Saddle Creek; Crosby Creek Occurrence, Port Clarence Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Saddle Creek; Crosby Creek Occurrence	Occurrence
Port Clarence Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Saddle Creek is the headwater segment of Crosby Creek which drains the south flank of Ear Mountain. Ear Mountain is an isolated upland reaching 2,329 feet elevation in the north-central Teller D-3 quadrangle. It is cored by a Late Cretaceous granite stock (Sainsbury, 1972). This is locality 59 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Crosby Cr.'.
Geology: Saddle Creek has headwaters in the southeast contact zone of the Ear Mountain biotite granite stock. This is a Late Cretaceous (76.7 +/- 2.9 my; Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769) composite biotite granite that intrudes an impure and schistose carbonate sequence, with some metapelitic rocks, of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. The country rocks are variably converted to tactite and hornfels around the granite stock (Knopf, 1908, p. 28-29). One of two USBM churn-drill holes on the lower part of the creek (about 340 feet elevation) contained 0.01 pounds of tin per cubic yard. Samples from these holes contain quartz, calcite, grossularite garnet, albite, limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite, traces of blue tourmaline, brown tourmaline, epidote, and idocrase. Cassiterite was also identified (Mulligan, 1959, p. 29).
Workings: Two USBM churn-drill holes were completed on the lower part of the creek at approximately 340 feet elevation (Mulligan, 1959, p. 20).
Age: Quaternary

Commodities (Major) - Sn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TE066

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References