Akmalik Chert and other black chert of the Lisburne Group

Unit symbol: Mlgac
Age range Mississippian (358.9 to 323.2 Ma)
Lithology: Sedimentary
Group name: Akmalik Chert and other black chert of the Lisburne Group
Bedded black chert in beds as much as 10 cm thick, having thin, black siliceous shale partings; locally contains barite deposits and rare interbeds of calcareous radiolarite. In the northwest Howard Pass quadrangle, unit includes abundant interbeds 2–7 cm thick of brownish-black dolostone. These rocks formed in a deep-water, basinal setting. Chert contains abundant radiolarians and lesser sponge spicules. Radiolarians are chiefly Late Mississippian but locally may be as old as late Early Mississippian (Blome and others, 1998; Dover and others, 2004). In the Killik River quadrangle, unit consists of bedded black chert that contains finely disseminated pyrite in beds up to 10 cm thick and has thin siliceous shale partings; contains two laterally persistent thin micritic limestone beds up to 1 m thick near base. Locally includes underlying thin Kayak Shale, which is generally poorly exposed and not mappable at scale of map. Contains Osagean (Middle Mississippian) to Morrowan (lowest Pennsylvanian) or younger conodonts; in Howard Pass quadrangle, contains Osagean conodonts. Thickness about 75 m (Mull and others, 1994). In most areas, units explicitly called the Akmalik Chert are restricted to the Picnic Creek allochthon (see for example, Mull and Werdon, 1994 or Mull and others, 1994). As shown here, unit also includes small exposures of black chert in the Arctic and Table Mountains quadrangles of northeast Alaska

Source map information

Source map Mull, C.G., Moore, T.E., Harris, E.E., and Tailleur, I.L., 1994, Geologic map of the Killik River quadrangle, Brooks Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-679, 1 sheet, scale 1:125,000.
Symbol IPMa
Unit name Akmalik Chert, of Lisburne Group; Picnic Creek Allochthon, Akmalik Creek Sequence
Description Bedded black chert with finely disseminated pyrite, in beds to 10 cm thick with thin siliceous shale partings, contains two laterally persistent thin micritic limestone beds to 1 m thick near base. Locally includes underlying thin Kayak Shale, which is generally poorly exposed and not mappable at scale of map. Well exposed at type locality on Akmalik Creek 2 km north of mountain front and in Kurupa Hills. Contains Osagean to Morrowan or younger conodonts; in Howard Pass quad, contains Osagean conodonts. Thickness about 75 m.
Lithology Sedimentary

Correlated geologic units

Label IPMlc
Description Lisburne Group, Akmalik Chert
Geologic age Mississippian to Late-Mississippian
Geologic setting Sedimentary, slope-and-deep-water
Lithology Form Importance
Chert < Chemical < Sedimentary Bed Major
Limestone < Carbonate < Sedimentary Bed Minor
Shale < Mudstone < Clastic < Sedimentary Bed Incidental