Story Creek

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

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10003155
MRDS ID A015688
Record type Site
Current site name Story Creek
Related records 10282311

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -157.93562, 68.3865 (WGS84)
Relative position Location plotted is approximate center of cluster of localities shown in Ellersieck and others (1982, p. 35) and localities 254, 256, 261,278-9, 615 of Jansons and Parke (1981, p. 159); and is locality HP57 of Meyer and Kurtak (1992, fig. 2); in T12S, R26W; on topographic bench on south side of small tributary of Story Creek, about 2.5 mi (4 km) west-northwest of hill 4630 and 1.5 mi (2.4 km) north of Noatak Preserve boundary; located to within 2000 ft (610 m).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

North Slope(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Howard Pass B-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Howard Pass SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Howard Pass C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Colville River(hydrologic unit)

Colville River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Arctic Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska(National Petroleum Reserve)

National Petroleum Reserve BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Secondary
Copper Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Sphalerite Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -157.93562, 68.3865

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The host rock is tightly folded siltstone and silty shale containing sandstone and minor dolomite and coal interbeds, and represents a stratigraphic interval at the top of the Stuver Member of the Upper Devonian Kanayut Conglomerate and the base of the Lower Mississippian Kayak Shale within a belt of complex regional thrusting. The mineralized zone is 30-50 ft wide and extends at least 1.8 mi. on a N65E trend that crosses folded strata and may be controlled by post-folding fracturing. Three types of mineralization occur: (1) banded massive sphalerite and galena; (2) brecciated sphalerite with galena matrix; and (3) shale-chip breccia with overgrowths of quartz on the chips and galena and sphalerite in the interstices (Ellersieck and others (1982), p. 35). ??

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Colville

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Ellersieck, I.F., Jansons, Uldis, Mayfield, C.F., and Tailleur, I.L., 1982. The Story Creek and Whoopee Creek lead-zinc-silver occurrences, western Brooks Range, Alaska, in Coonrad, W.L., ed., The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1980: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 844, p. 35-38

  • Deposit

    Jansons, Uldis, and Parke, M.A., 1981, 1978 mineral investigations in the Misheguk Mountain and Howard Pass quadrangles: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 26-81, 193 p.

  • Deposit

    Jansons, Uldis, 1982, Zinc-lead occurrences in and near the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report MLA 121-82, 55 p.

  • Deposit

    Meyer, M.P., and Kurtak, J.M., 1992, Results of the 1991 U.S. Bureau of Mines Colville mining district study: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 75-92, 101 p.

  • Deposit

    Mayfield, C.F., Curtis, S.M., Ellersieck, I.F., and Tailleur, I.L., 1979, Reconnaissance geology of the Ginny Creek zinc-lead-silver and Nimiuktuk barite deposits, northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1092, 20 p., 2 sheets.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., Mayfield, C.F., and Brosge, W.P., 1981, Summaries of data on and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral occurrences in eleven quadrangles in northern Alaska (Arctic, Baird Mountains, Chandler Lake, DeLong Mountains, Demarcation Point, Howard Pass, Misheguk Mountain, Mount Michelson, Noatak, Point Lay, and Table Mountain); Supplement to Open-File Report 75-628; Part A, Summaries of data to January 1, 1981: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-767-A, 25 p.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Lode, sediment-hosted vein and breccia vein Pb-Zn-Ag.
Deposit Other Comments = This occurrence is similar to the Whoopee Creek, Kady, Vidlee, W. Koiyaktat and other occurrences of 'Western Brooks Range Pb-Zn vein'-type. Also, see MAS/MILS Sequence #0020200022 for a site with the same name but located about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the south-southwest (USBM, 1995).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-SEP-1996 M.T. Powers U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-SEP-1996 D.F. Huber U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-SEP-1996 J.M. Schmidt U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-SEP-1996 J.H. Dover U.S. Geological Survey

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.