Brooks Range

Brooks Range, northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains in northern Alaska, U.S. Named for the geologist Alfred H. Brooks, the entire range is within the Arctic Circle. It is separated from the Alaska Range (south) by the plains and tablelands of the Yukon and Porcupine river systems. The Brooks Range extends about 600 miles (1,000 km) in an east-west direction across Alaska from the U.S. border with Canada’s Yukon territory to the Chukchi Sea, and it reaches widths of up to 200 miles (300 km). The British and Richardson mountains, wholly situated in Canada and a 250-mile (400-km) northern and western extension of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, are sometimes considered part of the Brooks Range.

The Brooks is the world’s highest mountain range within the Arctic Circle. Its peaks average 3,000 to 4,000 feet (900 to 1,200 metres) in the west and about 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 metres) in the centre and east. The highest points, reaching between about 8,500 and 9,000 feet (2,590 and 2,740 metres) are found near the Canadian border. The range is a watershed between the Yukon River drainage (south) and that of the Arctic Ocean (north). Anaktuvuk Pass (2,200 feet [670 metres]), near its centre, is the main means of access from the Yukon lowlands.

The Prudhoe Bay region, on the coastal plain (North Slope) at the northern base of the range, has vast reserves of oil. To the west of it is the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, which covers some 36,700 square miles (95,000 square km) of plains and mountains in northern and western Alaska. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline crosses the range at Atigun Pass en route from Prudhoe to the Valdez terminal in southern Alaska. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing the eastern part of the range, protects one of the world’s most pristine and ecologically diversified high-latitude wilderness areas; it is home to some 200 species of birds, more than 35 different kinds of land mammals (notably polar bears, caribou, musk oxen, wolverines, and wolves), and several species of marine mammals and fish. However, the preserve also is believed to have large petroleum deposits in the North Slope area and has been the subject of controversy between environmentalists and proponents of oil drilling. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, in the rugged Endicott Mountains; Kobuk Valley National Park, in the Baird Mountains; and Noatak National Preserve, which occupies a large territory north of the two parks, also lie along the range. See also Alaskan mountains.