9307169 Pavlis Most tectonic processes are ultimately driven by plate motions, however the tie between the two is generally obscure except in the simplest cases. Recent work in the Chugach Metamorphic Complex of Alaska suggests that the history of the complex is intimately tied not only to ridge subduction but to a North Pacific plate reorganization that changed the plate configuration in the vicinity of the subducting ridge. This hypothsis will be tested in this project by three dimensional structural analysis, geochronology and geochemical techniques. Results have important implications for early Cenozoic North Pacific plate reconstructions that ultimately ended with demise of the Kula plate. In addition it offers the opportunity to examine deep seated processes that accompany ridge-trench- ridge triple junction interactions that involves a highly oblique component on one limb of the triple junction.
