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J.M. Schmidt

Publications and source records attributed to J.M. Schmidt.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2007

Metallogeny of the nikolai large igneous province (LIP) in southern alaska and its influence on the mineral potential of the talkeetna mountains

Recent geologic mapping has identified areas of extrusive basalts of the Middle to Late Triassic Nikolai Greenstone within the Wrangellia terrane that extend at least 80 km southwest of their previously known extent. Abundant dolerite sills of similar composition intrude Paleozoic and Mesozoic stratigraphy below the Nikolai throughout the central Talkeetna Mountains. The Talkeetna Mountains, therefore, have newly identified potential for copper, nickel, and platinum-group elements (PGEs) as disseminated, net-textured, or massive magmatic sulfide deposits hosted in mafic and ultramafic sill-form complexes related to emplacement of the Nikolai. Because of their potential high grades, similar magmatic sulfide targets have been the focus of increasing mineral exploration activity over the last decade in the Amphitheater Mountains and central Alaska Range, 100-200 km to the northeast. The Nikolai Greenstone, associated intrusions, and their metamorphosed equivalents also have potential to host stratabound disseminated "basaltic copper" deposits. Sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks overlying the Nikolai have the potential to host stratabound, disseminated, or massive "reduced-facies" type Cu-Ag deposits. Ultramafic rocks have been identified only in the extreme northeastern Talkeetna Mountains to date. However, coincident gravity and magnetic highs along the leading (northwestern) edge of and within Wrangellia in the Talkeetna and Clearwater Mountains suggest several areas that are highly prospective for ultramafic rocks related to extrusion of Nikolai lavas. In particular, the distribution, geometry, and composition of sills within the pre-Nikolai stratigraphy and the structural and tectonic controls on intrusive versus extrusive rock distribution deserve serious examination. Copyright ?? 2007 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2007

Undiscovered locatable mineral resources in the Bay Resource Management Plan Area, southwestern Alaska: A probabilistic assessment

The Bay Resource Management Plan (RMP) area in southwestern Alaska, north and northeast of Bristol Bay contains significant potential for undiscovered locatable mineral resources of base and precious metals, in addition to metallic mineral deposits that are already known. A quantitative probabilistic assessment has identified 24 tracts of land that are permissive for 17 mineral deposit model types likely to be explored for within the next 15 years in this region. Commodities we discuss in this report that have potential to occur in the Bay RMP area are Ag, Au, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mo, Pb, Sn, W, Zn, and platinum-group elements. Geoscience data for the region are sufficient to make quantitative estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits only for porphyry copper, epithermal vein, copper skarn, iron skarn, hot-spring mercury, placer gold, and placer platinum-deposit models. A description of a group of shallow- to intermediate-level intrusion-related gold deposits is combined with grade and tonnage data from 13 deposits of this type to provide a quantitative estimate of undiscovered deposits of this new type. We estimate that significant resources of Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mo, Pb, and Pt occur in the Bay Resource Management Plan area in these deposit types. At the 10th percentile probability level, the Bay RMP area is estimated to contain 10,067 metric tons silver, 1,485 metric tons gold, 12.66 million metric tons copper, 560 million metric tons iron, 8,100 metric tons mercury, 500,000 metric tons molybdenum, 150 metric tons lead, and 17 metric tons of platinum in undiscovered deposits of the eight quantified deposit types. At the 90th percentile probability level, the Bay RMP area is estimated to contain 89 metric tons silver, 14 metric tons gold, 911,215 metric tons copper, 330,000 metric tons iron, 1 metric ton mercury, 8,600 metric tons molybdenum and 1 metric ton platinum in undiscovered deposits of the eight deposit types. Other commodities, which may occur in the Bay RMP area, include Cr, Sn, W, Zn, and other platinum-group elements such as Ir, Os, and Pd. We define 13 permissive tracts for 9 additional deposit model types. These are: Besshi- and Cyprus, and Kuroko-volcanogenic massive sulfides, hot spring gold, low sulfide gold veins, Mississippi-Valley Pb-Zn, tin greisen, zinc skarn and Alaskan-type zoned ultramafic platinum-group element deposits. Resources in undiscovered deposits of these nine types have not been quantified, and would be in addition to those in known deposits and the undiscovered resources listed above. Additional mineral resources also may occur in the Bay RMP area in deposit types, which were not considered here.

Alaska↗
USGS2004

Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the Red Dog Zn-Pb-Ag district and vicinity, western Brooks Range, Alaska: provenance, deposition, and metallogenic significance

