Supplemental Material: Ulungarat Basin: Record of a major Middle Devonian to Mississippian syn-rift to post-rift tectonic transition, eastern Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska

<div>Describes the organization, sedimentology, and depositional environments of the Ulungarat Basin succession including description of type sections of the Ulungarat and Mangaqtaaq formations. Table S1 documents published fossil and radiometric age constraints used to construct the mid-Paleozoic tectonostratigraphic chart (Fig. 12), including basis for age assignment and list of source references. A reference list of all sources cited in Table S1 is included.<br></div>

Quantifying effects of snow depth on caribou winter range selection and movement in Arctic Alaska

Background Caribou and reindeer across the Arctic spend more than two thirds of their lives moving in snow. Yet snow-specific mechanisms driving their winter ecology and potentially influencing herd health and movement patterns are not well known. Integrative research coupling snow and wildlife sciences using observations, models, and wildlife tracking technologies can help fill this knowledge void. Methods Here, we quantified the effects of snow depth on caribou winter range selection and movement. We used location data of Central Arctic Herd (CAH) caribou in Arctic Alaska collected from 2014 to 2020 and spatially distributed and temporally evolving snow depth data produced by SnowModel. These landscape-scale (90 m), daily snow depth data reproduced the observed spatial snow-depth variability across typical areal extents occupied by a wintering caribou during a 24-h period. Results We found that fall snow depths encountered by the herd north of the Brooks Range exerted a strong influence on selection of two distinct winter range locations. In winters with relatively shallow fall snow depth (2016/17, 2018/19, and 2019/20), the majority of the CAH wintered on the tundra north of the Brooks Range mountains. In contrast, during the winters with relatively deep fall snow depth (2014/15, 2015/16, and 2017/18), the majority of the CAH caribou wintered in the mountainous boreal forest south of the Brooks Range. Long-term (19 winters; 2001–2020) monitoring of CAH caribou winter distributions confirmed this relationship. Additionally, snow depth affected movement and selection differently within these two habitats: in the mountainous boreal forest, caribou avoided areas with deeper snow, but when on the tundra, snow depth did not trigger significant deep-snow avoidance. In both wintering habitats, CAH caribou selected areas with higher lichen abundance, and they moved significantly slower when encountering deeper snow. Conclusions In general, our findings indicate that regional-scale selection of winter range is influenced by snow depth at or prior to fall migration. During winter, daily decision-making within the winter range is driven largely by snow depth. This integrative approach of coupling snow and wildlife observations with snow-evolution and caribou-movement modeling to quantify the multi-facetted effects of snow on wildlife ecology is applicable to caribou and reindeer herds throughout the Arctic.

Supplemental Material: Ulungarat Basin: Record of a major Middle Devonian to Mississippian syn-rift to post-rift tectonic transition, eastern Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska

<div>Describes the organization, sedimentology, and depositional environments of the Ulungarat Basin succession including description of type sections of the Ulungarat and Mangaqtaaq formations. Table S1 documents published fossil and radiometric age constraints used to construct the mid-Paleozoic tectonostratigraphic chart (Fig. 12), including basis for age assignment and list of source references. A reference list of all sources cited in Table S1 is included.<br></div>

Supplemental Material: Ulungarat Basin: Record of a major Middle Devonian to Mississippian syn-rift to post-rift tectonic transition, eastern Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska

<div>Describes the organization, sedimentology, and depositional environments of the Ulungarat Basin succession including description of type sections of the Ulungarat and Mangaqtaaq formations. Table S1 documents published fossil and radiometric age constraints used to construct the mid-Paleozoic tectonostratigraphic chart (Fig. 12), including basis for age assignment and list of source references. A reference list of all sources cited in Table S1 is included.<br></div>

Supplemental Material: Ulungarat Basin: Record of a major Middle Devonian to Mississippian syn-rift to post-rift tectonic transition, eastern Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska

<div>Describes the organization, sedimentology, and depositional environments of the Ulungarat Basin succession including description of type sections of the Ulungarat and Mangaqtaaq formations. Table S1 documents published fossil and radiometric age constraints used to construct the mid-Paleozoic tectonostratigraphic chart (Fig. 12), including basis for age assignment and list of source references. A reference list of all sources cited in Table S1 is included.<br></div>

Tectonochemistry of the Brooks Range Ophiolite, Alaska

We present new whole-rock geochemical data from the Brooks Range ophiolite (BRO) together with new mineral chemistry data from the BRO, South Sandwich forearc, Izu-Bonin forearc, and Hess Deep. The analyses reveal that the Brooks Range ophiolite (BRO) was most likely created in a forearc setting. We show that this tectonic classification requires the Brookian orogeny to begin at ~163-169 Ma. The middle-Jurassic BRO contains abundant gabbros and other intrusive rocks that are geochemically similar to lithologies found in other forearc settings. Based on major, minor, and trace element geochemistry, we conclude that the BRO has clear signals of a subduction-related origin. High-precision olivine data from the BRO have a forearc signature, with possible geochemical input from a nearby arc. The Koyukuk terrane lies to the south of the Brooks Range; previous studies have concluded that the BRO is the forearc remnant of this arc-related terrane. These studies also conclude that collision between the Koyukuk Arc and the Arctic Alaska continental margin marks the beginning of the Brookian orogeny. Since the BRO is a forearc ophiolite, the collision between the Koyukuk Arc and the continental margin must have coincided with obduction of the BRO. Previously determined 40Ar/39Ar ages from the BRO’s metamorphic sole yield an obduction age of 163-169 Ma. Since the same collisional event that obducts the BRO also is responsible for the Brookian orogeny, we conclude that the BRO’s obduction age of ~163-169 Ma marks the beginning of this orogenic event.