Geological Fieldwork 1980 a Summary of Field Activities of the Geological Division, Mineral Resources Branch Paper 1981-1
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Geological Fieldwork 1980 a summary of field activities of the geological division, mineral resources branch Paper 1981-1 hvince of British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources ISSN 0381-243X Victoria British Columbia Canada February 1981 FOREWORD GeologicalFieldwork, 1980 (Paper 1981-1) marks the seventhyear of this annual publication which is intended to acquaint the interested public with the preliminary results of field studies by the Geological Division as soon as possible after the field season. Most reports in this publication were written without the benefit of extensive laboratory or office studies and, to speed publication, most of the figures have been draughted by the authors. To make field data and interpretations more readily available the Division publishes preliminary maps and hasbegun to emphasize a paperseries. For example, a paper will bereleased soon on sandand gravel deposits in the lower mainland. As in previous issues, Geologicai Fieldwork, 1980 is divided into sections: Metallic Investigations.Coal Investigations. Applied Geology, and Other Investigations. The Other Investigations section consists mainly of reports by graduate students and professorsof the University of British Columbia. The reports deal wi1:h programs aligned with the objectives of the Geological Division which were funded in part by the Division. The geographic distribution of reports in the publication is shown on Figure 1 and keyed to the table of contents. The cover photograph depicts a geologist measuring sectionsin the northeast coalfield. Output of this publication was coordinatedby W. J. McMillanand production editing and layout b,y Rosalyn J. Moir with the assistance of Geological Division draughting office under the supervision of J. Armitage. A. Sutherland Rrown, Chief Geologist, Geological Divison. Mineral Resources Branch. :3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Paae PROJECT GEOLOGY METALLICINVESTIGATIONS SOUTHERN BRITISHCOLUMBIA 1 Hay, T. andDiakow. L.: Geology of the Moyie Lake Area, Purcell Mountains ...... 9 2 Preto, V. A,: BarriereLakes-Adams Plateau Area, ................ 11 5 3 Eastwood, G.E.P.: BJProspect, LadysmithArea ..................... :!4 CENTRALBRITISH COLUMBIA 4 Church, B. N., Barakso, J., and Ball, D.: Computer Processing of Geochemical Data Showing the Primary Dispersion of Elements near the Equity Mine (Sam Goody1 .... 25 NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA 5 Maclntyre, D.G.: Akie RiverProject 6 Panteleyev,A.:Lithogeochemical Study of the 'Cassiar Moly' Deposit, Cassiar MapArea ..................................... 7 Diakow, L. J. andPanteleyev, A.: Cassiar Gold Deposits. McDame Map-Area STRUCTURAL MATERIAL INVESTIGATION 8 Hora, 2. D. andHunter, N. M.: Sand and Gravel Inventory .......................... 63 COALINVESTIGATIONS 9 Grieve, D. FlatheadA,: Coalfield ............................... 685 10 Grieve, D. A,: Elk Valley Coalfield .............................. 71 11 Church, 6. N.: Further Studies ofthe HatCreek Coal Deposit ............. 73 !i TABLE OF CONTENTS-Continued Page COAL INVESTIGATIONS-Continued 12 Karst, R. H.: Correlation of the LowerCretaceous Stratigraphy of Northeas- tern British Columbia from Foothills to Plains ............. 79 13 White, G. V.: CoreStorage in Northeastern British Columbia ............. 91 APPLIED GEOLOGY 14 Grove, E. W. SummaryStatement ........... 93 MINERAL PROPERTY EXAMINATIONS SOUTHEAST BRITISHCOLUMBIA 15 Grieve, D. A.: DiatremeBreccias in the SouthernRocky Mountains. ........ 97 16 Grieve, D. A. and Hay, T.: Lead-Zinc Showings in Carbonate Rocks, Southern Rocky Moun- tains ......................................... 105 CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA 17 White,G.P.E.: Further Potential Carbonatite Localities ................. 111 18 Grove,E. W.: Villalta Property,. ............................... 113 19 White, G.P.E.: A TennantiteOccurrence, McGillivray Creek, LyttonILillooet Area ......................................... 115 20 Grove, E. W.: PoisonMountain Prospect .......................... 117 WEST-CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST BRITISHCOLUMBIA 21 Schroeter,T. G.: CapoosePrecious and Base Metal Prospect. ............... 121 22 Schroeterf T. G.: ToodoggoneRiver ............................... 124 OTHER INVESTIGATIONS 23 Bustin, R. M.: PreliminaryInvestigations as to the Effects of Shear on coal Quality in Southeastern British Columbia ................ 133 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS-Continued OTHER INVESTIGATIONS-Continued 24 Matysek, P., Fletcher, W. K., Sinclair, A. J., and Bentzen, A,: APreliminary Evaluation of Categorical Field Observarions for Regional Stream Sediment Samples .................... 