We are pleased to welcome Professor Derek Schutt who will be delivering a seminar on: The Enigmatic Mackenzie Mountains.

Abstract:

The Mackenzie Mountains are an arcuate band of mountains in the Northern Canadian Cordillera. They extend beyond the cordilleran deformation boundary of the mountains to the south, and are actively uplifting. What is surprising is that the mountains are 700 km from the nearest plate boundary, but there is little deformation closer to the plate boundary. To investigate this region, we deployed a line of seismometers that crossed the range (which was challenging because no roads exist in the mountains). Professor Schutt will present early results from our investigation and suggest that plate motion in the Gulf of Alaska, plus a weak spot in the center of the mountains, have combined to produce the current uplift. What is causing the weak spot remains enigmatic.