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Curve Creek

Prospect, Inactive

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Commodities and mineralogy

Main commodities Fluorite
Other commodities Be
Ore minerals fluorite
Gangue minerals diaspore; pyrite; silica; stibnite

Geographic location

Quadrangle map, 1:250,000-scale TE
Quadrangle map, 1:63,360-scale B-5
Latitude 65.45
Longitude -167.224
Nearby scientific data Find additional scientific data near this location
Location and accuracy Curve Creek is the second tributary entering Lost River from the west, 3 miles upstream from the mouth of Lost River on Bering Sea. It is a southeast-flowing stream draining Ordovician limestones of the York Mountains. The Curve Creek prospect is located on the south side of a small west tributary between elevations of 500 and 1,000 feet. This is locality 4 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Curve Cr.'.

Geologic setting

Geologic description

Fluorite and some beryllium (up to 0.15% BeO) mineralization is localized along mafic dikes and fractured Lower Orodvician limestone in the footwall of the Rapid River fault. Sainsbury (1969; 1972) maps the Rapid River fault as a 12-mile long east-west trending thrust fault in the southern part of the York Mountains although stratigraphic relations across the fault suggest normal displacement. Mineralization here is apparently present over about 4,000 feet of east-west strike.
Geologic map unit (-167.226710868913, 65.4492191587863)
Mineral deposit model Fluorite- and beryllium-bearing veins and replacements in Ordovician limestone (Sainsbury, 1968)
Age of mineralization The age of the mineralization is assumed to be related to the development of tin systems in the Lost River area and therefore Late Cretaceous, the age of the tin-mineralizing granites there (Hudson and Arth, 1983).
Alteration of deposit Mass balance calculations show significant SiO2, Al2O3, alkali, and fluorine enrichment with mineralization (Sainsbury, 1968, p. 1567).

Production and reserves

Workings or exploration Surface observations and sampling reported by Sainsbury (1969, p. 77-78).
Indication of production None
Reserve estimates Not defined

References

MRDS Number 10308403

References

Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-587, 130 p.
Cobb, E.H., and Sainsbury, C.L., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-426, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Hudson, T.L., and Arth, J. G., 1983, Tin granites of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 94, p. 768-790.
Sainsbury, C.L., 1968, Tin and beryllium deposits of the central York Mountains, Alaska, in Ridge, J. D., ed., Ore deposits in the United States, 1933-67: American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineers, v. 2, p. 1555-1572.
Sainsbury, C.L., 1969, Geology and ore deposits of the central York Mountains, western Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1287, 101 p.
Sainsbury, C.L., 1972, Geologic map of the Teller quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-685, 4 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Reporters Travis L. Hudson (Applied Geology)
Last report date 5/10/1998