Mineral Resources of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1745-A '?Z2& ?«s««nr*^8«»»*.«. **' Xr-" /-*^~ .AT'",..-<" ^j£ ^ : -^ / C- '^-ST" *V -fr, sw^^^a^f^^^i^^^p^ -t-^---*-"~tJ--*~4?/ ' * - "_ *; ; ..t.^-5v.r- _^^,.,i ***** .-..-' ' u ->;-; ^,^' , «^--*~^. 4i^^T^^*!*<ig|^»^^ vg* ^a-/- '" ' *&&'' * ' **^^^.^yl*^'^ -*^r- V,-**^, * '_. 11^^^-- *^^ ^--^^' V*-w f^fe^^f-'- *y,-f' ^,>',;- ^..f-Sr-^v^-^'* ' H"?'^ " ' ^^**^, "«ir."'^- ^P^f^J^g^-" '»- ' . "" - £\^ -. f - - AL_ '. :-.«.- ' Ht*^. -« . -v«r- -v' -*:> < , »*« ,-{'/& - <SSv,. t *, & i-.-^i-"--;' ~*l*>if£^ Chapter A Mineral Resources of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah By DAVID A. LINDSEY, DAVID R. ZIMBELMAN, DAVID L CAMPBELL, ROBERT J. BISDORF, JOSEPH S. DUVAL, KENNETH L. COOK, MELVIN H. PODWYSOCKI, DAVID W. BRICKEY, and ROBERT A. YAMBRICK U.S. Geological Survey STANLEY L KORZEB U.S. Bureau of Mines U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1745 MINERAL RESOURCES OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS NORTHWESTERN UTAH DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DONALD PAUL MODEL, Secretary U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L Peck, Director Any use 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. 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 resources of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah (Mineral resources of wilderness study areas northwestern Utah ; ch. A) (U.S. Geological Survey bulletin ; 1745-A) (Studies related to wilderness) Bibliography: p. Supt. of Docs, no.: I 19.3:1745-A 1. Mines and mineral resources Utah Fish Springs Range Wilderness. 2. Fish Springs Range Wilderness (Utah) I. Lindsey, David A. II. Series. III. Series: U.S. Geological Survey bulletin ; 1745-A. IV. Series: Studies related to wilderness. QE75.B9 no. 1745-A 557.3 S [5531.09792'44] 88-600422 [TN24.U8] 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 on 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 Fish Springs Range (UT-050-127) Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah. CONTENTS Abstract Al Summary Al Introduction A4 Investigations by the U.S Bureau of Mines A4 Investigations by the U.S. Geological Survey A4 Appraisal of identified resources AS Mining history A5 Results of field investigation AS Recommendations AS Assessment of potential for undiscovered resources A7 Geology A7 Geologic setting and structure A7 Description of rocks A7 Geochemistry A7 Methods A7 Results of study A8 Geophysics A9 Gravity A9 Aeromagnetics All Aeroradiometrics A14 Geoelectric soundings A14 Remote sensing A14 Mineral and energy resource potential A15 Lead, zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver, and gold A15 High-purity limestone and dolomite A16 Geothermal energy A16 Oil and gas A16 Recommendations for further study A17 References cited A17 Appendix A19 PLATE [Plate is in pocket] 1. Map showing identified resources, mineral resource potential, geology, Landsat anomalies, and geochemical sample localities in the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area FIGURES 1-6. Maps of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area and vicinity, Utah: 1. Location A2 2. Identified resources and mineral resource potential A3 3. Mines, prospects, and mining claims A6 4. Heavy-mineral-concentrate sample sites and elements detected in anomalous amounts A9 5. Complete Bouguer gravity anomaly A12 Contents 6. Aeromagnetic anomaly A13 TABLES 1. Anomalous concentrations of selected elements in nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates of stream-sediment samples, Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Utah A8 2. Anomalous concentrations of selected elements in rock samples, Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Utah A10 3. Anomalous areas determined from Landsat Thematic Mapper data for the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Utah A15 VI Contents MINERAL RESOURCES OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS-NORTHWESTERN UTAH Mineral Resources of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah By David A. Lindsey, David R. Zimbelman, David L Campbell, Robert J. Bisdorf, Joseph S. Duval, Kenneth L. Cook,1 Melvin H. Podwysocki, David W. Brickey, and Robert A. Yambrick U.S. Geological Survey Stanley L. Korzeb U.S. Bureau of Mines ABSTRACT limestone. Coalescing alluvial fans extend from the foot of the range to the floor of Fish Springs Flat (elevation 4,300 ft) to The Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area the east and Snake Valley (elevation about 5,000 ft) to the (UT-050-127) includes most of the Fish Springs Range and west. is located north of the House Range, about 50 miles The Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area northwest of the city of Delta, Utah. A mineral resource study contains mostly