Canyon Creek Occurrence, Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Canyon Creek Occurrence | Occurrence |
| Kantishna Mining District | Mining District |
| Denali Borough | Borough |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
63° 41' 2'' North , 150° 36' 50'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
196785
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:196785:5
GUID (UUID V4):
dae32d1e-de5c-472b-b93f-4a7648ea751f
The Canyon Creek occurrence is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: This occurrence is at an elevation of about 3300 feet, on an unnamed fork of Canyon Creek. The location is where the creek crosses the boundary between sections 22 and 23, T. 14 S., R. 16 W., Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate. The site corresponds to occurrence 98 of Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury (1984).
Geology: The Canyon Creek occurrence is in a graphitic schist unit of the upper Precambrian Birch Creek Schist (Bundtzen, 1981). The unit is about 340 feet thick, and is intercalated with garnet-mica-feldspar-quartz schist (Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984, v.1, p. 158-161). The graphitic schist is commonly weathered to an orange-red color; protected areas are covered with a yellow sulfate(?) mineral efflorescence; and stream channels draining the unit are coated with iron oxide precipitate. Pyrite is disseminated in the graphitic unit, but valuable sulfide minerals have not been found. The former presence of zinc in near-surface bedrock horizons is suggested by zinc geochemistry. Zinc content is less than 195 ppm in stream sediment collected immediately below the graphitic schist, but increases to as much as 540 ppm downstream. Stream pH is 3.5 immediately below the schist but becomes neutral downstream. Locally, lead is also anomalous; a stream-sediment sample collected from a tributary creek about 1 mile east of the occurrence contained 295 ppm lead (and 260 ppm zinc). The graphitic unit was surveyed by EM and magnetic methods. The result of the EM survey is consistent with a response to a massive sulfide deposit; the result of the magnetic survey suggests that graphite is not the sole conductor (Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984). Speculatively, the Canyon Creek occurrence conceals a buried stratabound sed-ex deposit of late Precambrian age.
Workings: There are no workings. Geochemical and geophysical surveys were carried out in 1983 during a U. S. Bureau of Mines investigation (Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984).
Age: Possibly syngenetic sed-ex deposit of late Precambrian age.
Alteration: Conspicuous oxidation and (or) leaching of iron and zinc minerals.
Commodities (Major) - Pb, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Sedimentary-exhalative in graphitic schist.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Detailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ 'Limonite' |
| ⓘ Pyrite Formula: FeS2 |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
| Unclassified | |||
| ⓘ | 'Limonite' | - | |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | MM033 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
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References
