GEOLOGY and MINERAL DEPOSITS of the JULIAN DISTRICT, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA * by MAURICE DONNELLY * •
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
JULIAN DISTRICT, SAN DIEGO COUNTY 331 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE JULIAN DISTRICT, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA * By MAURICE DONNELLY * • OUTLINE OF REPORT Page ABSTRACT __ _____ - - --___ ___ ------------- - ___ __ ------ - - - ___ __ __ __ ------- -- 332 IN TRODUCTION __ - ---_ ------ _____________________ -----------____ ____ ____ 334 Location and TopographY- --- -------- - - --- - - -------- --- - ---------------- 334 Climate and Vegetation ____________ --- __ ___ --------____ ___ ___ _______ ____ 335 Field Work and Acknowledgments __ ________________________ _____________ 336 Previous Geologic \Vork ____ - ----------------- ----- ------- ---------- ---- 336 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS -- - - - ----------------- ----- ---- ---------------- 337 Julian Schist -------------------- ---- --------- ------------------------- 337 General Features and Distribution _________________ __ ________________ 337 Constituents of the Formation _____ __ ___ __ ____ ____ ______ __________ ___ 337 Origin of the Julian SchisL--------- ------------------ - ------- ----- 339 Structure of the Julian Schist_ _________ ______ __ __ ___________________ 339 .Age of the Julian Schist_ ___________ ___ ___ ___________ __ ________ ______ 340 Major Igneous Rock Bodies ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ ______ __ __ __ ______ __ __ ____ 340 Stonewall Granodiorite ___________________ ______ ____ ----- ___ ____ __ __ 3 40 Cuyumaca Basic Intrusive ____ _____ ___ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ __ --- ----- 341 Rattlesnake Granite __ ---------------- - ___ ______________ ____________ 342 Dike Rocks ------------------ ----------------------------------------- 342 Aplite - - - --------- - ---- --------- ---------- -------------- - ---- ---- - 342 Pegmatite - - - - - - ------------------------ - - --------- - - -------- ----- - 342 Barren Quartz Veins __ __ ______ __ ---- - - ------------------------ - ---- 342 Dark-Colored Dikes ------------------- - ---- ---------- ------ -------- 343 Age of the Igneous Rocks ___ __ ____________ ______ ________ _________________ 343 Recent Alluvium _______ - - -------_____ _______ ________________ _ - - ----- - - 3 43 ~TRUCTURAL GEOLOGY-FAULTING -------------------- ---- ---------- --- 344 Banner Fault ----------------- --------- --------------- ------------- --- 344 Physiographic Evidence _ -----__ _______________________ ------------- -- 344 Structural Evidence - - - ------ ------------------------ - - ---- -------- 345 Seismic Evidence ------------------- ------------------------------- 345 Minor Faulting __ _____ __ _ - - ---___ ________ -------- ___ - _- ---------- - - --- 345 Landsliding ______ - ---------____ __ ------------------ --- - - - _ -------- - ____ 3 47 PHYSIOGRAPHY __ ------ - - _ ----____ _ - --__ __ ____ - - ---------------_ --------- 3 47 SUMMARY OF GEOLOGIC HISTORY--------- ---- - --- ------------------- --- 348 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY ----- - _____________ - ----------- -------- ------------- 3 48 Gold - ----- -------------- --- ------- - - -------------- - - ----------------- 348 Validity of Information __ -_________ -----_------ --- --___ __ _ - ---- ______ 3 48 History --------- - - -------- - - - ---- --- ------------- ----- - ------ - - - - - 349 Production ---- - ------------------- - - --------------- - ----------- --- 352 General Geologic Feature~ of the Gold Deposits ____ ___________ ________ 353 Gold-bearing Quartz in Granodiorite __ __ __________ ___________________ 353 Gold-bearing Quartz in Julian SchisL------- --- - ---- ---------------- 353 Occurrence and Structure _______________________________________ 355 Mineralogical Character _______________ _____ __ - - ------------------ 359 Ore M inerals --------- ----------- - - --- - -------------------- 359 Gangue Minerals ---------- -------------------------- ------- 361 Supergene Minerals ------------------- ----------- ---------- 362 Age Relations of the },{lnerals _____ _____ __ __ ____ _______ _______ 362 Ore Shoots - ---------- ---------------------------- ----------- - - 363 Probable Persistence of Ore Zone in Depth __ __ ___ ____ ______ ___ ____ 364 Supergene or Secondal'Y Enrichment_ ___ ___ ____ __ __ __ __ __ ________ 365 Value of the Ore __ __ ____________________ __ __ _______ ________ ____ 365 Structural Features of the Vein Openings __ ______ ______ __________ 366 Deposition of the Ores _____________ _____ ___ _________ __ ___ ____ __ _ 367 Post-Mineral Deformation ____________ ---- ------------- _____ __ ___ 36 8 Age of the Deposits __ ____________ __ _______ __________ __ ___ ____ __ 368 • Report submitted as part of a doctor's thesis to the Balch Graduate School of Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology. •• Teaching Fellow in Geology, Balch School of Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology. 