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Nome Coastal Plain

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Tungsten
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  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 10002093
MRDS ID A012956
Record type Site
Current site name Nome Coastal Plain

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.46883, 64.53567 (WGS84)
Relative position The Nome Coastal Plain is the area between the Nome uplands and the present beach along Norton Sound, between Cape Rodney to the west, and Cape Nome. It has a maximum width of about 3.5 miles at Nome. The width of the coastal plain gradually decreases eastward for 12 miles to Cape Nome. It includes both alluvial and marine gold placers, but the marine placers are by far the most important. The map location is at the approximate center of the most important deposits. It is at the midpoint of the boundary of sections 15 and 16, T. 11 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian. These coastal plain deposits include localities 129, 135, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, and 143 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Sitnasuak 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
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Garnet Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.46883, 64.53567
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene marine and terrestrial sediments, especially near the major source areas of ancestral Snake River, Anvil Creek, and Nome River, contain small amounts of particulate gold. In the early days of the district, prospectors observed that they could obtain colors in sediments throughout the coastal plain (Brooks and others, 1901; Collier and others, 1908, plate X). Certain creeks cut only into the unconsolidated deposits. In those creeks, the gold disseminated in the terrestrial units and in marine sediments was locally concentrated into economic placer deposits by fluvial processes (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942). Such creeks include Bourbon Creek (NM288), Lower Dry Creek (NM264), below Newton Gulch (NM266), Stevens Creek (NM274), Moss Creek (NM275), Laurada Creek (NM276), and Hastings Creek (NM298). All of these deposits are relatively young and were formed after marine transgression and deposition. Another class of coastal plain alluvial placer deposits formed before marine erosion. These deposits include the ancestral Anvil Creek (see Nome Placer Field, NM251), the Roxie placer and Newton Gulch (NM266). These streams cut headward into bedrock and flowed into the sea at the time Third Beach was formed. Subsequently, the channels were buried and preserved. Metcalfe and Tuck (1942, p. 26) also proposed that Evening Gulch, above the Sunset Creek (NM173) part of the Third Beach, is an old bedrock channel.? Another type of buried placer deposit exists in lower parts of Snake and Nome Rivers and in Otter Creek. The lower 2 miles of Snake River has cut 50 feet below sea level and about 30 feet into bedrock. This part of the Snake River, as well as lower Nome River and lower Otter Creek, contain thick alluvial deposits.? All of the shallow alluvial channels of the coastal plain, both in unconsolidated deposits and in schist bedrock, were discovered and mined in the early days of the Nome district. They had relatively minor production, although the ancestral Anvil Creek drainage was a main gold source for the marine deposits.? the most important deposits of the coastal plain are the Present, Second, and Third beach strandline deposits; also present are Intermediate, Monroeville, and Submarine beach deposits. Submarine Beach is the oldest deposit certainly known (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942, p. 47). Metcalf and Tuck believed that Submarine Beach was an eroded beachline that formed when sea level stood at about 40 feet and when the coastal plain was rolling hills traversed by an ancestral Anvil Creek. As envisaged by these authors, 'The sea advanced landward, and the Submarine area with its gold concentration was left behind on the abrasion platform. The sea continued to erode into bedrock gold-bearing sources which included the old Anvil Creek channel . . . and as it advanced, it carried a gold concentration on the beach before it. Likewise as the sea continued to advance, its abrasion platform was progressively being lowered so that any gold on its abrasion platform, such as the Submarine concentration, was gradually carried to a lower elevation.' Continued sea advances partially eroded and redistributed concentrations at the Intermediate and Monroeville so called beaches. At the same time, gold continued to be brought from the landward end of the system by ancestral Anvil, Newton, and Dry Creeks, and complex alluvial-marine deposits formed where these creeks entered the sea.
  • Age = Pliocene and Pleistocene.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Exploration and production began with the discovery of Present Beach in 1899 and continued intermittently until 1998.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.

  • Deposit

    Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

  • Deposit

    Metcalfe, J.B., and Tuck, Ralph, 1942, Placer gold deposits of the Nome district, Alaska: Report for U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 175 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a); marine and complex placer deposits.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Travis L. Hudson 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

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