Geology of the Ore Deposits of Kennecott, Alaska
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ECONOMIC GEOLOGY WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE AMERICAN GEOLOGIST VOL. XV JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 92o NO. I GEOLOGY OF THE ORE DEPOSITS OF KENNECOTT, ALASKA. ALAN M. BATEMAN AND D. H. MCLAUGItLIN. 1 CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTION ......................................................... 2 TOPOGRAPHY.......................................................... 4 ROCK FORMATIONS.................................................... 5 STRUCTURE ........................................................... I PHYSIOGRAPHICDEVELOPMENT ......................................... I•:, ORE DEPOSITS........................................................ General .......................................................... I7' Character of ore ................................................. I8; Types of deposits ................................................ I8. Mineralization in greenstone .............................. 19, Mineralization in limestone ................................... 20., Talus ore deposit ......................... : ................... 23, Glacier ore deposit ........................................... 23; Structural relations ............................................... 24J. Relation of mineralization to rocks ............................ 24- Behavior of fissures .......................................... 26 Relation of mineralization to fractures ........................ 27 Relation of mineralization to folds ............................ 29 Relation of mineralization to faults ............................ 3o Shapes'and sizes of ore bodies ................................ Relation to surface ........................................... 3t x This paper embodies the result's of field and laboratory studies of the Kennecott deposits carried on at various times during the last five years. The authors were together at Kennecott in the field seasonof I915, when the work was initiated in co6peration wit'h the Secondary Enrichment Investi- gation. Field work was continued by the first named author during the four following seas.ohsin his capacity of consulting geologist to the Kennecofi• Copper Corporation, while most of the det'ailed microscopic work was done. in the laboratoryby the other, in connectionwith researchfor the Secondary. Enrichment Investigation. .ALAN M. BATEMAN AND D. H. McL.,4UGHLIN. Distributionof ore bodies........................................ 33 Alteration of host rocks .......................................... 34 Mineralogy and mineralography .................................. 35 OXm•TIONo7 OREDEPosiTs .......................................... 44 General .......................................................... 44 Minerals due to oxidation ........................................ 45 Distributionand depthof oxidation ............................... 48 Relation of oxidationto structures................................ 49 Relation to water level and climate ................................ 50 Age of oxidation ................................................. 53 THEORETICALCONSIDERATIONS .......................................... 54 Origin of fissures................................................. 54 Suggestedhypothesis ......................................... 54 Origin of mineralization .......................................... 57 Source of metals in limestone ................................ .. 57 Origin of copper in greenstone ................................ 59 Agents of transportation ..................................... 6I • Met'hods of deposition ........................................ 65 Primary or secondaryorigin of the chalcocite ...................... 66 Experimental evidence ........................................ 67 Mineralographic evidence ..................................... 67 Field evidence ................................................ 70 Discussion of evidence ........................................ 73 Conclusions .................................................. 77 SUMMARIZEDCONCLUSION OF ORIGIN OF ORE DEPOSITS................... 77 INTRODUCTION. General.--The copper depositsof the famous Bonanza and Jumbo Mines at Kennecott,Alaska, are unique for the character of their ores and 'their purity and size. Their occurrencepre~ sents many peculiar and interestingfeatures, and the origin of the great massesof .chalcocitehas long been a puzzle. Their ,decipheringinvo,lves the origin of f,racturesunusual in form; of a peculiar kind of primary mineralizationunparalleled in other deposits;of a sourceof metals not customarilyconsidered, as well as agentsof transportationbut seldomreferred to. No con- clusionscan be reachedwithout carefully weighing the primary or secondaryorigin of the chalcocite,and much of interest is gained regarding the distribution of oxidation and groun4water. It is with theseproblems that the paper deals,and' the facts and conclusionspresented, in the following pages are the result of a studyextending over a periodof five seasons,during which time the developmentof the .ore 'bodieshas been carefully followed and their detailsaccurately mapped. Location.