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Mineral Resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho

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Mineral Resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho Mineral Resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1719-C Chapter C Mineral Resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho By JAY A. ACH and HARLEY D. KING U.S. Geological Survey ALAN R. BUEHLER and DONALD O. CAPSTICK U.S. Bureau of Mines U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1719-C MINERAL RESOURCES OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS: OWYHEE RIVER REGION, IDAHO AND NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DONALD PAUL MODEL, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1986 For sale by the Books and Open-File Reports Section U.S. Geological Survey Federal Center, Box 25425 Denver, CO 80225 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mineral resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness study area, Owyhee County, Idaho U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1719-C Bibliography Supt. of Docs. No.: I 19.3:1719-C 1. Mines and mineral resources Idaho Little Owyhee River Wilderness. 2. Geology Idaho Little Owyhee River Wilderness. 3. Little Owyhee River Wilderness (Idaho) I. Ach, Jay A. II. Series. QE75.B9 No. B1719-C 557.3 s 86-600161 [TN24.I2] [553'.09796'21] STUDIES RELATED TO WILDERNESS Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (Public Law 94-579, October 21, 1976) requires the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines to conduct mineral surveys of certain areas to determine the mineral values, if any, that may be present. Results must be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the Congress. This report presents the results of a mineral survey of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area (ID-016-48C), Owyhee County, Idaho. CONTENTS Summary Cl Abstract 1 Character and setting 1 Identified resources 1 Mineral resource potential 1 Introduction 1 Area description 1 Previous and present investigations 3 Acknowledgments 3 Appraisal of identified resources 3 History and production 3 Mineral deposits 3 Assessment of mineral resource potential 5 Geology 5 Geochemical studies 5 Conclusions 6 References cited 7 Appendix 1. Definition of levels of mineral resource potential and certainty of assessment 9 FIGURES 1. Index map showing location of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho C2 2. Map showing mineral resource potential and geology of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho 4 3. Major elements of mineral resource potential/certainty classification 9 TABLE 1. Mines, prospects, and mineralized areas in and adjacent to the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area CIO MINERAL RESOURCES OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS: OWYHEE RIVER REGION, IDAHO AND NEVADA Mineral Resources of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho By Jay A. Ach and Harley D. King U.S. Geological Survey Alan R. Buehler and Donald O. Capstick U.S. Bureau of Mines SUMMARY area are included in petroleum and natural gas leases or lease applications. There are no identified mineral Abstract or energy resources within the study area. The Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area (ID-016-48C) encompasses 8,460 acres in the extreme Mineral Resource Potential southwest corner of Idaho along the canyon of the Little Owyhee River. Throughout this report, The Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area "wilderness study area" and "study area" refer to the does not lie within any established mining district. 8,460 acres on which mineral surveys were The northeastern part of the wilderness study completed. Fieldwork for this report was carried out area has low mineral resource potential for both between 1983 and 1985. No mines, prospects, or epithermal silver-gold and epithermal mercury mining claims were located inside the study area, and deposits. This is indicated by weak geochemical no mineral resources were identified. The wilderness anomalies in rock samples from within the study area study area has a low mineral resource potential for and the presence of small areas of altered rock and silver, gold, and mercury. There is also a low mineral additional geochemical anomalies immediately outside resource potential for the nonmetallic commodities the study area. diatomite and zeolites. Some geochemical evidence of the presence of tin was gathered to the west of the study area, although the geologic environment is not favorable for Character and Setting a tin resource in that area. However, no geochemical evidence of tin was found within the study area and The Little Owyhee River Wildernesss Study Area the wilderness study area is considered to have no is located 8 mi northeast of the southwest corner of mineral resource potential for tin. Idaho (fig. 1). The terrain consists of a flat to gently The mineral resource potential for the rolling plateau deeply incised by the spectacular