Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the Fairbanks and Livengood Quadrangles, east-central Alaska, 1949

Trace Elements Investigations 197
This report concerns work done on behalf of the Division of Raw materials of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
By: , and 

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Abstract

Several mines and prospects in the Fairbanks and Livengood quadrangles, east-central Alaska, were examined for the possible presence of radioactive materials in the summer of 1949. Also tested were pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic metamorphic and sedimentary rocks crossed by the Elliott Highway, which extends from Fox, near Fairbanks, northward about 70 miles to the town of Livengood. None of the lodes tested exhibited radioactivity in excess of 0.003 percent equivalent uranium, although nuggets consisting chiefly of native bismuth and containing as much as 0.1 percent equivalent uranium had been found previously in a placer on Fish Creek several miles below the reported bismuth-bearing lode on Melba Creek. The greatest radioactivity found in the rocks along the Elliott Highway was in an iron-stained schist of pre-Cambrian age and in carbonaceous shale of Middle Devonian or Carboniferous age. Respective samples of these rocks contain 0.003 and 0.004 percent equivalent uranium. A possible local bedrock source for a euxenite-polycrase mineral found in a placer concentrate containing about 0.04 percent equivalent uranium was sought in the watershed of Goodluck Creek, near Livengood. The bedrock source of this mineral could not be located; it is believed that the source could be outside of the Goodluck watershed, as drainage changes in the area during Quaternary time might well have introduced gravels from nearby areas.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the Fairbanks and Livengood Quadrangles, east-central Alaska, 1949
Series title Trace Elements Investigations
Series number 197
DOI 10.3133/tei197
Year Published 1953
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description Report: 13 p.; 1 Plate: 15.14 x 19.35 inches
Time Range Start 1949-01-01
Time Range End 1949-12-31
Country United States
State Alaska
Other Geospatial Fairbanks Quadrangle;Livengood Quadrangle
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