Cambrian through Devonian (see geologic of the 33,840-acre area was completed in 1987 by the U.S. time chart in Appendix) sedimentary rocks. These are tilted Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines. The north­ west by the major range-bounding normal fault that extends western and southeastern parts of the wilderness study area along the east side of the range. No comparable fault is contain inferred subeconomic resources of high-purity exposed on the west side of the range. Low-angle faults quartzite. No metallic mineral resources were identified in the inferred from a deep seismic profile across the House Range study area, but more than 17 million pounds of lead, 2.6 to the south probably project northward into the Fish Springs million ounces of silver, and minor copper, zinc, and gold Range, undercutting the entire section of Paleozoic rocks have been produced from the Fish Springs mining district, and perhaps a thick section of Precambrian rocks in the which is immediately outside the northwest boundary of the subsurface. The faults are interpreted tentatively as having wilderness study area. The potential for undiscovered moved as thrusts during the Mesozoic Sevier orogeny and as deposits of these metals and molybdenum is high near the extensional detachments during Cenozoic basin-range northern end of the study area, adjacent to the mining district, faulting. The low-angle faults and the rocks overlying them moderate near the southern end, and low in the remainder of form a gentle arch beneath the range. the area. The resource potential for undiscovered deposits of The thick section of sedimentary rocks exposed in the high-purity limestone and dolomite is moderate throughout Fish Springs Range begins in Middle Cambrian carbonate the study area except where quartzite is present; potential for rocks. These rocks are underlain by more than 2,000 ft of undiscovered low-temperature geothermal resources and for Lower and Middle Cambrian quartzite and shale, exposed in oil and gas is low throughout the study area. the House Range to the south. In the Fish Springs Range, the Middle Cambrian carbonate rocks pass up into Upper Cam­ SUMMARY brian and Ordovician carbonate rocks and into a 250-ft-thick The Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area is interval of pure quartzite, also of Ordovician age. The accessible by foot from dirt roads and jeep trails along the quartzite is in turn overlain by Ordovician, Silurian, and east and west sides of the Fish Springs Range (fig. 1). These Devonian carbonate rocks and shale. Small plugs and dikes roads connect to the gravel Pony Express and Sand Pass of Tertiary igneous rock intrude carbonate rocks in the Roads north and south of the range, respectively. Within the northern part of the study area and in the Fish Springs mining wilderness study area, most of the crest of the Fish Springs district. Range is about 7,000-8,000 ft (feet) in elevation. Sparse Geophysical surveys and drilling show that a concealed pinon and juniper grow on steep slopes between cliffs of igneous intrusion underlies the Fish Springs mining district; presumably, this intrusion was responsible for the alteration of rocks and the formation of mineral deposits in the district. The surveys reveal a second concealed intrusion near Sand Manuscript approved for publication September 9, 1988. Pass, south of the study area, which was probably respon­ University of Utah. sible for alteration and mineralization of rocks in the northern Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area A1 40° 113°30' 113°00' 112°30' 00' GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT FISH SPRINGS Dugway Proving Ground NWR BLACK ROCK HILLS THE HONEYCOMBS X SEVIER DESERT BASIN APPROXIMATE BOUNDARY OF FISH SPRINGS RANGE 39° WILDERNESS STUDY AREA 30' 39° 00' 10 15 20 MILES I I Figure 1. Location of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study Area, Juab County, Utah. House Range. The occurrence of a broad aeromagnetic Eureka and Watson Ranch Quartzites, in the northwestern anomaly over the southern third of the wilderness study area and southeastern parts of the study area (fig. 2). suggests a third intrusion, which is more deeply buried than The potential for undiscovered resources of lead, zinc, the others and did not produce altered or mineralized rock at copper, molybdenum, silver, and gold is high at the northern the present surface. end of the study area and moderate at the southern end (fig. 2). Both areas of potential are peripheral to igneous The Fish Springs mining district, adjacent to the north­ intrusions and mineralized rocks and are cut by numerous ern boundary of the Fish Springs Range Wilderness Study faults and fractures, which may have served as conduits for Area, produced 20,303 short tons of ore yielding 17,292,796 mineralizing fluids.