Unnamed (Thompson Creek)

Site Name

Primary: Unnamed (Thompson Creek)

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Commodity

Primary: Tungsten

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

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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

Model Name: W skarn

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Text: Recrystallized calc-silicate rocks.

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Scheelite

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Comments

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = No workings are known at this locality.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Hummel, 1962 (MF 248)

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = This tactite occurrence is in upper amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks near the north contact of the Thompson Creek orthogneiss (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]; Till, 1980). This is one of four similar occurrences (this occurrence, NM027, NM041, and NM044) identifed by Hummel (1961) in the central and southern Kigluaik Mountains. The calc-silicate (tactite) assemblages are interpreted to have been metamorphosed along with their country rocks. Scheelite is present in all four occurrences and galena and sphalerite accompany scheelite in one (NM044). Stream sediments in Thompson Creek contained as much as 150 ppm copper, 600 ppm zinc, 12 ppm molybdenum, and 50 ppm bismuth (Hummel and Chapman, 1960). Heavy mineral concentrates from Thompson Creek (NM036) contained scheelite (Hummel, 1962). The Thompson Creek orthogneiss has been determined to have a latest Proterozoic protolith (555 Ma, Amato and Wright, 1998). The upper amphibolite facies rocks, primarily north of the Thompson Creek orthogniess, are probably derived from Precambrian protoliths (Sainsbury, 1972; Bunker and others, 1979; Till and Dumoulin, 1994). They are thought to have undergone regional high-pressure metamorphism along with many other rocks of Seward Peninsula in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman, and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Patrick, 1988; Patrick and Evans, 1989; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). Higher temperature metamorphism overprinted these rocks in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Throckmorton and Hummel, 1979; Till, 1983; Evans and Patrick, 1987; Leiberman, 1988; Patrick and Leiberman, 1988; Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson and Arth, 1983; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Uplift of the higher temperature metamorphic rocks took place in the mid- to Late Cretaceous and in the Eocene (Calvert, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995).

Comment (Geology): Age = Late Proterozoic ; may be the same age as the Thompson Creek orthogneiss.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = Calc-silicate minerals

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = W skarn deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 14a).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Thurston, S.P., 1985, Structure, petrology, and metamorphic history of the Nome Group blueschist terrane, Salmon Lake area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 96, p. 600-617.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L., and Arth, J. G., 1983, Tin-granites of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 94, p. 768-790.

Reference (Deposit): Forbes, R.B., Evans, B.W., and Thurston, S.P., 1984, Regional progressive high-pressure metamorphism, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Journal of Metamorphic Geology, v. 2, p. 43-54.

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., 1983, Granulite, peridotite, and blueschist: Precambrian to Mesozoic history of Seward Peninsula: Alaska Geological Society Journal, Proceedings of the 1982 Symposium on Western Alaska Resources and Geology, p. 59-65.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1975, Tungsten occurrences in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Resource Map MR-66, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bunker, C.M., Hedge, C.E., and Sainsbury, C.L., 1979, Radioelement concentrations and preliminary radiometric ages of rock in the Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1129-C, 12 p.

Reference (Deposit): 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.

Reference (Deposit): Calvert, A.T., 1992, Structural evolution and thermochronology of the Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Stanford Califronia, Stanford University, M.Sc. thesis, 50 p.

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): Miller, E.L., Calvert, A.T., and Little, T.A., 1992, Strain-collapsed metamorphic isograds in a sillimanite gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geology, v. 20, p. 487-490.

Reference (Deposit): Patrick, B.E., and Leiberman, J.E., 1988, Thermal overprint on blueschists of the Seward Peninsula, the Lepontine in Alaska: Geology, v. 16, p. 1100-1103.

Reference (Deposit): Patrick, B.E., and Evans B.W., 1989, Metamorphic evolution of the Seward Peninsula blueschist terrane: Journal of Petrology, v. 30, p. 531-555.

Reference (Deposit): Patrick, B.E., 1988, Synmetamorphic structural evolution of the Seward Peninsula blueschist terrane, Alaska: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 10, p. 555-565.

Reference (Deposit): Leiberman, J.E., 1988, Metamorphic and structural studies of the Kigluaik Mountains, western Alaska: Seattle, University of Washington, Ph.D. dissertation, 191 p.

Reference (Deposit): Evans, B.W. and Patrick, B.E., 1987, Phengite 3-T in high pressure metamorphosed granitic orthogneisses, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Canadian Mineralogist, v. 25, part 1, p. 141-158.

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., Coleman, R.G., and Kachadoorian, Reuben, 1970, Blueschist and related greenschist faces rocks of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in Geological Survey research 1970: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 700-B, p. B33-B42.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1961, Regionally metamorphosed metalliferous contact-metasomatic deposits near Nome, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 424-D, p. D198-D199.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome D-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-248, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., and Chapman, R.M., 1960, Geologic and economic significance of some geochemical results obtained from stream sediment samples near Nome, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 400-B, p. B30-33.

Reference (Deposit): Armstrong, R.L., Harakal, J.E., Forbes, R.B., Evans, B.W., and Thurston, S.P., 1986, Rb-Sr and K-Ar study of metamorphic rocks of the Seward Peninsula and southern Brooks Range, Alaska, in Evans, B.W., and Brown, E.H., eds., Blueschists and eclogites: Geological Society of America Memoir 164, p. 184-203.

Reference (Deposit): Amato, J.M., and Wright, J.E., 1998, Geochronologic investigations of magmatism and metamorphism within the Kigluaik Mountains gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in Clough, J.G., and Larson, Frank, eds., Short Notes on Alaskan Geology 1997: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 118a, p. 1-21.

Reference (Deposit): Hannula, K.A., and McWilliams, M.O., 1995, Reconsideration of the age of blueschist facies metamorphism on the Seward Peninusla, Alaska, based on phengite 40Ar/39Ar results: Journal of Metamorphic Geology, v. 13, p. 125-139.

Reference (Deposit): Amato, J.M., and Wright, J.E., 1997, Potassic mafic magmatism in the Kigluaik gneiss dome, northern Alaska -- A geochemical study of arc magmatism in an extensional tectonic setting: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. B102, no. 4, p. 8065-8084.

Reference (Deposit): Hannula, K.A., Miller, E.L., Dumitru, T.A., Lee, Jeffrey, and Rubin, C.M., 1995, Structural and metamorphic relations in the southwest Seward Peninsula, Alaska; Crustal extension and the unroofing of blueschists: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 107, p. 536-553.

Reference (Deposit): Dumitru, T.A., Miller, E.L., O'Sullivan, P.B., Amato, J.M., Hannula, K.A., Calvert, A.T., and Gans, P.B., 1995, Cretaceous to Recent extension in the Bering Strait region, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 14, p. 549-563.

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): Amato, J.M., Wright, J.E., Gans, P.B., and Miller, E.L., 1994, Magmatically induced metamorphism and deformation in the Kigluaik gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 13, p. 515-527.

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