A-4: Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay
Leader/Guides: Skip
Walker, Vlad Romanovsky, Tom Hamilton, Chien-Lu
Ping
Duration: June 23-27, 2008
Costs:
$1,200 (Pre-registration:
$100) If there are questions, contact Field Trip
leader.
No. of Participants: (Max 35) This Field Trip is Sold Out, accepting Stand-By Registrations.
Description: This 5-day field trip provides an in-depth view
of the landscapes and research along one of the most remote and
scenic highways in North America. The trip starts in Fairbanks,
and on the first day we will move quickly by bus through the interior
forests across the Brooks Range to Toolik Lake, with stops at the
Yukon River, Finger Mountain (site of large fires in 2004), Coldfoot
(for lunch), Sukakpak Mountain (large ice mounds and fens), treeline,
and the Chandalar Shelf (low alpine landscapes). On the second day,
Dr. Thomas Hamilton will lead a tour of the glaciated landscapes
of the Brooks Range. On the third day, scientists at the Toolik
Lake Field Station and Imnavait Creek will provide an overview of
the Arctic Long-Term Ecology Research (LTER) and several other ongoing
projects. During the fourth day, participants will visit the northern
foothills and the interior part of the Arctic Coastal Plain and
with stops at research sites at Happy Valley (central foothills
of the Brooks Range), Sagwon (northern edge of the foothills), and
Franklin Bluffs (central Arctic Coastal Plain) with in-depth presentations
of permafrost and soil research by Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky, Dr.
Chien-Lu Ping and other arctic scientists. The tour will overnight
at Prudhoe Bay and spend the fifth day on a tour of the Prudhoe
Bay oil field conducted by Dr. Bill Streever and industry personnel.
The field trip will end with a charter flight back to Fairbanks
with an overflight of the oil field and low-level views of the thaw
lakes, pingos, and patterned ground features near the arctic coast.
The major themes of the tour include permafrost and ecosystem variation
along the Arctic climate gradient, biocomplexity of patterned ground,
and Pleistocene glaciations of Northern Alaska.
In-Kind Sponsors:
Supplemental Materials:
1983 DGGS Guidebook
(21MB)
Field Trip Itinerary:
Day 1, 23 June: Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline
by bus; construction and maintenance issues;. Overview of the terrain,
glacial geology, climate, permafrost conditions, and ecology on
the south side of the Brooks Range including 2004-2005 wildfires.
Day 2, 24 June: Brooks Range: Glacial history, ecology, permafrost
conditions.
Day 3, 25 June: Arctic Foothills: Glacial history, ecology,
hydrology, permafrost conditions; LTER Research at Toolik
Lake; research at Imnavait Creek watershed.
Day 4, 26 June: Arctic Foothills and Arctic
Coastal Plain: Glacial history, ecology, hydrology, permafrost conditions;
bioclimate transect (Subzones C, D, and E).
Day 5, 27 June: Prudhoe Bay Oil Field: production facilities,
engineering, impacts, mitigation, ecological monitoring; aerial
overview of Prudhoe Bay oilfield, Howe Island, and the bioclimate
transect, industry infrastructure, landforms (braided streams, beaded
streams, patterned ground features; return by plane to Fairbanks.
