NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska

Geodiversity refers to the full variety of natural geologic (rocks, minerals, sediments, fossils, landforms, and physical processes) and soil resources and processes that occur in the park. A product of the Geologic Resources Inventory, the NPS Geodiversity Atlas delivers information in support of education, Geoconservation, and integrated management of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of the ecosystem.

Introduction

Kobuk Valley National Park (KOVA) is located 56 km (35 mi) north of the Arctic Circle in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska and shares its northern boundary with Noatak National Preserve. Originally established as a national monument on December 1, 1978, KOVA was redesignated a national park on December 2, 1980 (National Park Service 2016). The park encompasses about 708,489 hectares (1,750,716 acres) and protects the boreal forest and rivers of the central Kobuk River valley, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, and archeological resources such as Onion Portage. The Kobuk River bisects KOVA and has a cultural history dating back 9,000 years, as ancient civilizations would come to Onion Portage to harvest caribou.

Geologic Setting

The geologic history recorded in the rocks of Kobuk Valley National Park dates back more than 1 billion years to the Neoproterozoic, with some of the oldest units consisting of meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous rocks of Mount Angayukaqsraq. The northern portion of the park consists of an assemblage of Neoproterozoic–Devonian meta-sedimentary rocks, the Mississippian–Devonian Endicott Group, the Ordovician–Devonian Baird Group, and the Devonian Beaucoup Formation. Bedrock strata exposed in the southern region of KOVA include igneous rocks of the Mississippian– Early Jurassic Angayucham assemblage, Jurassic–Cretaceous mélange (a poorly sorted large-scale jumble of angular rock fragments) of the Arctic Alaska and Ruby terranes, and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. Younger surficial deposits consist of Pleistocene to Holocene glacial and dune deposits, alluvium, and Holocene dune deposits of the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, along with the smaller Little Kobuk Sand Dunes and Hunt River Sand Dunes, are a relic of the Ice Age. Fine-grained sand and silt that make up the dunes were originally deposited by glaciers that subsequently washed into the Kobuk River valley (National Park Service 2010).

Maps and Reports

Geologic Resources Inventory

The Geologic Resources Inventory produces digital geologic maps and reports for more than 270 natural resource parks. The products listed below are currently available for this park, check back often for updates as many maps, reports, and posters are still in progress.

Scoping summaries are records of scoping meetings where NPS staff and local geologists determined the park’s geologic mapping plan and what content should be included in the report.

• Digital geologic maps include files for viewing in GIS software, a guide to using the data, and a document with ancillary map information. Newer products also include data viewable in Google Earth and online map services.
• Reports use the maps to discuss the park’s setting and significance, notable geologic features and processes, geologic resource management issues, and geologic history.
• Posters are a static view of the GIS data in PDF format. Newer posters include aerial imagery or shaded relief and other park information. They are also included with the reports.
• Projects list basic information about the program and all products available for a park.

Source: NPS DataStore Saved Search 2997
. To search for additional information, visit the
NPS DataStore.

Soil Resources inventory

A NPS Soil Resources Inventory project has been completed for Kobuk Valley National Park and can be found on the NPS Data Store.

Source: NPS DataStore Saved Search 3044
. To search for additional information, visit the
NPS DataStore.

Related Links

Kobuk Valley—Great Kobuk Sand Dunes

Kobuk Valley—Photo Gallery

Kobuk Valley—Park Home

NPS—Geologic Time

NPS—Explore Regional Geology

NPS—Geology

Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

Related Articles

Kobuk Valley National Park

• Paleozoic Era — During the Paleozoic Era (541 to 252 million years ago), fish diversified and marine organisms were very abundant. In North America, the Paleozoic is characterized by multiple advances and retreats of shallow seas and repeated continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains. Common Paleozoic fossils include trilobites and cephalopods such as squid, as well as insects and ferns. The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history ended this era.
• Series: Geologic Time—Major Divisions and NPS Fossils — The National Park System contains a magnificent record of geologic time because rocks from each period of the geologic time scale are preserved in park landscapes. The geologic time scale is divided into four large periods of time—the Cenozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Paleozoic Era, and The Precambrian.
• Late Pleistocene Paleontology and Native Heritage in Northwest Alaska — ossil remains are bountiful in northwest Alaska, with the Baldwin Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, and Seward Peninsula being particularly fossil-rich areas. Recorded paleontological discoveries were made in the immediate area as early as 1816. However, the region has lacked the level of attention and scientific study of other northern areas such as the Klondike and the Yukon, and is therefore lesser known.
• A History of Science in Alaska's National Parks — National park units in Alaska precede the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. The first park unit, Sitka National Monument, was conceived in 1908, and by the mid-1920s four national monuments along with Alaska’s first national park were part of the growing park system. Discover how the early 1900s and observations of a few helped to establish the National Park Service in Alaska.
• Series: The Legacy of ANILCA — The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act impacts the National Park Service in many ways. ANILCA stipulates the designation of wilderness, subsistence management, transportation in and across parklands, use of cabins, mining, archaeological sites, scientific research studies and more.
• Series: Alaska Park Science - Volume 13 Issue 2: Mineral and Energy Development — There’s no denying that energy and mineral extraction have been and will continue to be important across the North for a long time. Mining and energy-related industries provide direct and indirect employment for thousands of people, taxes and other revenues. Our need is for science, engineering, and scholarly research; to develop safe, effective, and affordable technologies; to protect, preserve, and restore the natural and human environment; and to record and communicate our history.
• Looking Back—A Heady Time for National Park Service Science in Alaska — Spurred by Alaska gaining statehood and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the 1970s saw a spurt of scientific activity that gave experienced Alaska investigators additional access to remote field study sites and introduced investigators new to Alaska to exciting and challenging opportunities for conducting field study in remote places.
• Tracking Mineral and Energy Development Projects near Alaska Parks through Web Mapping — Visitors flock to places like Glacier Bay to experience a connection with the landscape. Early visitors to the state also discovered gold and other resources, development of these which helped shape modern Alaska. A careful balance between conservation and resource development continues today. Visual mapping allows land managers, visitors, and the public to more easily understand the type, scale, and scope of resource development adjacent to parks.

National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas

The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on geoheritage and geodiversity resources and values within the National Park System. This information supports science-based geoconservation and interpretation in the NPS, as well as STEM education in schools, museums, and field camps. The NPS Geologic Resources Division and many parks work with National and International geoconservation communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available.

NPS Geodiversity Atlas

Where this belongs

• Kobuk Valley National Park

Where this page came from

This page was imported from National Park Service. Produced by the U.S. National Park Service and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.