Special Paper 360: Tectonic Evolution of the Bering Shelf-Chukchi Sea-Artic Margin and Adjacent Landmasses, p. 25-37
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As part of an experiment to study crustal structure in Bering Strait-Chukchi Sea, we collected wide-angle seismic refraction data at onshore stations on the coasts of western Alaska and eastern Russia. Receiver gathers made from the onshore recordings of air-gun shots from two deep-crustal marine seismic profiles were used to construct seismic velocity models for the region. Results of the seismic analysis, combined with analysis of gravity data, indicate that crustal thickness ranges from 32 to 35 km along the profiles, the thinner crust occurring beneath a middle Cretaceous magmatic belt that includes the Okhotsk-Chukotsk volcanic belt and plutonic rocks on both the Chukotka and Seward Peninsulas. These results are consistent with models supporting widespread crustal extension in the Bering Strait region. In addition, there is no indication in the seismic or gravity data that a crustal root associated with a westward continuation of the Brooks Range currently exists to the west of the Lisburne Peninsula.