The contact between Carboniferous and lower Paleozoic rocks, exposed along the northern margin of the Doonerak window in the central Brooks Range, is a major thrust fault called the Blarney Creek thrust (BCT). The BCT has been traced over a distance of 25 km, from Falsoola Mountain to Wien Mountain. The tectonic nature of this contact is demonstrated by: (1) omission of stratigraphic units above and below the BCT; (2) large angular discordance in orientation of first-generation cleavage at the BCT; (3) numerous thrust imbricates developed in the upper-plate Carboniferous section that sole into the BCT; and (4) truncation of an upper-plate graben structure at the BCT. Lack of evidence for pre-Carboniferous deformation in the lower plate casts doubt on the interpretation of the contact as an angular unconformity. However, the localized presence below the BCT of Mississippian Kekiktuk Conglomerate and Kayak Shale, in apparent depositional contact with lower Paleozoic rocks, suggests that the BCT follows an originally disconformable contact between the Carboniferous and lower Paleozoic rocks. The juxtaposition of younger over older rocks at the BCT is explained by calling upon the BCT to act as the upper detachment surface of a duplex structure. Duplex development involves initial imbrication of the Carboniferous section using the BCT as a basal decollement, followed by formation of deeper thrusts in the lower Paleozoic section, which ramp up and merge into the BCT.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 678------------