Geochemical analyses of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the western Brooks Range reveal a complex evolutionary history for strata surrounding the large Zn-Pb-Ag deposits of the Red Dog district. Data for major elements, trace elements, and rare earth elements (REE) were obtained on 220 samples of unaltered and unmineralized siliciclastic rocks from the Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Endicott Group (Hunt Fork Shale, Noatak Sandstone, Kanayut Conglomerate, Kayak Shale), the overlying Carboniferous Lisburne Group (Kuna Formation, unnamed drowned shelf facies), and the Pennsylvanian-Permian Siksikpuk Formation. Major base metal sulfide deposits of the region are present only in the Kuna Formation, which in the Red Dog district comprises siliceous black shale and black chert, minor limestone (calcareous radiolarite), and sparse lithic turbidite and bedded siliceous rock. Gray and rare black shales of the Kayak Shale and common black shales of the Kuna Formation are anomalously low in iron (avg Fe/Ti = 6.25 and 6.34, respectively) relative to other Paleozoic shales in the region (9.58-10.6) and to average shales worldwide (10.1-10.5). In contrast, the bedded siliceous rocks contain appreciable hematite (avg Fe/Ti = 35.0) and high U/Ti and REE/Ti ratios that are interpreted to reflect low amounts of detrital material and a major Fe-rich eolian component. Geochemical data (e.g., MnO <0.01 wt %; avg Cr = 317 ppm), sizes of framboidal pyrite grains, and limited bioturbation suggest anoxic and denitrifying depositional conditions for most black shales of the Kuna Formation; low Mo/Ti ratios argue against euxinic (sulfate-reducing) conditions. Organic-rich black shales of the Kuna Formation with up to 8.4 wt percent C organic and gray to black shales of the Kayak Shale with up to 4.1 wt percent C organic typically have only sparse pyrite (<1 wt % S) and very low iron-limited S/C ratios (mostly <0.2). Immobile element plots (e.g., Th-Zr/10-Sc) suggest that source terranes for all of the formations were dominated by one or more felsic-rich continental arcs; a small proportion of recycled sediments is present locally. A minor mafic igneous component also occurs in several shales of the Kuna and Siksikpuk Formations. High average values for the chemical index of alteration [Al 2 O 3 /(Al 2 O 3 + CaO + Na 2 O + K 2 O)] &infin; 100 for shales of the Endicott Group (76.4-81.5) imply moderate to intense chemical weathering in source areas of these sediments. A lower average for black shales of the Kuna Formation (73.7) does not require such weathering. Textural and geochemical data record the effects of diagenetic and/or hydrothermal fluid flow in some of the Paleozoic rocks. Mobility of P, F, U, and light REE is documented in black shales of the Kuna Formation by phosphate replacements of carbonate clasts and of matrix material surrounding the clasts. A relatively low average Ce/Ce* value of 0.73 for P-poor black shales of the Kuna Formation ( < 0.05 wt % P 2 O 5 ) and a similar Ce/Ce* value of 0.78 for a siderite concretion in Kayak Shale suggest that these diagenetic fluids were oxidizing. Many shales of the Kuna Formation have high (K 2 O &infin; 100)/(K 2 O + Al 2 O 3 ) ratios of 21.0 to 23.0, which contrast with low ratios of generally <18.0 for shales of the underlying Endicott Group. The high ratios in shales of the Kuna Formation reflect preferential reaction of smectite to illite during the Jurassic-Cretaceous Brookian orogeny, owing to high silica activities in pore fluids that were generated by the dissolution of abundant biogenic silica. The distribution and composition of Paleozoic strata in the western Brooks Range may have played a fundamental role in Zn-Pb mineralization of the Red Dog district. In our model, deposition and early lithification of biogenic chert and bedded siliceous rocks in the upper part of the Kuna Formation served as a regional hydrologic seal, acting as a cap rock to heat and hydrothermal fluids during Late Mississippian base-metal mineralization. Equally important was the iron-poor composition of black shales of the Kuna Formation (i.e., low Fe/Ti ratios), which limited synsedimentary pyrite formation in precursor sediments, resulting in significant H 2 S production in pore waters through the interaction of aqueous sulfate with abundant organic matter. This H 2 S may have been critical to the subsurface deposition of the huge quantities of Zn and Pb in the district. On the basis of this model, we propose that low Fe/Ti and S/C ratios in black shale sequences are potential basin-scale exploration guides for giant sediment-hosted, stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposits.

Alaska↗
USGS1988

Mineral and whole-rock compositions of seawater-dominated hydrothermal alteration at the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, Alaska

The Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, located in the Ambler mineral district of northwestern Alaska, includes three types of hydrothermally altered rocks overlying, underlying, and interlayered with semimassive sulfide mineralization. Hydrothermal alteration of wall rocks and deposition of sulfide and gangue minerals were contemporaneous with Late Devonian or Early Mississippian basalt-rhyolite volcanism. Whole-rock analyses of altered rocks surrounding the prospect indicate that strong chemical gradients exist in major and minor oxides and volatiles. These were not homogenized or overprinted by Late Jurassic (?) to Middle Cretaceous greenschist to glaucophane-schist facies metamorphism. Very low alkali contents and moderate to very high contents of Ba, F, and Mg are the major chemical characteristics of the pervasively altered rocks. The strong Mg metasomatism, high Ba contents, and limited extent of altered rocks suggest a rapid influx of relatively cold seawater into a hot hydrothermal vent system. Alteration developed asymmetrically around a linear fissure, suggesting fracture control of ore fluids rather than a point source. Micro-probe analyses of phyllosilicates from the Arctic area indicate two discrete mineral populations. Magnesian chlorite, barian white mica, and barian fiuorphlogopite in hydrothermally altered rocks have compositions distinct from similar minerals (chlorite, phengite, biotite) developed during high-pressure metamorphism in metapelitic and metavolcanic lithologies. These differences in mineral chemistry are the result of differences in protolith composition caused by hydrothermal alteration-metasomatism. Without mineral composition data, the contacts between some alteration assemblages and relatively unaltered metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks with similar mineralogy cannot be determined.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1986

Stratigraphic setting and mineralogy of the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, Ambler district, Alaska

The Arctic prospect, south central Brooks Range, is among the 30 largest of 508 volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits in the world. The massive sulphide lenses are interlayered with graphitic schist between metamorphosed rhyolite porphyries in Middle Devonian to early Mississippian metamorphosed volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks. Hydrothermal alteration is of three types: chloritic, phyllic s.l., and pyrite-phengite, each type strata-distinctively and respectively below, in, and above the sulphides. Maximum alteration conforms with metal zoning in the sulfides to suggest predominantly northwestward dispersal from a linear vent area in the elongate basin containing the deposit.-G.J.N.

Economic Geology↗