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Vera Breccia Pipe

Occurrence in Conejos county in Colorado, United States with commodities Gold, Copper
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Geologic structures
  13. Ore body information
  14. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10090948
MRDS ID D010737
Record type Site
Current site name Vera Breccia Pipe

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -106.5631, 37.34446 (WGS84)
Elevation 3109
Relative position 1.7 MILES S 72 W FROM PLATORO

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Conejos(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Platoro(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Antonito(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Durango(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Conejos(hydrologic unit)

Rio Grande Headwaters(hydrologic accounting unit)

Rio Grande Headwaters(hydrologic subregion)

Rio Grande(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Rio Grande National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Conejos

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 036N 004E 21 SW OF NW Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • ON NW SIDE OF PLATORO RESERVOIR (SECTION PROJECTED INTO UNSURVEYED AREA). ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1975

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Tertiary
Copper Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Covellite Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Chalcedony Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Hematite Gangue
Marcasite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Pervasive Chloritic Alteration; Hematite Staining

Analytical data

Result FIRE ASSAY AND X-RAY FLUORESCENCE OF 15 SAMPLES BY BIRD (1973) YIELDED FOLLOWING HIGH METAL VALUES: 0.002 TO 6.775 OZ/TON AU (238 PPM), 1.28 OZ/TON AG (45 PPM), 140 PPM CU, 43 PPM MO, 260 PPM ZN, 400 PPM PB, 35 PPM TE, 190 PPM I.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 154
USGS model code 25e
Deposit model name Epithermal quartz-alunite Au
Mark3 model number 38

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Summitville Andesite
    Rock description Summitville Andesite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
    Chronological age 29.45
    Dating method K-Ar
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Summitville Andesite;Summitville Andesite--Volcaniclastic Facies
    Rock description Summitville Andesite;Summitville Andesite--Volcaniclastic Facies
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
    Chronological age 29.45
    Dating method K-Ar

Nearby scientific data

(1) -106.5631, 37.34446
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description San Juan Volcanic Field
Type of structure Local
Structure description Platoro Caldera, Platoro Fault Zone

Ore body information

  • General form CIRCULAR

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Nw-Trending Possible Resurgent Radial Fault

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1971
Discoverer W.H. Bird

Mining district

District name Ute (Platoro) District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BIRD, W.H., 1972, MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE PLATORO CALDERA COMPLEX, SOUTHEAST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, COLORADO: MTN. GEOLOGIST, V. 9, NO. 4, P. 379-387.

  • Deposit

    BIRD, W.H., 1973, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE PLATORO CALDERA COMPLEX AND ITS RELATED MINERAL DEPOSITS, SOUTHEAST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES THESIS T-1440.

  • Deposit

    LIPMAN, P.W., 1974, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PLATORO CALDERA AREA, SOUTHEASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO: USGS MAP I-828.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit VERA PIPE IS VERTICAL, ROUGHLY CIRCULAR, CHLORITICALLY ALTERED STRUCTURE CONSISTING OF TWO MAIN VERTICAL COLUMNS AND SEVERAL SMALLER LENSES OF ALTERED BRECCIA SEPARATED BY AND IN SHARP CONTACT WITH FRACTURED SUMMITVILLE ANDESITE. LOW-TEMPERATURE CHLORITIC ALTERATION AFFECTS BOTH FRAGMENTS AND MATRIX. HEMATITE COMPLETELY INUNDATES ONE MAJOR COLUMN. CALCITE-CHALCEDONY VEINLETS CONTAIN SOME SULFIDE GRAINS BUT NO AU. NATIVE AU OCCURS AS DISSEMINATED GRAINS ONLY IN BRECCIA. FLUIDIZED OR GAS-DRILLED ORIGIN INTERPRETED BY BIRD ON BASIS OF (1) LOW-TEMP ALTERATION AND MINERALIZATION WITH ARSENIC AND HALOGENS; (2) SUBROUNDED POORLY SORTED BRECCIA FRAGMENTS AND SMOOTH CLOSELY JOINTED WALLS. VERA PIPE AND ASSOCIATED BRECCIA BODIES IMPLY VOLCANIC VENT ACTIVITY ON BASIS OF (1) CHANGE IN FLOW STRUCTURE DIP OF SUMMITVILLE ANDESITE FROM VERTICAL AT EAST PIPE EDGE TO GENTLY WESTWARD; (2) LOCAL THICK SEQUENCE OF PALEOLACUSTRINE SEDIMENTS AND ASH DEPOSITS TO SW, INTERPRETED AS DEPOSITION ON CRATER FLOOR
Deposit AND ON CRATER WALLS. VENT IS JUST WEST OF WHAT BIRD (1973) CLASSIFIES AS RESURGENT RADIAL FAULT (WITH RESPECT TO CALDERA RIM) TRENDING N 12 W.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-1983 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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Authoritative Colorado resources

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