Geology of the Portage Pass Area, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Portage Pass Area, Alaska

Abstract: The Portage Pass area is in south-central Alaska, and includes part of the narrow neck of land that joins the Kenai Peninsula with the mainland to the north. This region is in general mountainous, elevations ranging from sea level to more than 4,000 feet on the peaks bordering the area. Several glaciers, all of which are apparently receding, extend into the area. Vegetation, chiefly alder and cottonwood on the valley lowlands and some spruce and hemlock on the lower slopes, extends to an elevation of about 1,000 feet, above which the slopes are bare except for occasional clumps of brush. The bedrock of the entire area is slate, argillite, and graywacke, apparently part of the same great series that extends from the Kenai Peninsula into the Prince William Sound region and is at least in part of Cretaceous age. The only igneous rocks recognized in the area are a few acidic dikes and a small diabase dike. Small, irregular quartz veinlets are widespread. The structure is not only complex but, owing to extensive metamorphism, is in many places obscure. A general northeast strike and steep to vertical dips of both bedding and cleavage planes are the rule, but there …
Date: 1943
Creator: Barnes, Farrell F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology and Coal Resources of the Homer District, Kenai Coal Field, Alaska (open access)

Geology and Coal Resources of the Homer District, Kenai Coal Field, Alaska

From abstract: The Homer district of the Kenai coal field is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, in south-central Alaska. It covers an area of about 1,100 square miles on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, between Tustumena Lake and Kachemak Bay. The principal settlement is Homer, at the southern end of the district, which is connected by the gravel-surfaced Sterling Highway with the Alaska highway system and The Alaska Railroad, and is also served by ocean transportation and one airline.
Date: 1959
Creator: Barnes, Farrell F. & Cobb, Edward H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology and Coal Resources of the Little Susitna District, Matanuska Coal Field, Alaska (open access)

Geology and Coal Resources of the Little Susitna District, Matanuska Coal Field, Alaska

From introduction: This report is based on preliminary surface mapping in the summer of 1952 and on subsurface exploration with a bulldozer powerauger unit in the summers of 1953 and 1954. In 1952 F. F. Barnes was assisted by Alfred Oestreich, geologist, and Lewis Ladwig and Richard Pack, field assistants. From July 2 to August 31, 1953, F. F. Barnes and Daniel Sokol were assisted by W.T. Ashlock and R. E. Rowland, field assistants, and by a bulldozer operator-mechanic. From June 23 to July 27, 1954, Barnes and Sokol were assisted by A. E. Burford and W. S. Hopkins, geologists, and an operator-mechanic.
Date: 1959
Creator: Barnes, Farrell F. & Sokol, Daniel
System: The UNT Digital Library
Kodiak and Vicinity Alaska (open access)

Kodiak and Vicinity Alaska

From abstract: Kodiak Island, although the site of the earliest white settlement in Alaska and the center of a vigorous fishing industry, is still largely unexplored, except for a strip immediately adjacent to the shores. The heavy growth of vegetation makes access to the interior of the island difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast. Mining activity in the past has been confined to somewhat desultory exploitation of beach sands, which in places carry gold, though some gold-bearing lodes have been staked, and a few unsuccessful attempts at lode mining have been made.
Date: 1937
Creator: Capps, Stephen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Notes on the Geology of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands (open access)

Notes on the Geology of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands

Abstract: During the spring of 1932 an opportunity was offered by the United States Navy for a geologist to accompany an expedition organized to make a reconnaissance of the western part of Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. This expedition visited several localities the geology of which was little known. It was found, as had already been expected, that the islands west of Unimak Pass are composed mainly of basic volcanic lavas and fragmental materials, into which have later been injected dikes, sills, and considerable masses of intrusive rocks, some of which are of acidic types and of granitic texture. These westward islands are bordered both to the north and south by depressions 2,000 fathoms or more in depth, and the islands have apparently been built up from that depth by the ejection and extrusion of volcanic materials since early Tertiary time. No rocks of proved pre-Tertiary age were seen, and the only sedimentary materials present may well have been derived from the erosion of the volcanic islands after they were built up above sea level. On the Alaska Peninsula pre-Tertiary sediments through which the volcanic materials broke to the surface are abundantly present. There is evidence that all the …
Date: 1934
Creator: Capps, Stephen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Willow Creek-Kashwitna District, Alaska (open access)

