Mineral Resource Potential of .Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado
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Mineral Resource Potential of .Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1636. ~ COLORADO Mineral Resource Potential of Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado By R.E. VAN LOENEN, G.K. LEE, and D.L. CAMPBELL U.S. Geological Survey JOHN R. THOMPSON U.S. Bureau of Mines U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1636 STUDIES RELATED TO WILDERNESS DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, JR., Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1989 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 resource potential of Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado I by R.E. Van Loenen ... [et al.]. p. em. - (U.S. Geological Survey bulletin ; 1636) (Studies related to wilderness) Bibliography: p. Supt. of Docs. no.: I 19.3: 1636 1. Mines and mineral resources-Colorado-Mount Massive Wilderness. 2. Mount Massive Wilderness (Colo.) I. Van Loenen, Richard E. II. Series. Ill. Series: Studies related to wilderness-wilderness areas. QE75.89 no. 1636 [TN24.C6] 557.3 s-dc20 89-600206 [553'.09788'46] CIP STUDIES RELATED TO WILDERNESS Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964) and related acts, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System. The act provided that areas under consideration for wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. The act directs that the results of each survey are to be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the Congress. This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of the Mount Massive Wilderness, San Isabel National Forest, Lake County, Colorado. The area was established as a wilderness by Public law 96-560, known as the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980. CONTENTS Summary 1 Abstract 1 Character and setting 1 Identified resources 3 Potential for undiscovered resources 3 Introduction 4 Previous studies 5 Present investigation 5 Acknowledgments 5 Appraisal of identified resources 5 Mining history 5 Mineralized areas 6 Conclusions 6 Assessment of potential for undiscovered resources 6 Geologic setting 6 Early proterozoic gneiss 7 Middle proterozoic granites 7 Late Cretaceous and Tertiary igneous rocks 7 Structural geology 10 Geophysics 11 Geochemistry 13 Sampling and analytical methods 13 Discussion 13 Mineralization and intrusive centers 14 Mineral and energy resource assessment 15 Epithermal veins 15 Stockwork molybdenum deposits in plutonic rocks 16 Placer deposits 17 Precambrian pegmatites 17 Precambrian stratabound deposits 17 Energy resources 17 References cited 17 Appendix 19 PLATES [Plates are in pocket] 1. Identified resources and mineral resource potential of the Mount Massive Wilderness 2. Complete Bouguer gravity and aeromagnetic maps of the Mount Massive Wilderness FIGURES 1. Map showing identified resources, mineral resource potential, and location of Mount Massive Wilderness 2 Contents V 2. Map showing correlation between complete Bouguer gravity low and the Colorado mineral belt 11 3. Graphs of magnetic susceptibilities of samples collected in and near the Mount Massive Wilderness 12 TABLES 1. Mines, prospects, and areas containing several mines in and near the Mount Massive Wilderness 8 2. Potassium-argon analyses and ages for Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary igneous rocks from Mount Massive Wilderness 10 VI Contents Mineral Resource Potential of Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado By R.E. Van Loenen, G.K. Lee, and D.L. Campbell U.S. Geological Survey, and John R. Thompson U.S. Bureau of Mines SUMMARY by cirques, the valleys are U-shaped, and the lower slopes are extensively mantled by glacial debris. Abstract Access into the wilderness is provided by many well maintained and clearly marked hiking trails. The trailheads The mineral resource potential of the Mount Massive can be reached by U.S. Forest Service roads. Road 105 Wilderness in Lake County, Colo., was evaluated in 1983-85. accesses the northern part of the wilderness, and Road 110 The wilderness consists of about 26,140 acres (40 square follows the southern boundary (fig. 1). State Highway 82, miles) of high, mountainous, rugged terrain along the eastern side of the Continental Divide in the northern part of the San which crosses Independence Pass, provides access to the Isabel National Forest. No mineral resources were identified southwestern part. Spectacular scenery, many lakes, and within the wilderness, although resources were identified in abundant wildlife make the wilderness a popular summer adjacent mining districts on the south and northeast. A recreational area. Some of the trails are marked for use moderate mineral