The Alexander Terrane, an accreted crustal fragment in southeast Alaska, affords a unique opportunity to determine its paleolatitudinal motion history through paleomagnetic and detrital zircon analysis. Alternative paleopositions for the terrane during the Paleozoic are: (1) the Sierra-klamath province of California; (2) the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana; or (3) an intra-oceanic setting. This study will resolve the controversy surrounding the origins and movement history of the Alexander Terrane, and will have major implications for the accretionary history of the North American Cordillera. The results will have bearing on orogenic processes in other tectonic settings.