--The Bonanzaand Jumbo Mines, the most impor- GEOLOGYOFORE DEPOSITS OFKENNECOTT, ALASKA. 3 tantof the mining properties ofthe Kennecott Copper Corp., are situatedatKenneco.tt, Alaska. (See Fig. •.) Thistown lies about200 miles northeast ofthe port of Cordova, onPrince Wil- liamSound, with which itis connected bythe, Copper River and NorthwesternRailro.ad, aroad which win.d,s around glaciers and is famousfor the difficulties of its co.nstruction. ThePort of 148ø lZ!G* zs o.... _ zs,•_. so ;? ,oo•,,•, FIG.I. Indexmap to show location ofCordova, Copper River and Kennecott. Cordovaisn, aviga'ble theyear around and the railroad maintains continuousservice.with Kennecott, suffering onlyslight interrup- tion,inevitable with its 1.ocation. Themines are one mile .apart and each one is at a distanceof threemiles from the town of Kennecott 2and 4,000 feet above it, at anelevation of about 6,000 feet. Theyare connected with themill in the town by a•rial tramways. 2The U.S. Geol. Surv. terminology givesthe spelling asKennicott butthe postoffice and company name are spelt as. Kennecott. Asthe latter is com- monusage it is followedin thispaper. ALAN M. BATEMAN AND D. H. McLAUGHLIN. •'tcknowledcdments.--Wetake pleasurein acknowledgingthe courtesiesand help renderedby the staff at Kennecottin •9•5, and the aid receivedfrom the geol.ogic maps prepared by W. E. Dunkle and H. D. Smith. The first named writer further records with appreciationthe benefit receivedin the seasonssince •9•5 from discussionswœth E. T. Stannard, Wm. Douglas, H. D. Smith, D.. C. Hoyt, and D. D. Irwin, and the helpfulnesso4 their information concerningthe detailed developmentof the ore bodies. Acknowledgmentis .due to Mr. StephenBirch, presi- dentof the.company, for placingall facilitiesat our disposaland for his permissi.onto publishthis material. The painstakingareal work by the membersof the United StatesGeological Survey facilitated 'our observations and' deduc- tions, and we ackr•owledgemore than the mere sourcesof the information recorded to the individual members in the foot- notes. To ProfessorL. C. Grato.nwe especiallydesire to record our grateful thanks for his many discussionsand sympathetic criticisms. TOPOGRAPHY. The regionin the vicinityof the minesis oneof pronounced relief with high, steep-sidedmountains, rugged in detail, rising from KennecottValley (Plate I., ,z/). The valley itself .isoccu- piedby the Kennecottglacier, which has a width .of aboutthree miles at the town and extendsnorthwestward about twenty-four miles to its gathering groundson Mt. Blackburn, •6,•4o feet, and Mr. Regal, about •4,ooo (Plate I., B). The mountainsides on the Kennecottedge of the glacierrise steeplyto the sharpdivide of Kermecottspur at an elevationof about 7,ooo feet. The Spur juts southward fr.om the main WrangelMountains and is limitedon the westby KennecottVal- ß ley and on the eastby McCarthy,Creek, and risesfrom an ele- vation of 2,000 feet at the glacierand 2,650 feet at McCarthy Creek,to n'early7,0o0 feet (Fig. 3). The top of the divide where occupiedby the Chitisto,nelimestone is serratedinto per- pendicularpinnacles and hoodooforms of the shatteredbrittle PLATE I. ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. VOL. XV. .____-- a. Kennecott spur and town of Kennecott, showing topography and location of mines (+). b. Kennecott glacier. Mr. Blackburn in background and greenstone-limestone contact at right. c. "Hoodoo" topography developed on fractured limestone adjacent to Bonanza Mine. PLATE II. ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. VOL. XV. a. Contact betweengreenstone (dark) and limestone(light). Jumbo Mine at right. b. Greenstone-limestonecontact. l•ormal contact at left, down-faulted against greenstone. c. Quartz-diorite porphyry with inclusions of black shale of Kennecott formation, GEOLOGY OF ORE DEPOSITS OF KENNECOTT, ALASKA. 5 rock, resemblingthe DolomiteAlps (Plate I., C). Great talus slopes,at the angleof repose,reach down hundreds of feet below thepinnacles. The iower slopes underlain by thegreenstone, are less rough, with occasionalbenches and cliffs. The areas of porphyryweather to smoothsteep slopes covered by talus. The mineslie approximatelyI,OOO feet •belowthe highestpoint of the spur. The slopes.are scored by deep,steep-sided, V-shaped tributary gulches.c'on. taining dashingstreamlets which empty into the main valley at the edge of the glacier. The headsof these gulchescontain small hanging glaciers,.rock glac.iers,a or talus slopes. The Jumbo Mine is situatedin a basin at the edgeof