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Reconnaissance geologic map of the Solomon D-6 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska

January 1, 1972

The Solomon D-6 15- by 30-minute quadrangle lies 20 miles northeast of Nome, Alaska, and adjoins on the east the Nome D-l quadrangle mapped by Hummel (1962b) and on the west the Solomon D-5 quadrangle mapped by Smith (1910).

Placer gold has been produced from Iron Creek and many of its tributaries, and a small amount of copper was shipped from the Wheeler mine. Many lode prospects contain small amounts of copper in silicified limestone within and near the base of thrust plates of carbonate rocks. Other lodes consist of well-defined veins containing gold and base-metal sulfide minerals, but none has been commercially productive.

Mapped rock units include the "York Slate," of Precambrian age, which consists of a highly deformed and thick sequence of graphitic calcareous siltite, which contains thin limestone beds and intercalated(?) volcaniclastic rocks, and Paleozoic carbonate rocks, which have been converted largely to marble and schistose marble. Along and near the Kigluaik Mountains in the north part of the quadrangle, quartzo-feldspathic gneisses of Precambrian age are intruded by fine-grained granite. A very thick sequence of schistose thin-bedded argillaceous and dolomitic limestone overlies the York Slate and is correlative with a similar rock originally mapped in the York Mountains.

Surficial deposits, consisting principally of moraine and stream-reworked moraine, mantle large parts of the quadrangle.

Publication Year 1972
Title Reconnaissance geologic map of the Solomon D-6 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
DOI 10.3133/ofr72325
Authors C.L. Sainsbury, Travis Hudson, Rodney Ewing, Thomas Richards
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Open-File Report
Series Number 72-325
Index ID ofr72325
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse