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 Trnf
Unit name Nikolai Greenstone -- Subaerial basalt flows member
Description Chiefly dark gray-green, gray, purple, black, or brown, massive amygdaloidal basalt flows. Fine- to medium-grained. Includes sparse basaltic breccia and basaltic aquagene tuff and sparse limestone, siltstone, shale, and chert occur in south-central part of Mount Hayes quadrangle. Unit metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies
Lithology Metamorphic

Correlated geologic units

Label Trn
Description Nikolai Greenstone, subaerial basalt flows member, Late Triassic
Geologic age Late-Triassic to Norian
Geologic setting Extrusive
Lithology Form Importance
Basalt < Mafic-volcanic < Volcanic < Igneous Flow Major