n Alas - Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys - State ...
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n Alas - Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys - State ...
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I<br />
that contains the Upper Devonian Rant Pork Shale and<br />
Kanayut Comlomerate, end the l'dis-ppim and<br />
Pennsylvanian Kuna Formatlan. Recognition <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Brooks Ranga allochthon in the Baird Mountains is<br />
important because all the known significant mineral<br />
occurrences in the De Long Mountains are in this<br />
allochthon (Mayfield and others, 1979).<br />
The Klvivik Creek drainage is in the northwest<br />
comer <strong>of</strong> the Balrd Mountains quadrangle and lles<br />
within the Noatak National Wilderness and Preserve.<br />
Attention was fnitldly drawn to this area because It<br />
contains several red3tained creeks slmilar to those in<br />
the Bed Dcg area. lnvestigatiohs in 1078 revealed a<br />
few high geochemical values, and gamma-ray intensi-<br />
ties as high as 24 times the average value (Curtis and<br />
others, 1979). Pollowup strearnsedlment geochemical<br />
sampling in 1979 and 1981 showed that several draln-<br />
ages in one area have anomaIously high elemental con-<br />
centrations (stippling, fig. 8). Copper, lead, and zinc<br />
were measured by both atomic absorption and semi-<br />
quantitative ernissjonspectrographic methods, end<br />
silver by emission gectrography only. Copper values<br />
range as high as 320 parts per mllllon @prn), lead<br />
values as high L% 360 pprn, zinc values as high as 1,200<br />
ppm, and silver values as high as 20 ppm. 'be absolute<br />
abundance3 <strong>of</strong>, and the ratios between, copper, lead,<br />
and zinc are nearly identical to those in samples from<br />
streams draining the Lik and Red Dog deposits (Net-<br />
aieck and others, 1980). Nearly all the samples with<br />
the higher values are from streams that drain the Kuna<br />
Formation. No sulfides were found in pLace during<br />
reconnaissance mapping, other than some flnely dis-<br />
I seminated pyrite. On the basis <strong>of</strong> its geologic and<br />
I<br />
I<br />
geochemical similarities to rocks h the Red Dog dis-<br />
trict, the Brooks Range allochthon in the Agashashok<br />
anticlinorlum should be considered highly prospective<br />
for zlnc-Iead-sllver deposits <strong>of</strong> the Red Dog type.<br />
REFERENCES CITED<br />
Curtis, S. M., ROssiter, Richard, Ellersieck, I. P., May-<br />
field, C. P., and Tailleur, I. L, 1979, Gamma-ray<br />
values h the Misheguk Mountain region and h<br />
parts <strong>of</strong> Barrow, Teshekpuk, and Harrison 8ay<br />
quadrangles, <strong>Alas</strong>ka, Johnson, K. Ra, and<br />
Williams, J. R., eds., The United <strong>State</strong>s Oeologi-<br />
cal Survey in <strong>Alas</strong>ka! Accomplishments during<br />
1978: U.S. <strong>Geological</strong> Survey Circular 804-8, p.<br />
B14.<br />
Ellersieck, Inyo, Mayfield, C. P., Tailleu, I. L., and<br />
Curtls, S. M., 1979, Thrust sequences in the<br />
M isheguk Mountain quadrangle, Brooks Range,<br />
<strong>Alas</strong>ka, 5 Johnson, K. M., and WUams, J. R,<br />
eds., The United <strong>State</strong> GeoIogicd Survey in<br />
<strong>Alas</strong>ka! Accornpllshments during 1978: U.S.<br />
<strong>Geological</strong> Survey Circular 804-B, p. B&B9.<br />
Ellersieck, Inyo, Curtis, S. Ma, Gruzensky, A. L., May-<br />
field, C. F., and MUeur, I. L., 1980, Copper,<br />
lead, and zinc in stream-sediment samples from<br />
the De Long Mountains quadragle, <strong>Alas</strong>ka: U.S.<br />
<strong>Geological</strong> Survey Open-File Report 80-795,<br />
scale 1:63,360, 3 sheets.<br />