The Willow Creek-Kashwitna District, Alaska

From introduction: The district described in this report is a triangular area covering about 300 square miles in the southwestern part of the Talkeetna Mountains. The Kashwitna River forms the northern boundary, the Susitna Valley flats the western, and the Willow Creek gold district, which is in the extreme southwestern part of the Talkeetna Mountains, the southern. As the area examined is not a distinct geographic unit, its boundaries being arbitrarily chosen and set only by the limitation of time spent in the field, a description of its geography applies to practically the entire western and southern portions of the Talkeetna Mountains, of which it is a part.
Date: 1935
Creator: Capps, Stephen R. & Tuck, Ralph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Kodiak and Adjacent Islands, Alaska (open access)

Kodiak and Adjacent Islands, Alaska

From abstract: The Kodiak group of islands, having an area of 4,900 square miles, lie on the Pacific Ocean side of the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Although the town of Kodiak is the oldest continuously occupied white settlement in Alaska, the interior of many of the islands is still little explored and unmapped, for the heavy growth of vegetation makes inland travel difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast.
Date: 1937
Creator: Capps, Stephen Reid
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Craig Quadrangle, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Craig Quadrangle, Alaska

From abstract: The Craig quadrangle, in southeastern Alaska, lies entirely within the Tongass National Forest and includes a large part of Prince of Wales Island, the largest island of the Alexander Archipelago. Sedimentary, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age are exposed as complexly folded and faulted sequences. Paleozoic rocks occupy a broad geanticlinal area comprising Prince of Wales Island and the islands to the west. Metamorphosed Mesozoic rocks form a geosynclinal area along and east of Clarence Strait. Granitic and dioritic stocks and masses, mainly of Mesozoic age, intrude the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. Remnants of volcanic rocks of Tertiary age exist on Suemez Island, and scattered areas of Tertiary clastic rocks and volcanic rocks are exposed near Clarence Strait. Deposits of Quaternary age are mainly thin glacial deposits and narrow bands of stream alluvium.
Date: 1961
Creator: Condon, W. H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gypsiferous Deposits on Sheep Mountain, Alaska (open access)

Gypsiferous Deposits on Sheep Mountain, Alaska

From abstract: Gypsum-bearing rocks crop out in Gypsum and Yellow Jacket Gulches, on Sheep Mountain, which is about 90 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska. The gypsiferous rock occurs in deposits of irregular shape in the greenstone. Both the gypsiferous rock and the greenstone are hydrothermal alteration products of the volcanic rocks of Jurassic age which comprise the bulk of the mountain. Near-surface samples of the gypsiferous rock contained an average of 25 to 30 percent gypsum ; some contained as much as 50 percent. Quartz, alunite, clay, sericite, and pyrite are contaminating constituents of the ore. Six of the largest and most accessible of the gypsum deposits were mapped and calculations show that three of the deposits contain an aggregate of approximately 311,000 short tons of indicated gypsiferous rock and four of the deposits contain 348,000 short tons of inferred gypsiferous rock.
Date: 1951
Creator: Eckhart, Richard A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gypsum Deposits near Iyoukeen Cove, Chicagof Island, Southeastern Alaska (open access)

Gypsum Deposits near Iyoukeen Cove, Chicagof Island, Southeastern Alaska

From abstract: Two deposits of high-grade gypsum are located near tidewater at Iyoukeen Cove, on the northeastern part of Chichagof Island, southeastern Alaska. A group of claims, formerly operated by the Pacific Coast Gypsum Co., was acquired by the Kaiser Gypsum Division of Kaiser Industries, Inc., during World War II. Claims at the other deposit are held by Dave Housel of Juneau and Seattle, Washington, in the name of the Gypsum-Camel group.
Date: 1953
Creator: Flint, G. M., Jr. & Cobb, E. H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reconnaissance for Radioactive Deposits in Southeastern Alaska, 1952 (open access)

