EARLY EOCENE PEDOGENESIS AND THE AMALGAMATION OF ALASKA

An intensely weathered paleosol representing an isochronous landscape exists at many places in continental Early Eocene strata in North America. Most often a single siderite spherule-bearing horizon is found from which δ¹⁸O values were obtained to construct a paleolatitudinal gradient for Early Eocene North America. Comparison of the paleosol siderite spherule δ¹⁸O composition from the mobile Yakutat Terrane, Alaska to the North American paleolatitudinal gradient indicates that during the Early Eocene the terrane existed at ~41º paleonorth, thus supporting hypotheses for a far-traveled terrane history.