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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Sourdough Creek

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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. 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 10308662
Record type Site
Current site name Sourdough Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.62084, 64.98357 (WGS84)
Relative position Sourdough Creek flows across the coastal plain about 2 to 3 miles east of Cape Douglas and enters a coastal lagoon about 6 miles southeast of Cape Douglas. Collier and others (1908, plate X) show the creek as auriferous over a 4- to 5-mile length in the Teller A-4 and Nome D-4 quadrangles. The location given is the approximate mid-point of the auriferous section in the Nome D-4 quadrangle. The creek has very little relief, and it is difficult to identify the exact location from the generalized map of Collier and others (1908).

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-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Nome N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

King Island 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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -166.62084, 64.98357
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Collier and others (1908, plate X) describe Sourdough Creek as possibly auriferous over a 4- to 5-mile length on the Teller A-4 and Nome D-4 quadrangles. Collier panned one gold color on Sourdough Creek in 1901 (Collier and others, 1908, p. 220). In part on the basis of its location near the coastal plain and the stream's low relief, it is inferred that placer gold deposits would be of river-bar type with local enrichment in point bars and in inner curves of meanders, probably in association with black or ruby sand. Sourdough Creek probably reworks coastal plain deposits over its lower course, but its headwaters are in uplands underlain by a pelitic schist assemblage (Sainsbury, Hummel and Hudson, 1972).
  • Age = Holocene.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Probably some exploration by pan or rocker before WWI.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • 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

    Sainsbury, C.L., Hummel, C.L., and Hudson, Travis, 1972, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Nome quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-326, 28 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

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.