The Lower Crooked Creek is a gold mine located in Alaska.
About the MRDS Data:
All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.
Mine Info
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Lower Crooked Creek MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Lower Crooked Creek
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: Alaska
District: Council
Land Status
Not available
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Occurrence
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:
Physiography
Not available
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Quartz veining and possibly pyrite disseminatioin in the metasedimentary host rocks is present.
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Gold
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Quartz
Comments
Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive
Comment (Geology): Age = Possibly mid-Cretaceous; if gold-bearing lode structures are present here they may be similar in age to some lode gold deposits of southern Seward Peninsula. The southern Seward Peninsula lode gold deposits formed as a result of mid-Cretaceous metamorphism (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993, Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997) that accompanied regional extension (Miller and Hudson, 1991) and crustal melting (Hudson, 1994). This higher temperature metamorphism was superimposed on high pressure/low temperature metamorphic rocks of the region.
Comment (Production): Production Notes = Placer gold from lower Crooked Creek was both coarse and rounded as well as sharp, angular, and with quartz attached (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Collier and others (1908) also noted that the fragile and crystalline placer gold suggested a local source.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Smith and Eakin, 1911
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = This occurrence may have been exposed by surface placer mine workings on a bench along lower Crooked Creek.
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Gold-bearing quartz veins in schistose marble
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = A 12 foot-wide mineralized zone in schistose limestone (marble) contains quartz veins and pyrite. Collier and others (1908) report that a quartz stringer with pyrite assayed 0.06 ounces/ton Au and a trace of silver from this area and Smith and Eakin (1911) were told that assays as high as 0.04 ounces/ton Au had been obtained from this occurrence. Bedrock in the area is metasedimentary schist and marble of a Lower Paleozoic assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
References
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-417, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Ford, R.C., 1993, Geology, geochemistry, and age of gold lodes at Bluff and Mt. Distin, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Golden, Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. dissertation, 302 p.
Reference (Deposit): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.
Reference (Deposit): Ford, R.C., and Snee, L.W., 1996, 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of white mica from the Nome district, Alaska: The first ages of lode sources to placer gold deposits in the Seward Peninsula: Economic Geology, v. 91, p. 213-220.
Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S. and Eakin, H.M., 1911, Mineral resources of Alaska 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480, 333 p..
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-429, 123 p.
Reference (Deposit): Apodoca, L. E., 1994, Genesis of lode gold deposits of the Rock Creek area, Nome mining district, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, University of Colorado, Ph.D. dissertation, 208 p.
Reference (Deposit): Goldfarb, R.J., Miller, L.D., Leach, D.L., and Snee, L.W, 1997, Gold deposits in metamorphic rocks in Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, 482 p.
Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L. 1994, Crustal melting events in Alaska, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H. C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. G-1, p. 657-670.
Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Miller, E.L., and Hudson, T.L., 1991, Mid-Cretaceous extensional fragmentation of a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous compressional orogen, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 10, p. 781-796.
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