Mineral resources of the Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area, La Paz, Mohave, and Yavapai counties, Arizona
Year: 1989
Type: report
Abstract: At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, approximately 109,523 acres of the Arrastra Mountain/ Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area (AZ-020-059/068) were evaluated for mineral resources (known) and mineral resource potential (undiscovered).In this report, the area studied is referred to as the "wilderness study area" or simply "the study area"; any reference to the Arrastra Mountain/ Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area refers only to that part of the wilderness study area for which a mineral survey was requested by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1984-1987 to appraise the identified mineral resources and to assess the mineral resource potential of the study area.These studies indicate that small-to moderate-sized identified resources of manganese, uranium, and gold exist inside the study area, adjacent to several important mining districts.Common sand and gravel in the study area are not likely to be developed.In addition, areas of high mineral resource potential for undiscovered resources exist for sediment-hosted manganese and uranium and for gold and minor silver in shear zones in granite.There is moderate resource potential for gold and minor silver in shear zones in granite; for epithermal veins of silver, gold, lead, and zinc Manuscript approved for publication, June 30, 1989.minerals; and for tungsten, rare-earth elements, quartz, and feldspar in pegmatites.The mineral resource potential for copper, lead, and zinc in volcanogenic rhyolite-hosted massive sulfide deposits is low, as it also is for disseminated rareearth elements and-uranium and thorium in the Proterozoic granites.The mineral resource potential for zeolite minerals, clay, and gypsum is considered low in the northwestern part of the study area.The south-central part of the study area has low potential for lacustrine uranium, for coal, and for oil and gas resources.Several low-lying parts of the study area have moderate potential for low-temperature geothermal energy resources. Character and SettingThe Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area (fig. 1) is in west-central Arizona approximately 40 mi northwest of Wickenburg and 30 mi east of the Colorado River.Access to this isolated area is mainly by jeep trails from U.S. Highway 93.The terrain is steep and nigged; elevations range from 1,100 ft near the confluence of the Big Sandy and Santa Maria Rivers in the southwestern part of the study area to 4,807 ft in the Poachie Range in the northeastern part Artillery Peak (3,213 ft) is a prominent feature in the western part of the study area.The area is underlain by Early Proterozoic (see "Appendixes" for geologic time chart) metasedimentary Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area, Arizona E1 E2 Mineral Resources of Wilderness Study Areas: West-Central Arizona and Part of California Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area, Arizona E3 gratefully acknowledged for providing facilities and equipment Particular thanks is given to Robert Harrison for supplying information from Bureau of Land Management activity files and for helpful discussions on the geology of the Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area. Bruce Bryant, U.S. Geological Survey, provided information on the Proterozoic geology in the Poachie Range.James K. Otton, U.S. Geological Survey, provided information on the status of uranium exploration and the types of uranium mineralization in the area and added much to our understanding of Tertiary rocks and deformation in the region.Dan Mosier, U.S. Geological Survey, provided helpful discussions and geologic and assessment information from the Prescott pre-assessment study that was pertinent to the Arrastra Mountain/Peoples Canyon Wilderness Study Area.Sincere appreciation is expressed to C.T. Wrucke for his critical review of the manuscript.
DOI: 10.3133/b1701e
Authors: Floyd Gray, R. J. Miller, J. A. Pitkin, W.C. Bagby, J. R. Hassemer, J. H. McCarthy, W. F. Hanna, M. L. Conant Callas, M. E. Lane
Language: English
Subfield: Geochemistry and Petrology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W1568124151