks Range. The zone of discontinuous permafrost encompasses the physiographic subdivisions of the Interior Alaska Lowlands, the Interior Alaska Highlands, the Alaska Range, the Copper River Plateau, the Kuskokwin Highlands, the southern Norton Sound Highlands, and the Western Alaska Coastal Plains and Deltas (Wahrhaftg, 1965; Pewe, 1975) (see Figure 2.2.1).

Very little is known about the range and ecology of the Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) in Alaska and how the species continues to persist in a region where temperatures fall below their predicted threshold for winter survival. Establishing a baseline of current distribution is critical to monitoring potential population shifts. We hypothesized that persistence of the Little Brown Bat in interior and northern Alaska is dependent on the ability of bats to gain sufficient mass over a short summer with limited darkness, and on the availability of human structures for roosting in areas where temperatures are likely too low for roosting in natural structures. To describe the roosting ecology of bats in interior and northern Alaska, we combined traditional ecological knowledge, outreach through citizen science, and sampling using roost studies and telemetry. Activity outside of the roost was positively related to length of time between sunset and sunrise. Fat gained through summer in interior Alaska constituted 21% of body mass in fall prior to dispersal. Radio-tracked bats migrated short distances (<100 km) to areas where human structures were the most likely hibernacula. We conclude that Little Brown Bats use human structures to offset the constraints of cold temperatures and short foraging seasons in interior Alaska.

Research Article| December 01, 1970 Structure and Tectonic History of the Western Brooks Range, De Long Mountains and Lisburne Hills, Northern Alaska A. J MARTIN A. J MARTIN BP Petroleum Development Australia Pty Limited, 1-29 Albert Road, Melbourne, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information A. J MARTIN BP Petroleum Development Australia Pty Limited, 1-29 Albert Road, Melbourne, Australia Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 02 Jan 1969 Revision Received: 06 Jul 1970 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Copyright © 1970, The Geological Society of America, Inc. Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared by U.S. government employees within the scope of their employment. GSA Bulletin (1970) 81 (12): 3605–3622. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[3605:SATHOT]2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 02 Jan 1969 Revision Received: 06 Jul 1970 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation A. J MARTIN; Structure and Tectonic History of the Western Brooks Range, De Long Mountains and Lisburne Hills, Northern Alaska. GSA Bulletin 1970;; 81 (12): 3605–3622. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[3605:SATHOT]2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract This study outlines the structure and tectonic history of the De Long Mountains, the western end of the Brooks Range and the Lisburne Hills, an area extending from the Chukchi Sea to long 156° W., 250 mi eastward. Seven distinct, but roughly coeval, stratigraphic sequences from Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous, can be recognized. The Brooks Range and Ivotuk Hills Sequences characterize the Brooks Range and its foothills, although the Brooks Range Sequence is also present in the De Long Mountains. The De Long, Nuka Ridge, and Ipnavik Sequences are confined to the De Long Mountains. The Lisburne Hills Sequence is characteristic of and confined to the Lisburne Hills.The Brooks Range and De Long Mountains constitute two distinct tectonic provinces; compressional tectonics identify the former, and gravity-slide tectonics, the latter. The two styles of deformation are considered complementary and were developed during the orogeny. Each component tectonic unit, that is, thrust-sheet or slide-sheet, consists of only one stratigraphic sequence, which has enabled the relative allochthonicity of the sheets to be ascertained. The gravity slide-sheets have been dislocated at least 60 to 70 mi in the De Long Mountains.The orogeny was initiated in the Jurassic Period; the early phase was marked by the emplacement of an ophiolitic suite marginal to the geanticline. Flysch trough subsidence had commenced by earliest Cretaceous time and flanked a geanticline centered on the present Baird Mountains area. Subsidence continued throughout the Cretaceous Period with successive maxima accompanied by migration northward of the axes of subsidence. Compressional overthrusting of the Brooks Range and Ivotuk Hills Sequences developed in association with these sequences that were downwarped with the subsiding troughs. Where downwarping was most prolonged, or most strongly developed, gravity sliding took place, specifically in the region of the present De Long Mountains and Lisburne Hills. These gravity slides form the bulge of the De Long Mountains and are postulated to override the overthrust Brooks Range "spine." These movements reached a climax in the Late Cretaceous with the final uplift and isostatic adjustments occurring in the Late Cretaceous, early Tertiary. Accompanying this final orogenic phase was the development of large-scale transcurrent faulting and secondary thrusting. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