Jones, A h , 1982, Red Dog ore deposit said spectaau-<br />
lar: Northern Miner, v. 67, no. 51, p. 1.<br />
Mayfield, C. F., Curtis, S. M., Ellersieck, hyo., and<br />
Tallleur, I. L., 1979, Reconnaissance geology <strong>of</strong><br />
the Ginny Creek Zn-Pb-Ag and Nirniuktuk barite<br />
deposits, northwestern Brooks Range, <strong>Alas</strong>ka:<br />
U.S. GeologlcJ h e y Open-Pile Report 79-<br />
1092, 20 p.<br />
Mull, C. G., Taillwr, I. L., Mayfield, C. F., EUewieck,<br />
Inyo, and Cur&, S. M., 1982, New late Paleozoic<br />
and early Mesozoic stratigraphic unlts, central<br />
and western Brooks Range, <strong>Alas</strong>ka: American<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Petroleum Geologists Wetin, v.<br />
66, no. 3, p. 348-362.<br />
By J. 'lbomss I)utro, Jr, All3son R PaLme, John K<br />
Jr., and William P. Roe&<br />
The recalcitrant rocks <strong>of</strong> Doonerak (cover photograph~<br />
area I, fig. 5) yield thek secrets grudghgly.<br />
For many years, we have probed and sampled this<br />
anctent antlclinorium, part <strong>of</strong> the autochthonous<br />
basement <strong>of</strong> the central Brwks Range, <strong>Alas</strong>ka (Dutro<br />
and others, 19761, in whlch folded and faulted volcdc<br />
rocks, metarnorphased fine-grained clastic rocks, and<br />
marble are intruded by dikes and sUls <strong>of</strong> two ages (470<br />
m.y. and 350 rn.y.1. Upper Devonian (Prasnfan) strata<br />
Ue unconformably on parts <strong>of</strong> the mtlclinortum, and<br />
Lower CarbonLferous beds truncate all older structures<br />
with angular unconformlty (Orosgd and Reiser, 1971).<br />
During the Late Jurasslc and Cretaceous building <strong>of</strong><br />
the ancient Brooks Range, all these rocks were intruded,<br />
folded, faulted, thrust northward, and uplifted<br />
to initlate Barly Cretaceous coarse clastic sedl m entation<br />
on the Arctic slope.<br />
What Is the age <strong>of</strong> the old metamorphic terrane<br />
<strong>of</strong> Doonerak? Because it is intruded by dikes as old as<br />
470 m.y., we opined ln 1976 that .the sedimentary rocks<br />
might be Cambrian or Ordovician. This was not anuninformed<br />
guess because similar an ticlinoria in the<br />
northeastern autochthonous Brooks Range contain Pussiltferous<br />
Lower and Upper Cambrlan and Middle<br />
Ordovlaian rocks In analogous terranes that also include<br />
volcanlc rocks (Reiser and others, 1971, 1980).<br />
Of course, It may be pospible that only Precambrian<br />
strata are present near Doonerak.<br />
In previous summers, we spent many hours lo&ing<br />
for graptoUtes in the fine-grained mks, but to no<br />
avail. Several samples were processed for possible<br />
micr<strong>of</strong>a~sils, again with no results.<br />
At last, during the 1981 summer field seesan, we<br />
found megafossils in sandy Limestone that ia intimately<br />
associated with the black fine-gralned elastic sequence.<br />
h the hills south <strong>of</strong> Wolf Creek, nem the<br />
north margin <strong>of</strong> the anticlinorlum (fig. 9), several fsohted<br />
gray marble bodies are surrounded by black siltstone<br />
and 8rgilllte and intruded by greenstone dikes.<br />
Just above one <strong>of</strong> these marble bodies, in brownweathering<br />
sandy limestone, we found many trilobite<br />
fragments and a iew brachiopads. According to A. R.<br />
Palmer, these trilobites include Kootenia cf. 5<br />
anabarensls Lermontova, "Parehmania" &L&<br />
Chernysheva, and Pagetla sp. and are most Ukely earw<br />
Middle Cambrian, corrdative with the Arngan Stage <strong>of</strong><br />
Siberia. The brachlopods are Niswla sp., a common<br />
Middle Cambrian genus. A samplefrom the same beds<br />
was prcreeSed for micr<strong>of</strong>ossils by J. & Repetski, Jr.,