Cordilleran Terrane and Major Fault GIS Compilation

A GIS compilation maps terranes and major Late Cretaceous to Tertiary strike-slip faults across the Northern Cordillera. Derived from a collaborative project by the BC and Yukon Geological Surveys, the data includes terrane polygons accurate to ~1 km for Yukon and British Columbia. Maps are provided in multiple digital formats including shapefiles and ArcGIS geodatabases.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial relationships between terrane polygons and major strike-slip faults for tectonic studies.
• Map the distribution of crustal blocks, including continental fragments and island arc crust, across Alaska, Yukon, and BC.
• Use the ~1 km accurate terrane polygons for Yukon and BC as a base layer for regional geological or metallogenic modeling.

Strengths

• Polygon accuracy is specified as ~1 km for Yukon and British Columbia.
• Data is derived from a peer-reviewed map compilation revised in 2013.
• Available in multiple interoperable formats including ESRI REST, shapefiles, and KMZ.

Limitations

• The map scale is intended for page-size display (~1:5,000,000), limiting use for high-resolution analysis.
• Accuracy for Alaska polygons is lower at ~5 km compared to other regions.
• No attribute table or sample data is provided to detail column structure or terrane classifications.

Provenance

Source

BC Geological Survey and Yukon Geological Survey collaborative project.

Collection Method

GIS compilation based on maps published by Colpron et al. (2007) and revised by Nelson et al. (2013).

Time Range

Focus on Late Cretaceous and Tertiary geological features.

Freshness

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Geography

Northern Cordillera (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia) and Canadian Cordillera.