The gray-headed chickadee Poecile cinctus is a Holarctic songbird that occurs from northern Europe across Asia and into northwestern North America. Historically, the endemic North American subspecies P. c. lathami ranged across portions of interior and northern Alaska and northwest Canada. Though often described as rare, ornithologists considered it locally common in parts of its distribution. Anecdotal reports of declines and a lack of recent observations motivated us to initiate efforts to better understand the current distribution and abundance of this species. We conducted 862 h of field surveys focused on detecting gray-headed chickadees between 2010 and 2017 and detected only three individuals and no evidence of nesting in locations where the species previously occurred. We also compiled a database of 156 occurrences that likely represents nearly all the available reliable records in North America since 1864. Based on a comparison of these data before and after the year 2000, it appears the species may no longer occur in southwestern or Interior Alaska, or the Northwest Territories where scientists previously documented it. Results from a citizen science initiative to collect recent observations revealed citizen scientists reliably report only a few gray-headed chickadee sightings annually. Additionally, the species appears to have recently disappeared from two locations where observers previously reported it annually for &amp;gt; 20 y. Collectively, these data suggest it is likely the species' distribution has contracted, its population has declined, and its current population size is very small in North America. We emphasize that though we base these conclusions on the best available information, more information is needed before the status of this rare species can be determined with confidence. Despite recognized limitations of the data, we failed to find any evidence contrary to our conclusions and suggest this little-studied species needs additional focused research and conservation in North America.

Active faults of Alaska

We report a likely neoceratopsian manus track from an exposure of the Nanushuk Formation along the Colville River in northern Alaska. The track described here containts the impressions of five digits, arranged as an arc, which identify this specimen as a manus. Details of the impression suggest that it is neoceratopsian rather than ankylosaurian. The length of the chord of the arc of the track is approximately 25 cm, which is half the size of manus tracks found west of Denver, Colorado, USA attributed to the 10 m long Maastrichtian Triceratops. The Nanushuk Formation is a succession of complexly intertonguing marine and nonmarine strata interpreted as shelf, deltaic, strandplain, fluvial, and alluvial overbank deposits. Deposited in the foreland basin north f the Brooks Range, the rock unit is present throughout most of the northern foothills belt and subsurface of the central and western North Slope coastal plain. Fossil and radiometric data place outcrop within the Albian. If the identification of the track is correct, this is one of the earlies occurrences of neoceratopsians from North America. The occurrence of this track in Alaska substantiates the biogeographic model of faunal exchange between Asia and North America through a Cretaceous land bridge known as Beringia.

The Umiat oil field is in Naval Petroleum Reserve No.4 between the Brooks Range and Arctic Ocean in far-northern Alaska. The Umiat anticline has been tested by 11 wells, six of which produced oil; however, the productive capacity and recoverable reserves of the field are subject to considerable speculation because of unusual reservoir conditions and because several wells appear to have been seriously damaged during drilling and completion. Oil is produced at depths of 275 to 1,100 ft; the depth to the bottom of the permanently frozen zone varies from about 800 to 1,100 ft, so that most of the oil reserves are in the permafrost. Reservoir pressures are estimated to range from 50 to 350 psi, increasing with depth, and the small amount of gas dissolved in the oil is the major source of energy for production. Laboratory tests were made on cores under simulated permafrost conditions to estimate oil recoverable by solution-gas expansion from low saturation pressures. The cores were also tested for clay content and susceptibility to productivity impairment by swelling days and increased water content if exposed to fresh water. The results indicate that oil can be produced from reservoir rocks in the permafrost and that substantial amounts of oil can be produced from depletion-drive reservoirs by a pressure drop of as little as 100 psi below the saturation pressure. Freezing of formation water reduces oil productivity much more than that due to increased oil viscosity. Failure of wells drilled with water-base mud to produce is attributed to freezing of water in the area immediately surrounding the wellbore. Swelling clays apparently contributed very little to the plugging of the wells. Introduction Naval Petroleum Reserve No.4 lies between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean in northern Alaska. The Umiat oil field is located in the southeastern part of the Reserve and is about 180 miles southeast of Point Barrow (the only permanent settlement in the Reserve and the primary supply point for drilling of the wells at Umiat).

