Nikolai and Goon Dip Greenstones and equivalent rocks

Unit symbol: Trn
Age range Late and Middle Triassic (247.2 to 201.3 Ma)
Lithology: Igneous - Volcanic
Group name: Massive basalt and greenstone
Massive, dark-gray-green, dark-gray-brown, and maroon-gray, subaerial and submarine basalt flows and minor interbedded volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, aquagene and epiclastic tuff, breccia, argillite, and radiolarian chert (Nokleberg and others, 1992a), commonly metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies. Widely distributed and several thousands of meters thick. Includes unnamed Triassic greenstone units in Talkeetna Mountains quadrangle (Csejtey and others, 1978). Commonly associated with Late Triassic carbonate and cherty carbonate rocks. Together with Chitistone and Nizina Limestones, this is one of the diagnostic units of the Wrangellia terrane (Jones and others, 1977). Plafker and others (1976) and Jones and others (1977) correlated the Goon Dip Greenstone of southeast Alaska with the Nikolai Greenstone based on similar lithology and stratigraphic position relative to the overlying Whitestripe Marble, which they correlated with the Upper Triassic Chitistone Limestone. Goon Dip Greenstone is dominantly massive greenstone and minor greenschist and marble. The greenstone also commonly contains sparsely distributed copper-bearing sulfides; the Nikolai was the host rock for the Kennecott group of mines. Similar and possibly correlative units, the Cottonwood Bay and Chilikradrotna Greenstones of the Alaska Peninsula, are described below as unit Trcb

Source map information

Source map Nokleberg, W.J., Aleinikoff, J.N., Lange, I.M., Silva, S.R., Miyaoka, R.T., Schwab, C.E., and Zehner, R.E., with contribution for selected areas from Bond, G.C., Richter, D.H., Smith, T.E., and Stout, J.H., 1992, Preliminary geologic map of the Mount Hayes quadrangle, eastern Alaska Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 92-594, scale 1:250,000 [Received as CAD coverage produced in 1996].
Symbol Trn
Unit name Nikolai Greenstone
Description Chiefly massive dark-gray-green, dark-gray-brown, reddish-brown, and maroon-gray subaerial, amygdaloidal basalt flows, separated locally by thin beds of reddish-brown nonmarine volcaniclastic rocks. Unit pervasively metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies. Disconformably overlies Eagle Creek Formation (unit Pe), overlain by Upper Triassic limestone (unit Trl). In southeastern Mount Hayes quadrangle, unit locally composed of Middle Triassic shale, limestone, and chert.
Lithology Metamorphic

Correlated geologic units

Label Trn
Description Nikolai Greenstone, Late and/or Middle Triassic
Geologic age Anisian to Norian
Geologic setting Extrusive
Lithology Form Importance
Basalt < Mafic-volcanic < Volcanic < Igneous Flow, pillows Major
Basalt < Mafic-volcanic < Volcanic < Igneous Pyroclastic, tuff Indeterminate, major
Basalt < Mafic-volcanic < Volcanic < Igneous Volcaniclastic, volcanic breccia Indeterminate, major
Limestone < Carbonate < Sedimentary Bed Incidental
Conglomerate < Clastic < Sedimentary Bed Incidental
Sandstone < Clastic < Sedimentary Bed Incidental
Siltstone < Clastic < Sedimentary Bed Incidental