Exhumation along the Denali Fault (pre-meeting)

Please join us for a pre-conference fieldtrip to the central Alaska Range. This trip is a combination of geology, thermochronology and spectacular scenery.  We will depart Anchorage on the morning of September 12th (the Friday before the start of the conference) and return Sunday night (14th September). On day one we will drive vans to Denali National Park. Along the way we will pass through and stop in the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains. We will also stop in the picturesque town of Talkeetna (the gateway for climbers flying into the central Alaska Range) for lunch, history, and breathtaking views. Talkeetna is at an elevation of 90 m and the summit of Mt McKinley - centerpiece of the Central Alaska Range is at 6194 m - making this mountain one of the most spectacular in the world.

Once at Denali National Park we will stay two nights at a local hotel. From this base we will visit sites of geological, historical, and scenic interest. The focus of these stops will be the Neogene history of the Alaska Range, the Denali Fault - an active right lateral fault, and the coal bearing Usibelli Group that is intimately connected to the formation of the Miocene/Pliocene Alaska Range. Reservation to be a part of this field trip will take part when you register for the FT2008 conference. We look forward to sharing and discussing the complex tectonic history of interior Alaska with you.  This field trip is limited to 25 people. Participants will need to arrive in Anchorage on 11 September for an early morning departure the next morning.

Contact: Paul Fitzgerald (pgfitzge@syr.edu), Jeff Benowitz (jeffapplebenowitz@yahoo.com), Stephanie Perry (seperr01@syr.edu)

Kenai Peninsula (Mid-meeting)

 As is tradition for this meeting, there will be a mid-meeting trip where all participants spend a casual day in the field, and this will be on Wednesday 17 September.  The trip will originate in Anchorage, and we will travel south and east around Turnagain Arm, which is famous for its tidal bore and wildlife. We plan to make a stop at the visitors center at Portage glacier (glacier is no longer visible), and perhaps nearby the Wildlife Rehabilitation center. From here we will travel across the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula and take a walk to the excellent bedrock exposures at the terminus of Exit Glacier where we will eat a simple lunch. After lunch, we plan to drive to Seward Alaska, and then take a 3 hour cruise with Kenai Fjords Tours on Resurrection Bay. This is a well known and famous activity on the Kenai Peninsula because the scenery and wildlife and unique and dramatic. After the cruise, participants will have time to explore and dine in the the town of Seward Alaska, and then the busses will return to Anchorage in the evening. 

Alaska Native Heritage Center (in planning)

The Alaska Native Heritage Center explores the interesting history and tradiations of Alaska's eleven cultural groups.

Earthquake Park (in planning)

In 1964 Alaska was shaken by one of the biggest subduction zone earthquakes ever recorded by humans. This earthquake caused an incredible amount of damage across the state and in the city of Anchorage. One of the distinctive aspects of damage in Anchorage are rotational slides that resulted in the collapse of flat developed areas along the inlet. We plan to visit the Turnagain Heights slide where 75 homes were lost.