Geologic description
The country rocks near this site include gray and green phyllite and semischist derived from intertonguing flysch and andesitic and basaltic volcanic rocks (Berg and others, 1988, p. 17-20); and gray felsic schist possibly derived from silicic tuff (Maas and others, 1995, p. 183 and fig. 46). Near Smugglers Cove, the bedded rocks are intruded by diorite that may be transitional to the andesitic and basaltic volcanic rocks. The bedded and intrusive rocks were regionally metamorphosed to greenschist grade in Late Cretaceous time (Brew, 1996, p. 27). Their premetamorphic age is uncertain. Berg and others (1988, p. 17) note that the intertonguing flysch and volcanic rocks closely resemble Upper Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous marine strata nearby on Gravina Island. The deposit consists of quartz fissure veins up to about 12 inches thick in porphyritic diorite (Brooks, 1902, p. 58). The principal vein strikes E-W and contains pyrite, chalcopyrite, and, reportedly, small amounts of gold. Small amounts of auriferous pyrite also are disseminated in the diorite adjacent to the vein. Fluid inclusion studies of quartz vein material from several of the Helm Bay lodes suggest that the veins formed at temperatures and pressures consistent with conditions during the Late Cretaceous greenschist-grade regional metamorphism (Maas and others, 1995, p. 184). |