Reconnaissance for Radioactive Deposits in Southeastern Alaska, 1952

From abstract: Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in southeastern Alaska in 1952 was centered in three localities: the northern part of Prince of Wales Island and parts of adjacent islands, the Taku Harbor-Point Astley district, and the Hyder area. Significant concentrations of radioactive minerals were found only in the vicinity of Salmon Bay on the northeastern shore of Prince of Wales Island. In this area radioactive carbonate-hematite veins occur along the coast for about 8 miles. The veins are generally short, irregular, and lenticular, but a few can be traced for more than 300 feet between the low-tide line and the forest cover. The width of the veins normally ranges from less than 1 inch to 2.5 feet; several, however, are 5 to 10 feet wide.
Date: 1958
Creator: Houston, Joseph R.; Bates, Robert Glenn; Velikanje, Robert S. & Wedow, Helmuth, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Mount Katmai Area, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Mount Katmai Area, Alaska

From abstract: The Mount Katmai area is on the Alaska Peninsula and comprises the Mount Katmai quadrangle, the Cape Douglas area of the adjoining Afognak quadrangle, and parts of the Karluk and Naknek quadrangles. The area, which includes nearly all the Katmai National Monument, is one of high relief and is drained by streams of preglacial origin. At least two ice advances are indicated by the moraine configuration. Present-day glaciation is restricted to numerous alpine glaciers in the mountain areas. Fifteen recently active volcanoes roughly form a line from Mount Douglas to Martin Mountain.
Date: 1959
Creator: Keller, A. Samuel & Reiser, Hillard N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Radioactivity Investigations at Ear Mountain, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1945 (open access)

Radioactivity Investigations at Ear Mountain, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1945

From abstract: Radioactive material in apparently significant amounts was recognized in heavy-mineral concentrates from the gravels of four streams that head in Ear Mountain, Alaska, when collections of the United States Geological Survey were examined for radioactivity in the winter of 1944-45. This area, on the north side of the Seward Peninsula, attracted attention in 1901-02 when cassiterite was discovered in the streams. Subsequent attempts were made to develop copper- and tin-bearing lode deposits.
Date: 1955
Creator: Killeen, P. L. & Ordway, Richard J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the North Bradfield River Iron Prospect, Southeastern Alaska (open access)

Geology of the North Bradfield River Iron Prospect, Southeastern Alaska

From abstract: The North Bradfield River iron prospect is in southeastern Alaska in rugged terrain about 8 miles southwest of the Canadian boundary and about 15 miles northeast of the head of Bradfield Canal. The prospect includes several magnetite-rich ore bodies of pyrometasomatic origin that are localized in skarn. The skarn forms a small part of a northwestward-trending roof pendant that is enclosed in the composite Coast Range batholith. The dominant rocks of the roof pendant are gneiss, granulite, schist, and marble. The ore, which consists almost entirely of magnetite, contains subordinate amounts of hematite, hydrous iron sesquioxides, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and malachite. The ore bodies are crudely stratiform and apparently discontinuous. The largest ore body exposed is traceable for about 350 feet along its strike and averages about 25 feet in thickness. An accurate appraisal of the economic potential of the prospect was precluded by poor outcrops, local snow cover, and inadequate subsurface data.
Date: 1963
Creator: MacKevett, E. M., Jr. & Blake, M. Clark, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Sumdum Copper-Zinc Prospect, Southeastern Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Sumdum Copper-Zinc Prospect, Southeastern Alaska

From abstract: The Sumdum copper-zinc prospect is in an alpine region on the mainland of southeastern Alaska, about 50 miles southeast of Juneau and about 25 miles west of the Canadian boundary. The ore-bearing outcrops at the prospect were discovered by the Alaska Helicopter Syndicate during the summer of 1958. The prospect is within a few thousand feet of the western margin of the . Coast Range batholith in regionally metamorphosed rocks that locally -have -been contact: metamorphosed. Most of the known ore deposits are -in the intermediate unit of three metamorphic-rock units that were mapped.
Date: 1964
Creator: MacKevett, E. M., Jr. & Blake, M. Clark, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Kaiyuh Hills, Alaska (open access)

The Kaiyuh Hills, Alaska

From introduction: The present report states the results of an exploratory survey of the Kaiyuh Hills during the summer of 1934.
Date: 1937
Creator: Mertie, John Beaver, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tertiary Deposits of the Eagle-Circle District, Alaska (open access)