The Carboniferous Lisburne Group is a major carbonate reservoir unit in northern Alaska. The Lisburne is folded and thrust faulted where it is exposed throughout the Brooks Range, but is relatively undeformed in areas of current production in the subsurface of the North Slope. The objectives of this study were to develop a better understanding of four major aspects of the Lisburne: (1) The geometry and kinematics of folds and their truncation by thrust faults. (2) The influence of folding on fracture patterns. (3) The influence of deformation on fluid flow. (4) Lithostratigraphy and its influence on folding, faulting, fracturing, and reservoir characteristics. Symmetrical detachment folds characterize the Lisburne in the northeastern Brooks Range. In contrast, Lisburne in the main axis of the Brooks Range is deformed into imbricate thrust sheets with asymmetrical hangingwall anticlines and footwall synclines. The Continental Divide thrust front separates these different structural styles in the Lisburne and also marks the southern boundary of the northeastern Brooks Range. Field studies were conducted for this project during 1999 to 2001 in various locations in the northeastern Brooks Range and in the vicinity of Porcupine Lake, immediately south of the Continental Divide thrust front. Results are summarized below for the four main subject areas of the study.

Summarizes briefly the geologic setting and geomorphic features of the Brooks Range, Arctic Foothills and coastal plain, and reviews the Naval Arctic Research Lab-sponsored research in fields of geomorphology, oriented lakes, patterned ground, glacial geology, palynology, C-14 dating and shoreline, near-shore and shallow-water studies. Discussion of the status of geologic research and future role of NARL notes the large sums of money presently being spent on subsurface and geophysical research by oil companies, and suggests that NARL concentrate, rather, on studies of processes, the Pleistocene and the Precambrian.

258 Western American Literature Brooks Range Passage. By David J. Cooper. (Seattle, Wash.: The Moun­ taineers, 1982. 208 pages, $14.95.) Brooks Range Passage is the journal of a man who spent 36 days alone in northern Alaska, first hiking 120 miles through the Brooks Range and then floating 160 miles down the Alatna River. David Cooper w7 ent into the wilderness with the stated purpose of experiencing wildness in the land and in himself, experiencing the world and his place in it as they are without civilization. He undertook his quest for wilderness experience in a way that favored its success. He committed and exposed himself to the wilderness, letting the vast and mostly intact wild ecosystem take him as its own. He left behind many of the trappings of civilization, bringing simple whole foods, a primitive shelter, bow and arrows and fishing gear, and no firearms. He ventured onto a big Alaskan river on a log raft, with minimal whitewater experience. And he traveled alone. Cooper is a plant ecologist, and his scientific knowledge and approach to experience enhanced his intimacy with the land. He learned the native plants and survived in great part on wild plants and fish. He was aware of aspects of weather, geology, ecological succession, and plant and animal history that an untrained observer simply would not see. His knowledge of the workings of the ecosystem and of lives of the plants and animals around him heightened his sense of belonging and comradeship. And his observations — of the land and himself — had a scientific clarity and honesty that may have catalyzed his initiation into nature. Cooper undertook his trip in an uninsulated style, but the very fact that it was such an explicit quest for experience may have detracted from itssuccess. There are some hints of perceived separation between self and nature through­ out the book. In passages advocating wilderness preservation he seems to imply that the value of wilderness lies in the experience of wildness it can give humans. At one point, though, he realized that his suffering and frustra­ tion were due to his wanting something other than the natural here and now. But these are small detractions. The greater sense communicated is that Cooper has truly dipped into wildness. His eyes were wide open to beauty — not just scenic beauty, but the total beauty of living nature. He learned to fit into the landscape and to make his way through it in a harmonious fashion. He came to experience things “the way they really are.” MAX LYON, Logan, Utah Now That the Buffalo’s Gone. By Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. 300 pages, $15.95.) At a recent meeting of the Western History Association in Phoenix, Ari­ zona, a historian complained to a colleague that Indian claims to land, water, ...