Much of the rest of the state is built of chunks of continental crust carried there from the south, then plastered there where they compress the land into the highest mountains in North America. Two ranges right next to each other can have rocks that are totally different, formed thousands of kilometers away and millions of years apart. The ranges of Alaska are all part of a great mountain chain, or cordillera, that stretches from the tip of South America all the way up the west coast, then over into eastern Russia. The mountains, the glaciers upon them and the wildlife they support are enormous scenic resources; the minerals, metals and petroleum resources of Alaska are equally significant.
Two larger versions of this map also contain the key to the rock units: the screen-size version (1200x900 pixels), which is fully legible, and the full-size version (3000x2250 pixels). To make your own copy of these larger maps, right-click on the image (or your browser's equivalent) and save it to your machine.
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Top Alaska Travel Guidebooks
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