332 REP ORT OF STATE l\IINERALOG IST OU TLINE OF R EPORT- Con t inued E CON OMIC G EOLOGY-Contin u ed Gold-Continued Page Water Supply ___________________ _______________ - - ----- ----------- - 3 6 8 Place r D epos rts - -- ----------- -------------------------------------- 369 Pra ctical Conclusion s ----·----------------------------- - - -- ______ __ - 369 Other Miner a l D eposits ------------------- ----------------- - ----------- 3i0 Nicke l, Copper, a nd Iron ____ ______________ __ ________ __ ____ _________ __ 370 Lrthia ------------------------------- - -------- -------------------- 370 Graphite - ------- - ----------- --- ------------------------- ---------- 370 Hot Spring-s ______ _____ ___ ________________ ____ ____ --------- - ------- 3 7 0 AB STRACT The Julian region, in the central part of San Diego County,, Cali fornia, includes the Julian, Banner, several other less important mining districts, and the Stonewall Mine on the Cuyamaca land grant. In addition to being one of the few areas in the Peninsular l~ange of southern and Baja California that have yielded notable amounts of gold, it constitutes geologically a diagnostic part of the range because of the land forms, structures, and rock formations exposed. Discovered in 1870, the Julian and Banner districts produced in the next several years $2,500,000 in gold from oxidized ore, having an average tenor of $50 a ton. This came from narrow veins which were only in a few instances mined below the water-table. The Stonewall Mine, worl~ecl continually from 1870 until shut clown in 1893, produced $2,000,000 from a large orebody extracted to a depth of 600 feet. The Julian and Banner districts had a brief mining revival during the '90s. · The oldest rocks recognized are meta-sedimentary mica schist and quartzite of J uratrias ( ? ) age. These are invaded on a batholithic scale by plutonic rocks that have an average composition of quartz diorite; in the terrane included in this survey, assimilatibn of material from the schist has rendered the batholith predominantly granodioritic. Near the contacts with schist masses, the granodiorite is closely foliated and this structure has probably been inherited from injected and incompletely assimilated schist. A coarse-grained granite intrudes the schist and an irregularly shaped body of fine-grained gabbro intrudes both schist and granodiorite. The granite was injected with consider able vigor; the gabbro was passively emplaced. All of the crystalline rocks have external or internal structures that trend northwest, parallel to the main alignment of the Peninsular Range. The J uratrias ( ?) sediments were initially fine-grained marine shales, argillaceous sandstones, and pure sandstones. During load metamorphism, excellent fissility was developed in the argillaceous members. Regional metamorphism prior to the intrusion of the quartz diorite produced in the sediments a schistosity parallel to the stratifi cation. As a consequence of heat, given off by the invading batholith, a secondary foliation controlled by poorly defined fracture cleavage was produced in parts of the schist. The schist exhibits other contact and thermal metamorphic effects of the intrusion of the granodiorite. The gabbro and granite on the other hand, have had little contact meta morphic effect on the schist or granodiorite. Almost all of the gold-bearing quartz deposits are in schist, and with the exception of the Stonewall Mine occurrence, practically all of the deposits are inclosed wholly or partly in a single body of schist which extends continuously for a distance of twelve miles and has an J U LIAN DISTRICT, SAN DIEGO COUNTY 333 average breadth of a mile. This schistose mass is the eastern limb of a northwest-plunging anticline, in which the schistosity (which coin eic.les with the stratification) strikes northwest and dips steeply north east, except where superficially bent upon east-facing slopes of strong relief. According to their shape, the vein-quartz bodies are classified as lenses, lenticular veins, and rolls. Lenses and lenticular veins are gen erally conformable to the attitude of the schist. The singular struc tures known as rolls are U-shapecl bodies of vein quartz in which the sides of the "U" roughly conform to the schistosity and the curved part cuts across it. The roll structures represent deposition of quartz along directions of least resistance, partly conforming to and partly tran secting the schistosity. The directions of least resistance were devel oped during regional folding and are related to minor or drag-folding with which they are associated. Although the rolls simulate folded veins they have not been formed by the folding of initially tabular veins. The quartz bodies are usually 'frozen' tight to the schist