Keith and Others-Mineral and Geothermal Resource Potential of the Scale 1:62 500 Map Mf-1379-E Mount Hood Wilderness, Oregon
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KEITH AND OTHERS-MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE SCALE 1:62 500 MAP MF-1379-E MOUNT HOOD WILDERNESS, OREGON AREA OF M.AP DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TO ACCOMPANY MAP MF-1379-E UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE MOUNT HOOD WILDERNESS, CLACKAMAS AND HOOD RIVER COUNTIES, OREGON SUMMARY REPORT By T. E. C. Keith 1 and J.D. Causey2 STUDIES RELATED TO WILDERNESS Forty samples were assayed for gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc (J.D. Causey, unpub. U.S. Bureau of Mines Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law file report, 1981). The samples were also analyzed for 40 88-577, September 3, 1964) and the Joint Conference Report · elements by semiquantitative spectrography. An additional on Senate BiJJ 4, 88th Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey 45 panned samples were run over a Wilfley3 table and the and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral concentrates analyzed for gold and silver. The results are surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Areas officially on file at the U.S. Bureau of Mines Western Field Operations designated as •wilderness," •wild," or "canoe" wh~n the act Center, Spokane, WA 99202. was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being Geochemical samples totaling 57 stream sediments, 69 studied. The act provided that areas under consideration for panned concentrates, 12 unaltered rocks, and 26 altered wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for rocks were collected at selected sites, and selected samples incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral were analyzed by semiquantitative emission spectrography surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. The for 30 elements. Thirty-two stream sediment and 4 altered act directs that the results of such surveys are to be made rock samples were analyzed for uranium by fluorometric available to the public and be submitted to the President determinations. Selected altered rock samples were and the Congress. This report discusses the results of a analyzed for gold, copper, antimony, mercury, and arsenic mineral and geothermal survey of the Mount Hood by more precise methods. Complete analytical data is listed Wilderness, Mount Hood National Forest, Clackamas and in Keith and others (1980). Hood River Counties, Oregon. The area was established as a Primitive Area in 1931, and reclassified as a wilderness on Location and geographic setting June 27, 1940. The Mount Hood Wilderness, approximately 50 mi (80 SUMMARY km) east of Portland, Oregon (fig. 1), consists of about 47,100 acres (19,061 ha). Situated within the Mount Hood The potential for near-surface mineral resources in the National Forest, the wilderness includes parts of Clackamas Mount Hood Wilderness is low. Geochemical data suggest and Hood River Counties. Mount Hood, the highest peak in two areas of weak epithermal mineralization in the Zigzag Oregon at 1 1,234 ft (3,425 m), is a Quaternary volcano in Mountain part of the wilderness: (1) the Lost Creek-Burnt the central part of thew i lderness. Lake-Cast Creek-Short Creek area on the north side of Zigzag Mountain where vein-type lead-zinc-silver The east side of the wilderness is bounded by Bluegrass mineralization occurs and (2) the Lady Creek-Laurel Hill Ridge with a maximum elevation of 5,608 ft (1 ,709 rn). area on the south side of Zigzag Mountain where the upper Zigzag Mountain, an east-west trending ridge reaching an part of a quartz diorite pluton has associated propylitic elevation of 4,971 ft (1,515'm), makes up the western part alteration resulting in some porphyry-type copper, gold, of the wilderness. silver, lead, and zinc mineralization. The terrain is mountainous with steep-walled canyons Geothermal-resource potential for low- to intermediate heading at glaciers on Mount Hood and cirques on Zigzag temperature (less than 248°F, l20°C) hot-water systems in Mountain. Dense lava flows interlayered with easily eroded thew ilderness is moderate to high. Part of the wilderness is volcanic debris and pyroclastic layers result in numerous classified as a Known Geothermal Resources Area (KG RA), waterfa11s, cascades, and cold-water springs in the and two parts have been included in geothermal lease areas. wilderness. Dense forest vegetation covers the terrain to timberline at an altitude of 6,000 ft ( 1,829 m) on Mount Rock and gravel sources are present within the Hood, above which the volcano rises nearly barren of wilderness; how ever, quantities of similar and more vegetation because of wind and ice as well as unstable accessible deposits are available outside the wilderness. recently deposited volcanic material. Lush undergrowth Deposits outside the wilderness are large enough to supply covers the forest floor in most of the wilderness below local demand in the foreseeable future. timberline because of the high precipitation during most of the year. INTRODUCTION