14.9 25 Schiarizza, P.: ClearwaterArea ............... 159 26 Ditson, G. M. and Sinclair, A. J.: AQuantitative Approach to RegionalMetallogeny in theVan- couver-Hope Map-Areas ............................ 1 fi5 27 Sinclair, A. J. and Godwin, C. I.: Interpretation of LeadIsotope Data, Southern Coast Mountains 179 28 Godwin, C. I. and Sinclair, A. J.: Preliminary Interpretations of Lead Isotopes in Galena-Lead from Shale-Hosted Deposits in British Columbia and Yukon 'Territory 185 29 Chase, R. L.. Grill, E. V., and Murray, J. W.: Pacific Ocean Minerals Project: Progress Report. ........... 195 30 Kun, S., Champigny, N., and Sinclair, A. J.: Genetic Implications ofFluid InclusionStudies, Cinola Gold Deposit, Queen Charlotte Islands ...................... 197 31 Galley, A. G.: Stratigraphyand Precious-Metal Occurrences of theBig Missouri Claim Group, Stewart Area. ......................... 2111 32 Bristow. J., Carter, N. C., and Johnson, W. M.: RegionalGeochemical Survey, Ouesnel Lake and Ouesnel Map- Areas ........................................ 21 1 7 PROJECTGEOLOGY METALLIC INVESTIGATIONS SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA GEOLOGY OF THE MOYIELAKE AREA, PURCELL MOUNTAINS, SOUTHEASTERN BRITISHCOLUMBIA (826) By T. Hoy and L. Diakow INTRODUCTION Geological mapping of the Movie Lake area in the southern Purcell Mountains south of Cranbrook was initiated in the 1979 field seasonand continued in June and July 1980. The area is undwlain by Purcell Supergroup rocks of Helikian to Hadrynian age and includes the Midway (MI 82G/SE-128*) and the St. Eugene (MI 82GISW-25) minesand numerous small silver-lead-zincvein occurrences. The project is a continuation of a regional study of the Purcell Supergroup in southeastern British Columbia. Two recently published preliminary maps with reports (My, 1979 and McMechan, 1979) describe the structure, strati- graphy, and depositional environment of Purcell rocks on the east side of the Rocky Mountain Trench. Results of the 1979-1980 field mapping of the Movie Lake area will be released shortly, also in the form of a preliminary map. Previous reconnaissance mapping by Schofield (19151 and Leech (1960) included virtually all the Movie Lake area; the map by Leech provided an excellent base for the more detailed mapping of this study. The mapping concentrated on stratigraphy of the Aldridge Formation, location of the LowerIMiddle Aldridge contact, the controls of vein mineralization, and the relationship of the Movie fault to Precambrian and younger tectonics. Discussions with a number of persons. including John Hamilton, Ian McCartney, and Dave Pighin of Corn- inco Ltd., John Reesor of the Geological Survey of Canada, and Les Tihor and John Wilson of Falconbridge Nickel Mines Limited are gratefully acknowledged. Peter Mustard, Jack Hamilton, and Tom Mueller pro- vided cheerful and able field assistance. STRATIGRAPHY The oldest rocks in the maparea, the Aldridge Formation, are exposed on both sides of the Moyie fault in thewestern part of the area (Fig. 2). TheLower Aldridge comprises rusty weatheringsiltstone and quartzite, with some interbeds of silty argillite. Well-bedded. grey, graded quartzite layers similar to Middls Aldridge turbidite bedsare common near the top of the Lower Aldridge. hence the contact between th'e 9 *MI 82G/SE-128 refers to the mineral deposit inventory classification numberfor this deposit. 10 no.. w a- 5 .... 11 Lower and Middle Aldridge is somewhat gradational. The boundary chosen indicates the level. where grey quartzite beds begin to predominate over the rusty weathering, irregular bedded siltstone. A complete and continuous Middle Aldridge section is not exposed in the map-area. Approximately 1 500 metres of the lower part of the Middle Aldridge is exposed just north of the Moyie fault (Fig. 2). It comprises thick grey quartz wackebeds with interlayered laminated siltstone layers, intruded by a number of regionally extensivemetagabbro sills. In general, quartz wacke beds become thinner, less pure,and volumetrically less important upward in the Middle Aldridge section. The upper part of the Middle Aldridge comprises a number of distinct cycles of massive,grey quartzite wacke beds at the base that grade upward into an interlayered sequence of quartzite, argillite, and siltstone, cappedby siltstone and argillite. The contact with theUpper Aldridge is placedabove the last bed of massive grey quartzite. A number of the diorite sills havebeen discovered to be reliable markers in the thick Middle Aldridge section, They allow correlation of Middle Aldridge stratigraphy across faults, and will permit a composite thickness estimate for the Middle Aldridge. Locally the 'sills' cut across stratigraphy and provided zones of weakness which localized late fault movements. A prominent sill, approximately 1 200 metres above the LowerIMiddle Aldridge contact, thickens dramatically as it approaches the Moyie fault in the northwestern part of the map-area just