Home Page	Log In	Messageboard	The Mindat Directory
Register	Search Pages	Mineral Chatroom	The Mindat Store

Castle Dome Mts, Yuma Co., Arizona, USA

Hull Mine group, Buckeye vein group, Castle Dome Mine group, Kofa Game Range, Castle Dome District, Castle Dome Mts, Yuma Co., Arizona, USA

Latitude: 33°5'4"N
Longitude: 114°8'34"W

Display
- Standard
- Detailed
- By Strunz Category
- By Dana Category
Photos
Maps
- Map Pages
- Nearest Localities
Search
- Mineral Search
- Search Google

These mountains are comprised of a basement of schist, gneiss, granite, and weakly metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, all intruded by dikes of diorite porphyry and overlain by a thick series of lavas cut by dikes of rhyolite porphyry.

The oldest rocks exposed are schists that comprise two areaas totaling several square miles in the southern portion of the range. Thes outcrops form narrow, rolling surfaces alternating with sharp ridges that generally mark the location of steeply-dipping dikes. These schists have been regarded as Precambrian, but definate evidence of their age is lacking. In places they contain gold-quartz veins.

Associated with the schist in the southeastern portion of the range are considerable areas of gneiss. The rock is typically coarse-grained, with phenocrysts of quartz and feldspar as much as 1/8 or ½ inch diameter. It is rudely laminated by prominent bands of scaly biotite, but on weathered slopes this lamination is not apparent, and the rock resembles granite. Fiekld relations indicate that the gneiss was originally a granite that intruded the schist. It contains a few small quartz veins.

Medium-grained biotite granite crops out in a small area 2 miles northeast of Thumb Butte zand as a small mass at the Sheep prospect, in the southeastern portion of the range. This granite, which unconformably underlies the Cretaceous (?) sedimentary rocks and intrudes the schist and gneiss, may be either Precambrian, Mesozoic, or early Tertiary in age. Only a few gold-quartz veins are known to occur within it.

Chloritized, epidotized syenite of unknown age crops out in a small area southeast of the Big Eye Mine, on the east slope of the range.

A thick series of well-bedded sedimentary rocks, for the most part weakly metamorphosed, rests unconformably upon the granite. These rocks make up an irregular area 9 miles long by 8 miles wide in the southern portion of the range. Almost every exposure of these rocks contains numerous dikes of diorite porphyry and rhyolite porphyry.

These sedimentary rocks consist predominently of greenish-gray, thick-bedded shale and impure cherty limestone, locally with maroon shale and fairly pure limestone. Gray to brown arkosic sandstone, quartzite, and conglomerate are abundant in places. The gray shale contains considerable alumina and some magnesia, but very little lime carbonate. These beds clearly exceed 1,000 feet in total thickness.

Volcanic rocks of probable late Cretaceous or Tertiary age make up the major portion of these mountains. These include rhyolite, andesite, tuff, and obsidian, with a total thickness of more than 2,000 feet. In places, they are covered by several hundred fet of basalt, probably of Quaternary age. Locally, the volcanic rocks are cut by dikes of and large irregular masses of rhyolite porphyry.

The Cretaceous (?) sedimentary rocks predominently strike northwesterly and dip 30º to 70ºSW, but many local differences occur. As a rule, the dikes dip steeply and strike parallel to the principal lamination, jointing, or bedding of the formation that they cut. The volcanic rocks prevailingly strike subparallel to the trend of the range, but they show many local departures. The basalts are essentially flat or dip at angles of a few degrees.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

51 entries listed. 30 valid minerals.

Localities in this Region

USA

Arizona
- Yuma Co.
  - Castle Dome Mts
    - Castle Dome District

USA

Arizona
- Yuma Co.
  - Castle Dome Mts
    - Castle Dome District

The above list contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Batty, J.V., et al (1947), concentration of fluorite ores from Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming, U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4133.

Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of Arizona, Ariozna Bureau of of Mines Bull. 153: 29.

Peterson, N.P., Gilbert, C.M., and Quick, G.L. (1951) Geology and ore deposits of the Castle Dome area, Gila County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 971, 134 p., 8 sheets, scales 1:2,400 and 1:6,000.

Wilson, E.D., et al (1951), Arizona zinc and lead deposits, part II, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 158: 98-103.

Loney, S.O. (1958) Stratigraphy and structure of the Castle Dome area, Cochise County, Arizona: Los Angeles, University of California, M.S. thesis.

Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of Arizona: 50, 53, 58.

Keith, Stanton B. (1978) State of Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology, Geol. Sur. Br. Bull. 192, Index of Mining Properties in Yuma Co., Arizona.

Aiken, C.L.V., and Ander, M.E. (1981) Batholithic complex beneath the Castle Dome area, southwestern Arizona - A geophysical study [abs.]: Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union: 62: 384.

Gutmann, J.T. (1982) Geology and regional setting of the Castle Dome Mountains, southwestern Arizona, in Frost, E.G., and Martin, D.L., eds., Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Colorado River region, California, Arizona, and Nevada - Anderson-Hamilton Volume: San Diego, Cordilleran Publishers, p. 117-122.

Logan, R.E., and Hirsch, D.D. (1982) Geometry of detachment faulting and dike emplacement in the southwestern Castle Dome Mountains, Yuma County, Arizona, in Frost, E.G., and Martin, D.L., eds., Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Colorado River region, California, Arizona, and Nevada - Anderson-Hamilton Volume: San Diego, Cordilleran Publishers, p. 598-607.

Puchalski, T.E. (1985) Structure and chemistry of silicic dikes at Castle Dome and Neversweat Ridge, Yuma County, Arizona: Tempe, Arizona State University, M.S. thesis, 80 p.

Grubensky, M.J., and Bagby, W.C. (1990) Miocene calc-alkaline magmatism, calderas, and crustal extension in the Kofa and Castle Dome Mountains, southwestern Arizona: Journal of Geophysical Research: 95(B12): 19,989-20,003.

Lapis (1991): 16(10): 8.

Grubensky, M.J., Haxel, G.B., and Koch, R.D. (1993) Geologic map of the Castle Dome Mountains, southwestern Arizona [Salton Tanks, Red Bluff Mtn. NW, Slumgullion Pass, Castle Dome Peak, Kofa Deep Well, Arch Tank, Palm Canyon, and Stone Cabin 7.5 min]: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2138, 1 sheet, scale 1:62,500.

Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd. ed.: 159, 164, 226, 236, 300, 399.

This page is currently not sponsored. To sponsor this page click here.

Mineral	and/or Locality
Search Google

Copyright © Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau 1993-2013. Site Map. Locality, mineral & photograph data are the copyright of the individuals who submitted them. Site hosted & developed by Jolyon Ralph. Mindat.org is an online information resource dedicated to providing free mineralogical information to all. Mindat relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Mindat does not offer minerals for sale. If you would like to add information to improve the quality of our database, then click here to register.
Current server date and time: May 30, 2013 22:58:18