Unnamed Occurrence (ARDF - TL055; near Lacuna Glacier), Yentna District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USA
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Location: Reed and others (1978, locality 31) locate this occurrence west of the Lacuna Glacier at about 5400 feet elevation in the center of Section 10, T. 31 N., R. 12 N., of the Seward Meridian approximately 3500 feet northeast of TL003. The site is within Denali National Park and Preserve.
Geology: This locality is one of several chromite occurrences in a 25-mile-long belt of alpine-type ultramafic bodies that are discontinuously exposed from the Dall Glacier northeast to the Lacuna Glacier which is part of the Dall Trend, described by C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978, Fig. 4.1-(C)3 and Fig. 4.0-B). These chromite- and magnetite-bearing dunite and peridotite sills are shown by Reed and Nelson (1980) within a narrow belt of middle to upper Paleozoic sedimentary rocks exposed between the middle Tertiary (38 m.y.) Foraker pluton and the northwest trending fault which places the Paleozoic strata over the Mesozoic marine sedimentary rocks (KJs). Foley and others (1997, p. 431) suggest that these ultramafic bodies may be genetically related to the composite plutons (Tcp) of Reed and Nelson (1980) in the upper Yentna River. Reed and others (1978) describe these occurrences as magmatic segregations of podiform and disseminated chromite hosted in dunite sills. Chromite occurs as: (1) disseminated rounded grains 1-3 mm in diameter, (2) streaks and lenses, (3) irregular pods up to 6 feet long and (4) lens-like bodies up to 6 feet thick and 60 feet long throughout the dunite. Chromium content of 0.7 to 1% from typical dunite is given in Reed and others (1978). The average of 3 microprobe analyses of one sample: 58.4% Cr2O3 21.1% FeO, 8.9% MgO, and 9.7% Al2O3. Other chromite occurrences in this trend are described in TL002, TL003, and TL008 to TL012.
Workings: Reconnaissance mapping, stream silt and rock sampling are all that have been done here (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978). Chromium content of 0.7 to 1% from typical dunite is given in Reed and others (1978). The average of 3 microprobe analyses of one sample: 58.4% Cr2O3 21.1% FeO, 8.9% MgO, and 9.7% Al2O3.
Age: Mesozoic and (or) Paleozoic (Reed and Nelson, 1980) or Late Cretaceous/early Tertiary (?) (Foley and others, 1997).
Commodities (Major) - Cr, Fe
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Podiform chromite (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 8a).
Mineral List
3 entries listed. 3 valid minerals.
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References
C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978, Mineral appraisal of lands adjacent to Mt. McKinley National Park, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 24-78, 277 p., 12 sheets. Cobb, E.H., and Reed, B.L., 1980, Summaries of data on and lists of reference to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-884, 106 p. Foley, J.Y., Light, T.D., Nelson, S.W., and Harris, R.A., 1997, Mineral occurrences associated with mafic-ultramafic and related alkaline complexes in Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral Deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 396-449. MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000. Reed, B.L., and Nelson, S.W., 1980, Geologic map of the Talkeetna quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1174, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Reed, B.L., Nelson, S.W., Curtin, G.C., and Singer, D.A., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-870-D, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.