Data release for the Geologic Map of the Denali Park Road Corridor, Denali National Park, Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve (DENA), located in central Alaska,
is home to iconic and dynamic landscapes surrounding the tallest
mountain range in North America, the Alaska Range. DENA preserves
over 6 million acres of wild land that provides opportunities
for recreation, subsistence hunting and gathering, preservation of
cultural resources, and scientific research.  Despite its size and
popularity, DENA has only one roadâthe dead-end, 92-mile Denali National
Park Road (hereafter referred to as the Park Road). The Park Road is
mostly gravel; only the first 15 miles are paved. It is the only access
for most DENA infrastructure, including visitor centers, staff facilities,
campgrounds, and businesses.
The Park Road crosses a steep, constantly changing landscape, shaped by
actively deforming and uplifted bedrock, glacier and meltwater erosion,
and various permafrost processes. Geologic hazards (geohazards) such as
rockfall, debris flows, and landslides cause significant damage to the Park
Road every year, requiring periodic closure, and costing millions of
dollars in repair and maintenance.  For the first time in the parkâs
history, the Park Road is closed near its midpoint for an entire season
due to displacement caused by the Pretty Rocks rock glacier and landslide
complex.  In addition, DENA is situated along a major fault system and
experiences numerous earthquakes every year.  Most are too weak to be felt,
but a 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook the region in 2002, and at least one
major landslide, which formed Bergh Lake along the Park Road corridor, was
caused by seismic shaking in 1953.
In response to the threat posed by geohazards, the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) have partnered to produce a new,
high-resolution geologic map to help identify basin sediments and bedrock
geology, active faults, unstable slopes, and hazardous geologic substrates
along the Park Road corridor and other areas that contain administrative
infrastructure.  This new geologic map augments previous broad scale,
bedrock-focused maps and uses detailed, updated imagery and elevation data
to provide a digital framework for future research, hazard identification,
and infrastructural development.

Tags: alaska, alaska-range, browne-glaciation, cantwell-basin, cantwell-formation, cretaceous, denali, denali-fault-system, denali-national-park, denali-park-road, devonian, dry-creek-glaciation, early-pleistocene, east-fork-toklat-river, eilson-visitor-center, eocene, fang-mountain, geologic-map, healy-glaciation, highway-pass, hines-creek, hines-creek-fault, holocene, holocene-to-latest-pleistocene, jurassic, kantishna-hills, landslides, late-pleistocene, latest-holocene-to-middle-holocene, latest-pleistocene, mckinley-river, middle-pleistocene, miocene, mount-galen, mount-healy, mount-margaret, mount-wright, muldrow-glacier, nenana-gravel, nenana-river, neotectonics, oligocene, paleocene, park-road-fault, pennsylvanian, permafrost, plains-of-murie, pleistocene, pliocene, polychrome-pass, pretty-rocks, quaternary, quaternary-deposits, riley-creek-glaciation, sable-pass, sanctuary-river, savage-river, stony-pass, surficial-geology, teklanika-formation, teklanika-river, teklanika-volcanics, toklat-river, triassic, united-states, usa, usgs-63a1fe97d34e0de3a1f27d0a, usibelli-group, wonder-lake
Organization: Department of the Interior