resource potential for stockwork deposits during the winter months by cross-country skiers. of molybdenum was assigned to a small area in the northeast Precambrian crystalline rocks are exposed throughout part of the wilderness. The southwest part of the wilderness the Mount Massive Wilderness. These basement rocks were has a high mineral resource potential for gold, silver, lead, elevated during a period of mountain building known as the and zinc in small deposits in veins, and a small part of this Laramide orogeny, which began in this region about 72 Ma area along Halfmoon Creek has a moderate potential for (millions of years ago) with the arching of the Sawatch Range molybdenum associated with the Halfmoon Creek stock. anticline, a very large structure that extends many tens of miles to the north and south. Younger sedimentary rocks that Character and Setting overlay the crystalline rocks before the arching began have been eroded from this area; remnants of them are exposed The Mount Massive Wilderness is in the Sawatch on the west flank of the anticline near Aspen, some 15 mi Range of central Colorado, about 100 air miles west of west of the wilderness, and in the Mosquito Range (fig. 1), Denver and 7 mi (miles) west of Leadville, Colo. (fig. 1). It is which was originally the east flank of the Sawatch Range. bounded on the west for 14 mi by the Continental Divide and The east flank was broken in the Miocene, about 25 Ma, on the east by the Arkansas River valley. The wilderness was when a long, narrow block was dropped between north named after Mount Massive (elevation 14,421 feet), the trending faults to form the Arkansas valley graben, the second highest peak in Colorado. Mount Massive is near the northernmost graben of the Rio Grande rift system. The center of the wilderness. Many peaks in the wilderness rise graben became the upper Arkansas River valley, which now above 13,000 ft (feet); some are 4,000-5,000 ft above the separates the Sawatch Range from the Mosquito Range. floor of the adjacent Arkansas River valley. The terrain shows Block faulting has continued along the edges of the graben; evidence of past glacial activity: most peaks are surrounded small fault movements in the last 10,000 years have broken glacial deposits at the eastern front of the Sawatch Range. Modifications of this terrain by glacial and fluvial activity account for the physiography of the wilderness as seen Manuscript approved for publication May 10, 1989. today. Summary L/ C HUNTER-FRYINGPAN L/ D WILDERNESS .A. MOUNT MASSIVE 2 MOUNT MASSIVE 5 0 WILDERNESS (/) 10 ' 0 ~ • COLORADO 10 MILES 10 KILOMETERS EXPLANATION Mine or mining district having an identified resource of gold and ~ Geologic terrane having low mineral resource potential, at silver ~ certainty level C, for vein deposits of gold, silver, lead, and Geologic terrane having high mineral resource potential for zinc; placer gold deposits; pegmatite minerals (feldspar, small vein deposits of gold, silver, lead, and zinc, at mica, and gem minerals); and stratabound copper and zinc certainty level C deposits-For vein deposits, applies only outside the area of high potential defined above. For all others, applies to entire - Geologic terrane having moderate mineral resource potential study area for stockwork molybdenum deposits in igneous rocks, at certainty level C- Applies only to a small area near the B Geologic terrane having low energy resource potential for oil Halfmoon Creek stock, within the area of high potential for and gas and for geothermal sources, at certainty level D - vein deposits defined above Applies to entire study area Geologic terrane having moderate mineral resource potential Levels of certainty: for stockwork molybdenum deposits in igneous rocks, at B Data indicate geologic environment and suggest the level of certainty level B mineral resource potential C Data indicate geologic environment and give a good indication of the level of mineral resource potential D Data clearly define geologic environment and level of mineral resource potential Figure 1. Identified resources, mineral resource potential, and location of Mount Massive Wilderness, central Colorado. 2 Mineral Resource Potential of Mount Massive Wilderness, Lake County, Colorado The wilderness is underlain almost entirely by meta and grade of the deposit inside the wilderness are unknown. morphic and igneous rocks of Early and Middle Proterozoic At the Champion Mine, about 1 mi south of the wilderness, a age. The geologic history recorded in the region started in small identified gold and silver resource exists in several Early Proterozoic time, before 1,800 Ma, when sedimentary dumps and stockpiles, and a larger, but unknown, resource and volcanic rocks were deposited. About 1,700 Ma, may also exist underground.