Hot Springs Creek

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodity Mercury
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Links to other databases
  11. Bibliographic references
  12. General comments
  13. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001902
MRDS ID A012730
Record type Site
Current site name Hot Springs Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.71343, 65.85933 (WGS84)
Relative position The location of this occurrence is very approximate; it can only be located to within one or two miles. Moxham and West (1953) note cinnabar 'in concentrates panned from a shallow gully in the south side of the eastern fork of Hot Springs CreeK'. Hot Springs Creek is a tributary of the Serpentine River with headwaters in the Oonatut Granite Complex (Hudson, 1979). The location description suggests that the occurrence is in an area underlain by Oonatut Granite; the presence of cinnabar has not been confirmed and the locality was not shown by Cobb (1972; MF 417). Cobb (1975; OFR 75-429) summarized references to this locality under the name 'Hot Springs Cr.'.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bendeleben D-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bendeleben NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bendeleben(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Shishmaref(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve(National Preserve)

National Preserve NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Gangue = hydrogoethite
  • Gangue = u-bearing secondary minerals

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Allanite Gangue
Sphene Gangue
Zircon Gangue

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.71343, 65.85933

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Moxham and West (1953) note cinnabar 'in concentrates panned from a shallow gully in the south side of the eastern fork of Hot Springs CreeK'. Hot Springs Creek is a tributary of the Serpentine River with headwaters in the Oonatut Granite Complex (Hudson, 1979). The location description suggests that the occurrence is in an area underlain by Oonatut Granite; the presence of cinnabar here has not been confirmed. In general, only the central, late-forming part of the Oonatut Granite Complex is hydrothermally altered (Hudson, 1979). This is an evolved tin granite complex (Hudson and Arth, 1983) and its accessory mineral content (apatite, allanite, sphene, and zircon) is responsible for its slightly elevated levels of uranium and thorium (Moxham and West, 1953). The weathering of the granite has contributed these minerals to alluvial gravels in the area.
  • Age = Not known; the Oonatut Granite is Late Cretaceous (about 70 my, Hudson, 1979) but if cinnabar is present it may be different in age.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Serpentine

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = None.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moxham and West, 1953

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer cinnabar concentration (?)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 15-MAR-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.