Watana Creek Prospect, Valdez Creek Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Watana Creek Prospect | Prospect |
| Valdez Creek Mining District | Mining District |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough | Borough |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
62° 50' 54'' North , 148° 13' 1'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
MAS/MIL number 20760089.
Location: This placer prospect is located on Watana Creek, 1.8 miles upstream from it mouth on the Susitna River. It is in the NW1/4 sec. 19, T. 32 N., R. 7 E., Seward Meridian. The location is accurate to within 1/2 mile.
Geology: Gold occurs in alluvial gravel in Watana Creek which drains a variety of rock types. The lower part of the creek drains an area of Tertiary fluvial conglomerate, sandstone and claystone; the upper parts drain Triassic basalt, Lower Cretaceous argillite and lithic graywacke, and some Tertiary granodiorite (Kurtak and others, 1992). Tertiary conglomerate two miles upstream from the Susitna River is similar to gold- and platinum-bearing conglomerate in the Tyone River area, 55 miles to the southeast; it is a possible source of the gold and platiinum-group metal in this placer(Kurtak and others, 1992). A sediment sample collected near the conglomerate on Watana Creek contains 20 parts per billion (ppb) platinum and 8 ppb palladium (Balen, 1990). The richest sediment sample from the upper part of Watana Creek contains 0.0016 ounce of gold per cubic yard; a placer sample from the west fork of the creek, 11 miles above the Susitna River, contains 4 ppb palladium and 25 ppb platinum (Balen, 1990). Other stream-sediment samples contain up to 8.5 parts per million gold. Placer concentrates contain abundant magnetite. Placer claims were staked in 1979 and abandoned in 1981.
Workings: Placer claims were staked in 1979 and abandoned in 1981. Stream sampling by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Balen, 1990).
Age: Quaternary placer.
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Pd, Pt
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Magnetite | 4.BB.05 | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| O | Oxygen | |
|---|---|---|
| O | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| Au | Gold | |
| Au | ⓘ Gold | Au |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | TK026 |
|---|
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