Dahl Creek

Site Name

Primary: Dahl Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Kougarok

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Occurrence
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Schist in this area is apparently highly sericitized and clay-rich (Sainsbury and others, 1969). The presence of broken quartz veins in the alteration zones may indicate that the alteration is developed along fault structures.

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold

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Comments

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 (Reference): Primary Reference = Sainsbury and others, 1969

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Sainsbury and others (1969) describe a highly sericitized, clay-rich altered zone containing groundup and angular vein quartz but do not report any geochemical data for this area. Altered schist is apparently common where bedrock is exposed in the Dahl Creek drainage. Early reports described the alluvial pay in the main Dahl Creek drainage to be on a false bedrock of clay below which there was a quartz gravel (Collier and others, 1908). A test shaft, which did not reach bedrock, indicated this deep gravel to be at least 187 feet thick. However, Sainsbury and others (1969) concluded that the false bedrock described by early reports was instead altered bedrock. Bedrock is locally exposed in the area, primarily on the crest of nearby uplands, but Sainsbury and others (1969) note some bedrock in the drainage 7,000 feet above the mouth. All known bedrock in the area is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1969; Till and others, 1986).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Local bedrock exposures along Dahl Creek are the result of open-cut placer mining operations, particulaly dozer and sluice operations since WWII.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Gold-bearing quartz veins and schist

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

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References

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): 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.

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): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-81.

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): 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): 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): 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): 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): 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): 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): Sainsbury, C.L., Kachadoorian, Reuban, Hudson, Travis, Smith, T.E., Richards, T.R., and Todd, W.E., 1969, Reconnaissance geologic maps and sample data, Teller A-1, A-2, A-3, B-1, B-2, B-3, C-1, and Bendeleben A-6, B-6, C-6, D-5, and D-6 quadrangles. Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 377, 49 p., 12 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

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