Geochemical survey of the Ramseys Draft Addition, Augusta and Highland counties, Virginia

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) made a reconnaissance geochemical survey of the Ramseys Draft Addition (fig.1) to test for indistinct or unexposed mineral deposits that might be recognized by their geochemical halos.  Thirty-three stream-sediment, two soil, and 22 rock samples were collected from the addition during the earlier study of Ramseys Draft Wilderness Study Area (Lesure and others, 1977).  The author, assisted by James D. Bliss, April 1979, and Andrew E. Grosz, October 1979, collected 57 stream-sediment, 143 soil, and 22 rock samples in and near the addition to complete the sampling pattern.  The earlier studies of Ramseys Draft outlined a low-grade stratabound copper deposit in greenish-gray sandstone of the Hampshire Formation of Late Devonian age (Lesure and Motooka, 1980), and the sampling in the addition was designed to check for more such deposits.