Brooks Range

Template:Geobox The Brooks Range is a mountain range in far northern North America. It stretches from west to east across northern Alaska and into Canada's Yukon Territory, a total distance of about 1100 km (700 mi). The mountains top out at over 2,700 m (9,000 ft). The range is believed to be approximately 126 million years old.

The range is mostly uninhabited, but the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System run through the Atigun Pass (1,415 m, 4,643 ft) on their way to the North Slope and the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay. The Alaska Native villages of Anaktuvuk and Arctic Village, as well as the very small communities of Coldfoot, Wiseman, Bettles, and Chandalar Lake are the only settlements in the 700-mile Brooks Range. In the far west, near the Wulik River in the De Long Mountains is the Red Dog mine, largest zinc mine in the world.

The range was named by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1925 after Alfred Hulse Brooks, who was the chief USGS geologist for Alaska from 1903 to 1924.

Various historical records also referred to the range as the Arctic Mountains, Hooper Mountains, Meade Mountains and Meade River Mountains; the Canadian portion is still often referred to as the British Mountains. The British Mountains are part of Ivvavik National Park.

Peaks

• Mount Chamberlin at 9020 ft (2,749 m), is generally considered to be the highest peak in the range.

Other notable peaks include:

• Mount Isto at 8,975 ft (2,736 m)
• Mount Michelson at 8,855 ft (2,699 m)
• The Gates of Kiev at 7775 ft (2370 m), the highest point in the central part of the range, and
• Black Mountain at 5020 ft (1530 m) the highest point in the far western part of the range.
• Mount Doonerak
• Mount Igikpak
• Frigid Crags West Gate
• Boreal Mountain East Gate

Some sources, including the USGS 1:250,000 scale map Demarcation Point A-5, quote Mount Isto's height as 9,050 ft, which would make it the highest point in the range. Also, some sources quote Mount Michelson's height as 9,239 ft, which would make it the highest point; however, this is far above the 8,855 foot figure given on the USGS Mount Michelson B-1 quadrangle topographic map, so it is unlikely to be correct.

Ecology

This mountain range forms the northernmost drainage divide in North America, separating streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific. The range roughly delineates the summer position of the Arctic front. It represents the northern extent of tree line, with few trees (apart from some isolated Balsam poplar stands) occurring north of the continental drainage divide. The southern slopes of the Brooks Range have some cover of Black Spruce, Picea mariana, marking the northern limit of that tree. As one of the most remote and least-disturbed wildernesses of North America, the mountains are teeming with wildlife, including Dall sheep, grizzly bears, and caribou.

In Alaska, the Western Arctic Caribou herd traverses the Brooks Range in its annual migration. This herd was measured at 490,000 animals in 2004. The smaller Central Arctic herd (32,000 in 2002), as well as the 123,000 strong Porcupine Caribou herd, likewise travel through the Brooks range on their migratory paths in and out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The migratory path of the Porcupine Caribou Herd is the longest of any terrestrial mammal on earth.

Documented wilderness traverses of the Brooks Range

Brooks Range Mountains

Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, looking south toward the Brooks Range mountains.

• Dick Griffith -- Kaktovik to Kotzebue, Alaska (1959-1979) by foot, raft, and kayak: first documented traverse.
• Roman Dial -- Kaktovik to Kotzebue, Alaska (1986) by skis, foot, packraft and kayak: first traverse in one year.
• Keith Nyitray -- Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada to Kotzebue (1989-1990) by dog sled, snowshoes, foot, raft, and canoe: first continuous traverse of the entire range. 1,500 trail miles from Canada to Kotzebue. See April '93 issue of "National Geographic."
• Thor Tingey, Phillip Weidner, Sam Newburry, Dan Dryden -- Marsh Fork Canning River to Kobuk (2000) by foot and packraft.
• Dennis Schmitt -- Point Hope, Alaska to Mackenzie River, Northwest Territories (1966-2001) by foot and dog sled: longest and first full length traverse.
• Peter Vacco -- Bonnet Lake to Cape Lisburne (2003) by snowshoe and foot: first continuous foot traverse from Canada.
• Roman Dial -- Kivalina to Dalton Highway without resupply (2006) by foot: fastest traverse (624 miles in 22 days, 7 hours, 40 minutes).
• Bruce "Buck" Nelson -- Alaska Yukon border to Kotzebue Sound (2006) by foot and raft.

Films

• 2007 - Gates of the Arctic: Alaska's Brooks Range
• 2008 - Alone Across Alaska: 1,000 Miles of Wilderness

See also

• Richardson Mountains

References

• Alaska -- Brooks Range Traverse
• Arctic 1000
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge trek
• The Ultima Thule: An Online Anthology of the Alaskan Arctic

Further reading

• Witmer, Dennis "Far to the North: Photographs from the Brooks Range" Far to the North Press (2008) ISBN 0977102807
• Kauffmann, John M. "Alaska's Brooks Range: The Ultimate Mountains" (Second Edition) Mountaineers Books (2005) ISBN 1594850089
• Brown, William E. "History of the Central Brooks Range: Gaunt Beauty, Tenuous Life" University of Alaska Press (2007) ISBN 1602230099
• Cooper, David "Brooks Range Passage" Mountaineers Books (1983) ISBN 089886061X
• Dover, J.H., I.L. Tailleur, and J.A. Dumoulin. (2004). Geologic and fossil locality maps of the west-central part of the Howard Pass quadrangle and part of the adjacent Misheguk Mountain quadrangle, Western Brooks Range, Alaska [Miscellaneous Field Studies; Map MF-2413]. Reston, Va.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Krumhardt, A.P., A.G. Harris, and K.F. Watts. (1996). Lithostratigraphy, microlithofacies, and conodont biostratigraphy and biofacies of the Wahoo Limestone (Carboniferous), eastern Sadlerochit Mountains, northeast Brooks Range, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1568. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Marshall, R. (1970). Alaska wilderness; exploring the Central Brooks Range 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520244982
• Mayfield, C.F. et al. (1984). Reconnaissance geologic map of southeastern Misheguk Mountain quadrangle, Alaska [ Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1503]. Reston, Va.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Morin, R.L. (1997). Gravity and magnetic maps of part of the Drenchwater Creek stratiform zinc-lead-silver deposit, Howard Pass quadrangle, northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska [Open-file report 97-705]. Menlo Park, CA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Morin, R.L. (1997). Gravity models of Abby Creek and Bion barite deposits, Howard Pass quadrangle, northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska [U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 97-704]. Menlo Park, CA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Mull, C.G. et al. (1994). Geologic map of the Killik River quadrangle, Brooks Range, Alaska [U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 94-679]. Reston, Va: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Nelson, P.H. et al. (2006). Potential tight gas resources in a frontier province, Jurassic through Tertiary strata beneath the Brooks Range foothills, Arctic Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 2006-1172. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. (2003). The natural dispersal of metals to the environment in the Wulik River-Ikalukrok Creek area, western Brooks Range, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 107-03. Reston, VA: author.
• U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. (1995). Natural environmental effects of silver-lead-zinc deposits in the Brooks Range, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 092-95. Reston, VA: author.