NAVAL PETROLEUM RESERVE NO. 4 -- THE ROLE OF THE USGS,
MENLO PARK
George Gryc
Photo of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 (NPR-4) test well.
In response to future military needs and based on information from early expeditionary traverses by USGS geologists, whalers and others, President Warren G. Harding in 1923 set aside nearly half of the Arctic Slope of Alaska as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 (NPR–4). By agreement with the Department of Interior, the USGS would be responsible for all geologic studies in the Reserve. This has been a continuing element in USGS programs since the Reserve was established. Starting with projects headquartered out of Washington, D.C., the work moved west with the new regional centers and culminated in Menlo Park, primarily in the former Alaskan Branch. The results have been a new and detailed geologic description of Northern Alaska and its petroleum resources. Building on this information, industry has discovered the largest oil field in North America at Prudhoe Bay, just east of NPR-4. The entire Brooks Range has been mapped geologically for the first time, and the relationship to the Reserve and, indeed, to the geology and tectonic history of all of Alaska has been outlined. Based on geologic studies and geochemical sampling in the Brooks Range, a giant zinc deposit has been developed and other potential deposits have been defined just to the south of the Reserve. Although NPR-4 had been redefined as the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) and made available to industry, the region continued to be a major program element in USGS projects in Menlo Park.
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