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Unnamed (near upper Martha Creek)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Bismuth, Lead, Antimony, Tin, Tungsten, Boron-Borates, Beryllium, Molybdenum
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307905
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (near upper Martha Creek)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.04242, 64.92458 (WGS84)
Relative position The occurrence is in the headwaters of Martha Creek, a south tributary to Tisuk River. It is on the west side of a divide between Martha Creek and Tisuk River at an elevation of 1,650 feet. It is about 0.4 mile north of saddle 1570 and located to within about 1,000 feet.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome D-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Nome N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Bismuth Critical Primary
Lead Primary
Antimony Critical Primary
Tin Critical Primary
Tungsten Critical Primary
Boron-Borates Secondary
Beryllium Critical Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Quartz Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Tourmalinization?

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

(1) -166.04242, 64.92458
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Sulfide-bearing rocks occur on a northwest-striking fault ,which cuts quartz-graphite-biotite gneiss, at the contact of the gneiss with a gneissic marble layer. The occurrence is about 2.4 miles upstream from weakly mineralized quartz-breccia zones exposed along lower Martha Creek (NM005) and 2 miles northwest of the fluorite pipe in 'Fluorite Creek' (a local name assigned by Sainsbury, Smith, and Kachadoorian, 1970; NM010). The occurrences are generally in an area of small tourmalinized granite plugs of Cretaceous age. At this locality, Smith (in Sainsbury, Smith, and Kachadoorian, 1972) collected a sulfide-bearing rock sample (67Ats118) that contained 30 ppm silver, 15,000 ppm boron, 5,000 ppm bismuth, 7 ppm beryllium, 70 ppm molybdenum, 10,000 ppm lead, 1,500 ppm antimony, 300 ppm tin and 500 ppm tungsten. The presence of elevated boron values suggests that the rocks are tourmalinized. The area is underlain by amphibolite facies graphitic metasedimentary rocks that are locally gneissic. Sainsbury, Smith and Kachadoorian (1972) mapped granite stocks and felsic dikes in the Martha Creek drainage including several that are toumalinized. The amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks are now considered to have a late Proterozoic or early Paleozoic protolith (Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Hannula and others, 1995), perhaps correlative with parts of the Nome Group. Like the Nome Group, these rocks probably underwent regional blueschist facies metamorphism in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). The blueschist facies rocks were recrystallized to greenschist facies or higher metamorphic grades in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson and Arth, 1983; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998).
  • Age = Cretaceous; post mid-Cretaceous amphibolite facies metamorphism and possibly the same age as mineralized Cretaceous granitic rocks in the area.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The occurrence is a surface exposure of sulfide-bearing rock.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sainsbury, Smith, and Kachadoorian, 1972

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic, sulfide-bearing vein in amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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