Carson Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities 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. 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 10308708
Record type Site
Current site name Carson Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -162.57323, 64.50934 (WGS84)
Relative position This prospect is on the east coast of Darby Peninsula, about 3 miles northeast of Carson Creek (Smith and Eakin, 1911). It is apparently near a faulted (?) contact between schist and marble. This is location 24 of Cobb (1972, MF442; 1978, OF 78-181). It is probably located within 0.5 mile.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon C-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Norton Bay(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Elim Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcocite Ore
Malachite Ore

Alteration

  • Oxidation; secondary copper minerals are present.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -162.57323, 64.50934

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = A short , open-cut exploration trench exposes copper carbonates and some chalcocite disseminated in schist and along joint surfaces (Smith and Eakin, 1911, p. 134-135). Miller and Grybeck (1973) report a 10 feet by 10 feet area of copper staining in quartz-biotite-feldspar schist; a grab sample of the copper-stained schist contained 20,000 ppm Cu, 15 ppm Ag, 0.15 ppm Au, and 200 ppm Mo. Slickensides in schist are well developed and the prospect is a short distance north of massive, light gray limestone (marble). Till and others (1986) identify the marble as lower Paleozoic in age. The metasedimentary rocks are on the east flank of the mid-Cretaceous Darby pluton (Miller and others, 1972; Miller and Bunker, 1976; Berry and others, 1976; Johnson and others, 1979).
  • Age = Unknown; emplacement of the Darby pluton (K/Ar ages for the Darby pluton are 88.3 +/- 1.5 and 92.8 +/- 2.6 Ma, Berry and others, 1976) and ampihibolite facies metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks are mid-Cretaceous but the mineralization here could be older or younger than these important regional events.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A small surface trench was excavated prior to 1909.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S. and Eakin, H.M., 1911, Mineral resources of Alaska 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480, 333 p..

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Miller, T.P., Grybeck, D.J., Elliott, R.L., and Hudson, T.L., 1972, Preliminary geologic map of the eastern Solomon and southeastern Bendeleben quadrangles, eastern Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-256, 11 p.

  • Deposit

    Miller, T.P., and Grybeck, D.J., 1973, Geochemical survey of the eastern Solomon and southeastern Bendeleben quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 553, 115 p.

  • Deposit

    Miller, T.P., and Bunker, C.M., 1976, A reconnaissance study of the uranium and thorium contents of plutonic rocks of the southeastern Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Journal of Research, v. 4, p. 367-377.

  • Deposit

    Berry, A.L., Dalrymple, G.B., Lamphere, M.A., and Von Essen, J.C., 1976, Summary of miscellaneous potassium-argon age determinations, U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, for the years 1972-1974: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 727, 13 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.

  • Deposit

    Johnson, B.R., Miller, T.P., and Karl, S., 1979, Uranium-thorium investigations of the Darby pluton, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 804-B, p. 68-70.

  • Deposit

    Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Miller and Grybeck, 1973

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Disseminations or replacements of metasedimentary rocks and joint fillings by copper-bearing minerals.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 19-AUG-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.