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Unnamed (northwest head of Caribou Creek)

Prospect, Inactive

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Commodities and mineralogy

Main commodities Au; Pb; Zn
Ore minerals galena; gold; pyrite; sphalerite
Gangue minerals calcite; quartz

Geographic location

Quadrangle map, 1:250,000-scale NB
Quadrangle map, 1:63,360-scale C-5
Latitude 62.6208
Longitude -143.4497
Nearby scientific data Find additional scientific data near this location
Location and accuracy This prospect is in the headwaters of an unnamed north tributary to Caribou Creek. It is an an elevation of about 4,800 feet, 3,200 feet northwest of elevation 5620, and 3,000 feet south-southeast of elevation 6240. The site is in the NE1/4 of section 25, T. 10 N., R.10 E. of the Copper River Meridian. This is locality 1 of Richter and Schmoll (1973), locality 5 of Richter and others (1975), and National Park Service locality WRST-2 (unpublished data). It is located to within a few hundred feet.

Geologic setting

Geologic description

Gold occurs in 1/4- to 2 -inch-thick stringers of quartz, calcite, pyrite, galena, and sphalerite that are localized in a zone 6 to 12 inches wide that cuts dioritized volcanic rocks. An adit was driven N 65 E to crosscut the zone which is near an 8-foot-wide trachyte dike that strikes N 55 W and dips 45 NE (Moffit, 1954). The volcanic rocks are part of the Pennsylvanian-Permian Tetelna Volcanics that are intruded by a diorite gneiss complex within 500 feet of the prospect (Matson and Richter, 1971 [OFR 71-204]; Richter and Schmoll, 1973; Richter, 1976). K/Ar ages from the diorite complex indicate that it is Early Jurassic or older (Richter. Lanphere, and Matson, 1975).
Geologic map unit (-143.451854154757, 62.6204283863899)
Mineral deposit model Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)
Mineral deposit model number 22c
Age of mineralization Early Jurassic or younger? This prospect is in the border zone of a large diorite complex that is Early Jurassic or older (Richter, Lanphere, and Matson, 1975).

Production and reserves

Workings or exploration An adit was driven N 65 E to crosscut the mineralized zone. It was caved by the early 1950s (Moffit, 1954).
Indication of production Undetermined

Additional comments

The prospect is in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve.

References

MRDS Number A011381

References

Matson, N.A., Jr., and Richter, D.H., 1971, Geochemical data from the Nabesna C-5 quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 71-0204, 10 p.
Moffit, F.H., 1954, Geology of the eastern part of the Alaska Range and adjacent area: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 989-D, p. 65-218.
Richter, D.H., and Schmoll, H.R., 1973, Geologic map of the Nabesna C-5 quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-1062, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
Richter, D.H., Lanphere, M.A., and Matson, N.A., Jr., 1975, Granite plutonism and metamorphism, eeastern Alaska Range, Alaska: Geological Society of American Bulletin, v. 86, p. 819-820.
Richter, D.H., Singer, D.A., and Cox, D.P., 1975, Mineral resources map of the Nabesna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-655-K, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Reporters Travis L. Hudson (Applied Geology)
Last report date 11/24/2002