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C. A. Wallace

Publications and source records attributed to C. A. Wallace.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Maps showing mineral resource assessment for porphyry and stockwork deposits of copper, molybdenum, and tungsten and for stockwork and disseminated deposits of gold and silver in the Butte 1° x 2° quadrangle, Montana

This report documents the assessment for potential occurrences of undiscovered porphyry and stockwork deposits of copper, molybdenum, and tungsten (porphyry Cu-Mo-W) and stockwork and disseminated deposits of gold and silver (disseminated Au-Ag) in the Butte 1 °X2° quadrangle. The Butte quadrangle, in west-central Montana, is one of the best known mineral producing regions in the U.S. Mining districts in the quadrangle, including the world famous Butte or Summit Valley district, have produced a variety of metallic and nonmetallic mineral commodities valued at more than $6.4 billion (at the time of production). Because of its importance as a mineral producing region, the Butte quadrangle was selected for study by the U.S. Geological Survey under the Conterminous United States Mineral Assessment Program (CUSMAP). Under this program, new data on geology, geochemistry, geophysics, geochronology, mineral resources, and remote sensing were collected and synthesized. The field and laboratory studies were supported, in part, by funding from the Geologic Framework and Synthesis Program and the Wilderness Program. The methods used in this resource assessment for porphyry Cu-Mo-W and disseminated Au-Ag deposits in the quadrangle include a compilation of all data, the development of descriptive occurrence models, and the analysis of data using techniques provided by a Geographic Information System (GIS). This map is one of several maps on the Butte 1 °X2° quadrangle. Other deposit types have been assessed for the Butte quadrangle, and maps (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Miscellaneous Investigation Series Maps) for each of the following have been prepared: Vein and replacement deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, and tungsten (Elliott, Wallace, and others, 1992a) and skarn deposits of gold, silver, copper, tungsten, and iron (Elliott and others, 1992b ). Other publications resulting from this study include linear features map (Rowan and others, 1991 ); limonite and hydrothermal alteration map (Rowan and Segal, 1989); mineral occurrence maps (Elliott and others, 1986; Elliott, Loen, and others, 1992); and geologic maps (Wallace, 1987; Wallace and others, 1987).

Montana

Faults of the central part of the Lewis and Clark line and fragmentation of the Late Cretaceous foreland basin in west-central Montana

The Lewis and Clark line is a prominent zone of strike-slip, dip-slip, and oblique-slip faults that extends from near Wallace, Idaho, to east of Helena, Montana. Faults of this zone have been intermittently active from Middle Proterozoic to Holocene time, and because of numerous tectonic overprints, controversy continues about displacement directions and times of displacement along specific faults. Geologic mapping shows evidence that many principal faults of the Lewis and Clark line, such as the St. Marys-Helena Valley, Bald Butte, Ninemile, and Osburn faults, had right separation or slip that ranged between 28 and 11 km, and this displacement probably occurred during Late Cretaceous time. Other faults, such as the Elevation Mountain, Placer Creek, and Ranch Creek faults, have Late Cretaceous right separations that range between 8 and 3.2 km, and the Mount Sentinel fault zone has between 6.5 and 3 km of right separation of probable Late Cretaceous age. Subsidiary structures of the Lewis and Clark line postdate Paleozoic and Lower Cretaceous rocks and predate Late Cretaceous stocks at some places; subsidiary faults and folds that have age constraints have slip directions compatible with right slip along adjacent, principal faults. Sedimentation patterns of Lower and Upper Cretaceous rocks indicate that faults of the Lewis and Clark line fragmented the foredeep region of the foreland basin into separate northern and southern basins in Late Cretaceous time. The Lower and Upper Cretaceous Blackleaf Formation (Albian and lower Cenomanian) was deposited in a continuous foredeep basin that extended across the Lewis and Clark line from north of the Canadian border to southwestern Montana, a distance of about 450 km. North of the Lewis and Clark line, middle and upper Cenomanian rocks are absent, and a thin sequence of uppermost Cenomanian to Campanian rocks was deposited in a marine environment that changed to a strand-line and continental environment in early Campanian time. South of the Lewis and Clark line, middle and upper Cenomanian deposits are also absent, but a thick sequence of Turonian-to-Campanian rocks was deposited in brackish water and strand-line environments, and during later Campanian time, in a continental environment. In the region between the St. Marys-Helena Valley and Bald Butte faults, a barrier may have formed that served as a local sediment source between foredeep regions in the northern and southern foreland basin during the period 91 to 75 Ma. South of the Bald Butte fault, an extensional tectonic regime contributed to a higher sediment-accumulation rate in the foredeep region along the north border of the southern basin (30 cm/1,000 yr), as compared to lower sediment-accumulation rates (6.9 and 7.8 cm/ 1,000 yr) in the foredeep region of the south part of the northern basin.

Montana