nonmetallic commodities diatomite and zeolites is also canyon cut by the Little Owyhee River to depths of considered low in the wilderness study area. Evidence 800 ft. The surface of the plateau is defined by the of the occurrence of these minerals exists 1-1.5 mi thin flows of the Banbury Basalt of late Miocene age. outside the study area in sedimentary rocks, but little Beneath surficial flows, additional basalt flows are evidence of their existence within the study area was interbedded with lacustrine sediments. The Banbury found. Basalt and lacustrine sediments overlie the Swisher Mountain Tuff, a rhyolitic ash-flow tuff of middle Miocene age. The Swisher Mountain Tuff is the oldest INTRODUCTION unit exposed in the study area. (See Ekren and others, 1981, 1984.) Area Description The Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area Identified Resources (ID-016-48C) consists of 8,460 acres recommended suitable for wilderness consideration out of 24,677 No known mines, prospects, or mining claims are acres originally considered. The study area is located located within the study area, but parts of the study 8 mi northeast of the southwestern corner of Idaho Cl 117°00' 116°45' 116°30' 42°30' SQUAW MEADOWS 42°15' - LITTLE OWYHEE RIVER WILDERNESS STUDY AREA (ID-016-48C) 42°00 - MALHEUR CO A" _ _ ___ _<L__ __ IDAHO OWYHEE CO HUMBOLDTCO ~l / NEVADA ELKO CO Figure 1. Index map showing location of the Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area, Owyhee County, Idaho. C2 (fig. 1) and includes a part of the Owyhee Plateau, a Bureau of Mines, Western Field Operations Center, flat to gently rolling plateau with an average elevation Spokane, Washington 99202. of about 5,200 ft within the study area . The Owyhee Plateau is deeply incised by the spectacular and precipitous canyons of the various branches of the Acknowledgments Owyhee River system. The part of the plateau included in this wilderness study area surrounds the The staff of the Boise District Office of the U.S. canyon cut by the Little Owyhee River, immediately Bureau of Land Management provided logistical upstream of that river's junction with the South Fork support, information, and the use of the fine U.S. of the Owyhee River. Within the wilderness study Bureau of Land Management camp at Mud Flat. Ben area, the canyon of the Little Owyhee River reaches Glanville, owner of the 45 Ranch, and Sonny and Judy depths of 800 ft below the surrounding countryside. Smith, caretakers of the 45 Ranch, graciously provided The climate is arid to semiarid, with an average of less information, access, and many courtesies. than ten inches of precipitation a year. The vegetation is sparse, consisting of sagebrush, various range grasses, and the odd juniper tree. APPRAISAL OF IDENTIFIED RESOURCES Access to the study area is by approximately 41 mi of graded dirt and gravel roads that lead west from Idaho State Highway 51 through the Duck Valley Indian By Alan R. Buehler and Donald O. Capstick. U.S. Reservation to the 45 Ranch (fig. 1). From the ranch, Bureau of Mines the study area can be reached by the dirt road that bounds the area on the east. History and Production Previous and Present Investigations The Little Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area is not within a mining district and there are no mines Geologic mapping and studies by Ekren and or prospects within or near the area. Minor, others (1981, 1984) provided the basis for the mapping unrecorded production of jasper, chalcedony, and for this study. Additional information on the general common opal suitable for lapidary purposes or as regional geology is contained in Walker and Repenning specimens has occurred. The only known production (1966), Kittleman and others (1967), Hope and Coats near the wilderness study area is of several hundred (1976). and Bonnichsen and Breckenridge (1982). pounds of this material produced from the Lu Lew Previous reconnaissance studies of the geology and the prospect (P.M. Gabby, unpub. data), a rock collectors' energy and mineral resources of wilderness study areas locality located approximately 0.4 mi west of the 45 in the region were carried out by Mathews and Ranch (fig. 2)(see table 1). Blackburn (1983a, b). The uranium resource potential for the region was evaluated as part of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program (Berry Mineral Deposits and others, 1982; Geodata, 1980). The U.S. Geological Survey carried out field No diatomite or zeolites were found in the investigations in the study area during the summers of wilderness study area. However, nearby areas show 1984 and 1985. The work included field checking of evidence of zeolitic alteration or diatomite existing geologic maps, new mapping where necessary, deposition. These occur within the lacustrine and geochemical sampling. Rock samples were sediments beneath and interbedded with the Banbury collected from areas of observed alteration and from Basalt flows and the tuffaceous horizons lying beneath each lithologic unit in order to obtain information the flows.
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