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Moonlight Divide

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Copper
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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. 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 10308278
Record type Site
Current site name Moonlight Divide

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.45129, 64.79431 (WGS84)
Relative position The Moonlight Divide prospect is located on the ridge crest betweeen the headwaters of Moonlight Creek (SO099) and Ridgeway Creek (SO092) at about 1,400 feet elevation. This is locality 14 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181). Gamble (1988) shows two occurrences of this name farther west and this as his new locality 125.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon D-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Malachite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification? The development of silica-rich rocks at or near the the base of Paleozoic marble overlying metapelitic rocks characterizes this type of copper occurrence.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.45129, 64.79431
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This prospect is one of many occurrences of copper mineralization in silica-rich rocks near the regional contact between marble in a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage and pelitic schist of possible Cambrian or Precambrian age (Till and others, 1986). This type of copper occurrence is present at several localities in the western Solomon quadrangle and has similarities to several in the Kougarok area of the northeastern Teller quadrangle. In theTeller quadrangle, the Ward mine (TE071) is an example of this type of copper mineral occurrence. The Ward mine has been described as a zone of silicification in marble above a thrust contact with underlying metapelitic schist (Sainsbury and others, 1969; Sainsbury, 1975, p. 90-94). The silica-rich rocks have been metamorphosed and commonly have a laminar fabric. Copper-bearing minerals, mostly malachite but also including azurite and in places chalcopyrite and possibly bornite, are disseminated in the silica-rich rocks. The minor sulfides tend to be along faint laminae and joints (Sainsbury and others, 1969, p. 22). Malachite and azurite also occur in small veins and veinlets in the silica-rich rocks. The summary characterization of this type of Seward Peninsula mineral deposit by Sainsbury (1975, p. 90-94) contains inconsistencies with some descriptions of these deposits. Their origin is uncertain and other possibilities should be considered. One possiblity is that the silica-rich rocks are quartzites and that there is a stratigraphic control to the Ward deposit and similar occurrences elsewhere on Seward Peininsula. Quarzite at the base of the regional carbonate assemblage is recognized elsewhere in the Kougarok Mountain area (Puchner, 1986, p. 1777). Gamble (1988) describes rocks near this prospect as an iron-stained quartzite (or silicified marble) within marble with 2 to 3 percent pyrite; a sample contained 400 ppm As.
  • Age = Unknown; if stratigraphic controls are important then it is probably Paleozoic in age.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Some shallow prospect pits were dug and claims were staked (Smith, 1908).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith, 1908

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Copper-bearing mineralization in silica-rich zones at base of marble overlying metapelitic schist.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 19-AUG-99 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.