South and east of the wilderness are U.S. Highway 26 During the summer of 1979 the U.S. Geological Survey and Oregon State Highway 35, respectively (Fig. l ). and U.S. ·Bureau of Mines conducted field investigations to Timberline and Mount Hood Meadows ski resorts abut the evaluate the mineral-resource potential of the Mount Hood wilderness on the south slope of Mount Hood. Most of the Wilderness. Geologic mapping, geochemical sampling, north side is accessible from U.S. Forest. Service spur roads geophysical surveys, and a study of known prospects, claims, off of the Lolo Pass road (F. S. Road N-12) or the Cloud Cap mineralized areas, and exploratory geothermal driJJ holes road (F. S. Road S-12) (map sheet). Numerous foot trails, were included in the field investigations (Keith and others, including part of the Pacific Crest Trail, provide access 1980, 1982a, 1982b; Robison and others, 1982; Williams and through thew ilderness. Keith, 1982). 1U.S. Geological Survey 2u.s. Bureau of Mines 3use of trade names in this report is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey or the U.S Bureau of Mines. Geologic Setting GEOLOGY, GEOCHEMISTRY, AND GEOPHYSICS PERTAINING TO MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL The Mount Hood Wilderness is located along the crest RESOURCE ASSESSMENT of the High Cascade Range, which extends from northern California to British Columbia. The High Cascade Range is The geology of the area including tl. ·~ Mount Hood characterized by Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic Wilderness was mapped by Wise (1969); Holocene volcanic activity, the major topographic features of which are large, activity and associated mud flow and pyroclastic deposits of predominantly andesitic stratovolcanoes and numerous Mount Hood volcano were described by Crandell (1980). The smaJJer volcanoes and cinder cones. These volcanic rocks U.S. Geological Survey modified the previous mapping and were extruded onto a para1Jel, eroded range of older did additional mapping, particularly on Zigzag Mountain Cenozoic, dominantly andesitic volcanoes that are presently (Keith and others, 1982b). referred to as the western Cascade Range. Mount Hood is one of the large, dominantly andesitic stratovolcanoes and is All rocks exposed in the wilderness are of volcanic considered active because of reported ash events in 1859 origin and are of Tertiary and Quaternary age. The oldest and 1865 and because fumaroles are active in the 200- to rocks are upper Miocene volcaniclastic rocks and andesitic 300-year-old vent and dome area (Crater Rock). lava flows of the Rhododendron Formation. Rocks of the Rhododendron Formation are propylitically altered at the Zigzag Mountain, which constitutes the western part of contact zone with the relatively younger quartz diorite of the wilderness, is composed of Java flows and pyroclastic Laurel Hill, and in the vicinity of Lost Creek-Cast rocks erupted prior to the building of Mount Hood volcano Creek-Short Creek and Burnt Lake where thin, discontinuous and is considered to be part of the western Cascade Range. sulfide-bearing quartz veins and faults were found (Keith East-northeast- and north-northwest-trending regional and others, 1982a). Zeolitization of volcaniclastic layers in structural patterns are present in the rocks of Zigzag the Rhododendron Formation is widespread. Mountain. The quartz diorite intrusion of Laurel Hill also crpps Mining Activity out just outside the southwest boundary of the wilderness. Potassium-argon determinations on the age of the intrusion There is no mining activity in the wilderness at are conflicting (11 m.y., Wise, 1969; 8 m.y., Bickerrnan, present. The last indication of any prospecting activity 1970), but the major time of intrusion was probably during within the wilderness was a claim staked in Lost Creek in late Miocene. Intrusive rocks have been encountered' in 1948. On Laurel Hill, 0.6 rni (l km) south of the wilderness, several geothermal drill holes (Oregon Department of two claims were staked in 1966. No mining is known to Geology and Mineral Industries, 1980; H. J. Meyer, oral have occurred in these areas. commum., 1980; J. W. Hook, oral commun., 1980), indicating that the Laurel Hill pluton may be part of an intru~ive Several rock and gravel sources are being or have been complex and is more extensive than surface outcrops mined around the edge of the wilderness. The rock is used suggest. The quartz diorite of Laurel Hill is propylitically in road construction and repair. A gravel pit on the White altered, and at the contact zone with the Rhododendron River, on the lower south flank of Mount Hood, is presently Formation both units are highly fractured and propylitically being used. altered (Keith and others, 1982a). Geothermal Investigations Remnants of several locally propylitically altered plugs exposed in the vicinity of Zigzag Mountain (Wise, 1969; Beginning in 1976, geothermal temperature gradient Keith and others, 1982b) are apparently feeder vents for and exploration holes were drilled near the northern and upper Miocene andesite flows which overlie the southern boundaries of the wilderness.