For more than 60 yr, the term “Barrow arch” has been used to describe a regional structural high beneath northern Alaska and the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas that is of chief importance to the area’s petroleum systems. However, there are multiple interpretations of what, precisely, constitutes the Barrow arch. For example, most, but not all, interpretations invoke the arch as a basement feature. Other interpretations refer to a Barrow arch that existed in different forms at widely variant times, from the early Paleozoic to the present, and although many authors refer to the feature as “composite” or “complex,” the arch is normally drawn on maps as a single lineation. Numerous meanings of the term Barrow arch have been conflated in the literature resulting in some contradictory usages; this paper is an attempt to clarify the nomenclature. Six primary usages of the term Barrow arch are identified in this paper. These are the (1) basement high, (2) ancestral highlands, (3) rift margin, (4) Lower Cretaceous unconformity antiform, (5) Brookian sill, and (6) dip reversal usages. These usages are deconstructed herein, and other names of more exacting definitions are introduced. These newly defined terms are the “basement arch,” “Ellesmerian highlands,” “rift shoulders,” “northern Alaska anticlinorium,” and “Colville rim.” “Basement subcrop areas” are introduced as regions where basement rocks were eroded to a peneplain beneath unconformities; these help to isolate the various northern Alaskan rift shoulders. It is recommended that the term Barrow arch be discarded. The northern Alaska anticlinorium is the most significant newly defined feature for northern Alaska’s petroleum systems.

中文翻译：

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更好地了解阿拉斯加北部的石油系统：解构巴罗拱门

60 多年来，“巴罗拱门”一词一直被用来描述阿拉斯加北部、波弗特海和楚科奇海下方的区域性构造高位，该区域对该地区的石油系统至关重要。然而，对于究竟是什么构成了巴罗拱门，有多种解释。例如，大多数（但不是全部）解释都将拱门作为地下室特征。其他解释指的是古生代早期以不同形式存在的巴罗拱门，从古生代到现在，尽管许多作者将该特征称为“复合”或“复杂”，但该拱门通常在地图上绘制为单一的划线。Barrow arch 一词的多种含义在文献中被混淆，导致了一些相互矛盾的用法；本文试图澄清命名法。本文确定了术语 Barrow arch 的六个主要用法。它们是 (1) 基底高、(2) 祖先高地、(3) 裂谷边缘、(4) 下白垩统不整合反构造、(5) Brookian 基台和 (6) 倾角反转用途。这些用法在此被解构，并引入了更严格定义的其他名称。这些新定义的术语是“地下室拱”、“埃尔斯默高地”、“裂谷肩”、“阿拉斯加北部背斜”和“科尔维尔边缘”。“基底亚作物区”是指基底岩石被侵蚀成不整合面下的准平原的区域；这些有助于隔离阿拉斯加北部的各个裂谷肩。建议放弃 Barrow arch 一词。阿拉斯加北部背斜是阿拉斯加北部石油系统最重要的新定义特征。