Tertiary Deposits of the Eagle-Circle District, Alaska

From introduction: The present report aims to supply additional information regarding the Tertiary deposits, which are the source of most of the gold placers now being worked in that part of the Eagle-Circle district lying south of the Yukon River. The work was conducted from base camps along the river, but the belt of Tertiary rocks is at places as much as 20 miles from the Yukon, so that it is not easily accessible from the river except in the vicinity of mining camps, where roads or trails have been constructed southward.
Date: 1942
Creator: Mertie, John Beaver, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Gerstle River District, Alaska, with a Report on the Black Rapids Glacier (open access)

Geology of the Gerstle River District, Alaska, with a Report on the Black Rapids Glacier

From abstract: The area here described includes most of the north side of the Alaska Range between the Delta and Johnson Rivers, in one direction, and the axis of the Alaska Range and the Tanana River in the other. Besides the Delta River, its principal streams are Jarvis Creek, the Gerstle and Little Gerstle Rivers, and, at the extreme east, the Johnson River, all of which have glacial sources.
Date: 1942
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Prince William Sound Region, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Prince William Sound Region, Alaska

From introduction: This paper describes the geology of the Prince William Sound region, a part of south-central Alaska. It deals with the rocks of a section of the Coast Ranges that has been studied by various geologists over a period of many years and still offers basic problems that are unsolved. Prince William Sound is well known for its mining activities, but the intention here is to describe the areal and stratigraphic geology of the district rather than its mineral resources and to present a statement that will serve as a report of progress and a basis for more detailed field work.
Date: 1954
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Upper Tetling River District Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Upper Tetling River District Alaska

From introduction: This paper describes the geology of a part of the Alaskan Range that lies in the headwater region of the Copper and Tanana Rivers.
Date: 1941
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Upper Copper and Tanana Rivers, Alaska (open access)

Upper Copper and Tanana Rivers, Alaska

From introduction: Two field parties, one topographic, the other geologic, were engaged in making surveys in the section of the Alaska Range between the Nabesna and Big Tok Rivers in 1934. Most of the area surveyed was on the northeast side of the range, within a drainage area that is tributary to the Nabesna and Tanana Rivers, but it also included a small part of the Copper River Basin.
Date: 1934
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Mount McKinley Quadrangle, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Mount McKinley Quadrangle, Alaska

From abstract: The Mount McKinley quadrangle, in south-central Alaska, includes parts of the Alaska Range, the Tanana and Kuskokwim lowlands, and the Kuskokwim Mountains. Schists of Precambrian age crop out in the northern foothills of the Alaska Range. Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age are exposed in the Kuskokwim Mountains, where little is known of their distribution and character, and in the Alaska Range, where they occupy the axial part and northern limb of a great synclinorium. Granitic batholiths, largely of Mesozoic age, intrude the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks in the Alaska Range.
Date: 1961
Creator: Reed, John Calvin, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology and Ore Deposits in the Reid Inlet Area Glacier Bay, Alaska (open access)

Geology and Ore Deposits in the Reid Inlet Area Glacier Bay, Alaska

From abstract: A gold-bearing area of about 7% square miles near the head of Glacier Bay between Reid and Lamplugh Glaciers was first discovered by Mr. Joseph Ibach in 1924. The dominant rock type in the area is granodiorite, which is intruded into bedded rocks that may be of Paleozoic age. The bedded rocks consist of conglomerate, limestone, and black graphitic schist. A light-colored quartz diorite younger than the granodiorite crops out south of the mapped area.
Date: 1959
Creator: Rossman, Darwin Lucian
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology and Ore Deposits of Northwestern Chichagof Island, Alaska (open access)

Geology and Ore Deposits of Northwestern Chichagof Island, Alaska

From introduction: The area of this report is in the northern part of southeastern Alaska (fig. 39). It includes about 400 square miles on northwestern Chichagof Island, latitude 5747' to 58*15' N. and longitude 135 57' to 136 35' W. It is covered by U. S. Geological Survey Mount Fairweather A-1, A-2, and Sitka D--7 and D-8 topographic quadrangle maps. The writer's geologic investigation was started in 1946 as a continuation of earlier work on the west coast of Chichagof Island by J. C. Reed and R. R. Coats (1941) of the U. S. Geological Survey.
Date: 1959
Creator: Rossman, Darwin Lucian
System: The UNT Digital Library