1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Unnamed (near American Creek)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodity Iron
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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 10307908
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (near American Creek)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.8544, 64.79208 (WGS84)
Relative position The occurrence is on hill 375 about 1.5 miles west-northwest of the confluence of American Creek and Sinuk River. It is in the SW1/4 section 18, T. 8 S., R. 35 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location of this occurrence is taken from figure 3 of Mulligan and Hess (1965).

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-2(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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Goethite Ore
Hematite Ore
Limonite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrolusite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Probable dolomitization and oxidation.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.8544, 64.79208
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This occurrence near lower American Creek was shown on figure 3 of Mulligan and Hess (1965, but no other data are available for this specific occurrence. It appears to be the northern-most of a group of iron-rich prospects that include NM014, NM017, NM018, NM019, and NM020. On the basis of data from the other prospects, this occurrence is probably a limonite (goethite) concentration in marble. The limonite can be massive to granular, botryoidal, mamillary, or fibrous in texture. The iron content ranges to as much as 59 percent (Eakin, 1915 [B 622-I, p. 361-365]). Hematite, pyrolusite, and calcite are present locally. This occurrence and other iron deposits of the Sinuk River area are at or near the base of massive marble whose protolith is probably lower Paleozoic (Sainsbury, Hummel, and Hudson, 1972; Bundtzen and others, 1994). The deposits are locally controlled by high-angle faults or folds, but they are in general crudely stratabound within the basal massive marble or underlying calc-schist (Mulligan and Hess, 1965; Herreid, 1970). This stratigraphic interval also hosts base metal sulfide-fluorite-barite deposits at the Galena (NM130) and Quarry prospects (NM135). The origin and age of the iron deposits of the Sinuk River area are uncertain. The deposits may be, in part, gossan developed on oxidized sulfide deposits (Eakin, 1915 [B 622-I, p. 361-365]; Mertie, 1918 [B662-I, p. 425-449]; Cathcart, 1922; Mulligan and Hess, 1965; Herreid, 1970). Several of the iron deposits, including American (NM014) and Monarch (NM017), are locally highly anomalous in zinc and lead. Arguing against a simple gossan origin is the paucity of diagnostic textures and structures in boxworks that would suggest derivation from specific sulfide minerals. Alternatively, these deposits could be hypogene iron oxide and carbonate deposits that are probably transitional into lead-zinc-barite deposits from the same approximate stratigraphic position, as at the Quarry (NM135). The age of the iron deposits of the Sinuk River area is most likely post-mid-Cretaceous because faults that crosscut mid-Cretaceous metamorphic rocks are an important control on them. A Late Cretaceous age for the iron deposits was suggested by Brobst and others (1971) because this is the age of fluorine-rich tin granites of northwestern Seward Peninsula (Hudson and Arth, 1983). The youngest possible age appears to be Early Tertiary, when deep weathering, sandstone-type uranium mineralization, and possibly karst formation occurred to the east in the Solomon quadrangle (Hudson, 1999).
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or Early Tertiary; post mid-Cretaceous metamorphism.

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 = Some shallow prospecting pits may be present here.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mulligan and Hess, 1965

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Carbonate-hosted, iron oxide deposit.

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.