A compilation of paleomagnetic data suggests that the Southern Alaska superterrane moved with a northerly component of motion of some 24 cm/yr during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. The best hypothesis, accounting for this unusually rapid motion, is to invoke northward transport of this superterrane on the Kula plate. The purpose of this study is to verify the high terrane velocity, refine this velocity estimate and test the hypothesis of a Kula plate transport mechanisms. If the Southern Alaska superterrane was transported on the Kula plate, a 21 degree - 27 degree shift in paleolatitude is predicted for the Late Cretaceous. A detailed paleomagnetic study of Upper Cretaceous rocks should easily demonstrate this latitudinal shift by showing a 30 degree -41 degree change in mean paleomagnetic inclination over the sampled section. In addition, a pronounced kink (at 82-85 m. y.) in the apparent polar wander path constructed from the paleomagnetic data should record the birth of the Kula plate and subsequent rapid northward motion.
