Question Mark Prospect, Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Question Mark Prospect | Prospect |
| Kantishna Mining District | Mining District |
| Denali Borough | Borough |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
63° 12' 21'' North , 151° 10' 4'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
The prospect is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: The Question Mark prospect (Cobb, 1980, p. 85 [OFR 80-363]) is at an elevation of about 4000 feet on the west side of an unnamed middle fork of upper Slippery Creek. It is in the SE 1/4 SW 1/4 sec. 3, T. 20 S., R. 19 W., Fairbanks Meridian. Its location is known mainly from a 1:6,000-scale map made by Earl Pilgrim in 1929 (Hawley and Associates, 1978, fig. 4.1-B). The location is accurate within a radius of 1000 feet. The prospect is number 29 of Cobb (1973 [MF-366]) and number 39 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).
Geology: The Question Mark lode is in a porphyritic mafic dike with fine-grained groundmass that cuts dark shale of Paleozoic age. The dike contains disseminated grains and tissue-thin seams of native copper. Copper oxide (cuprite) is locally present. The shale country rock is stained, probably by iron oxides (Moffit, 1933, p. 321). Pilgrim's map (fig. 4.1-B; Hawley and Associates, 1978) indicates that the dike trends west, possibly reflecting topographic deflection of a body that strikes northeast and dips southeast.
Workings: Some surficial material was removed to expose the lode, which was discovered by W. J. Shannon before 1929. The Question Mark prospect was restaked in 1930 by A. Taylor (Heiner and Porter, 1972, Mt. McKinley qudrangle, number 38).
Age: Uncertain but possibly middle Tertiary, assuming that it is related to nearby antimony and polymetallic lodes on the north flank of the McGonagall pluton of Eocene or Oligocene age (Reed and Lanphere, 1973, 1974).
Alteration: Oxidation of iron and copper minerals.
Commodities (Major) - Cu
Development Status: No
Deposit Model: Native copper occurrence in a mafic igneous dike.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
2 valid minerals.
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Copper | 1.AA.05 | Cu |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Cuprite | 4.AA.10 | Cu2O |
| Unclassified | |||
| ⓘ | 'Limonite' | - | |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| O | Oxygen | |
|---|---|---|
| O | ⓘ Cuprite | Cu2O |
| Cu | Copper | |
| Cu | ⓘ Cuprite | Cu2O |
| Cu | ⓘ Copper | Cu |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | MM171 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Farewell ForedeepForedeep Basin
- Windy-McKinley DomainDomain
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