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Walter S. West

Publications and source records attributed to Walter S. West.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1954

Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in eastern Alaska, 1952

Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits was conducted in selected areas of eastern Alaska during 1952. Examination of copper, silver, and molybdenum occurrences and of a reported nickel prospect in the Slana-Nabesna and Chisana districts in the eastern Alaska Range revealed a maximum radioactivity of about 0.003 percent equivalent uranium. No appreciable radioactivity anomolies were indicated by aerial and foot traverses in the area. Reconnaissance for possible lode concentrations of uranium minerals in the vicinity of reported fluoride occurrences in the Hope Creek and Miller House-Circle Hot Springs areas of the Circle quadrangle and in the Fortymile district found a maximum of 0.055 percent equivalent uranium in a float fragment of ferruginous breccia in the Hope Creek area; analysis of samples obtained in the vicinity of the other fluoride occurrences showed a maximum of only 0.005 percent equivalent uranium. No uraniferous loads were discovered in the Koyukuk-Chandalar region, nor was the source of the monazite, previously reported in the placer concentrates from the Chandalar mining district, located. The source of the uranotheorianite in the placers at Gold Bench on the South Fork of the Koyukuk River was not found during a brief reconaissance, but a placer concentrate was obtained that contains 0.18 percent equivalent uranium. This concentrate is about ten times more radioactive than concentrates previously available from the area.

Alaska↗
USGS1954

Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the Hyder district, southeastern Alaska, 1949

Radioactivity reconnaissance during 1949 in the Hyder district, southeastern Alaska, revealed that radioactive material is widely distributed on the Mountain View property. However, no uranium deposits of commercial value were found in the restricted parts of the district covered by this investigation. Anomalous radioactivity was detected at a number of localities on the Mountain View property, but the source could not be determined at all sites. The most highly radioactive unconcentrated vein sample collected Sn 1949 contained 0.049 percent equivalent uranium, and the most Intensely radioactive vein-material concentrate (specific gravity greater than 2.89) contained 0.398 percent equivalent uranium. Both samples are from the Skookum tunnel on the Mountain View property. The radioactive material on the properties Investigated in the Hyder district appears to be chiefly uranium which occurs In an unidentified, highly radioactive, opaque mineral and, also, in trace amounts in the sulfides of the vein deposits. Some of the radioactive material, however, occurs as disseminated deposits In the Igneous rocks of the district and, also, to a minor extent as thin secondary coatings on fracture surfaces in veins and rocks.

Alaska↗
USGS1953

Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the Darby Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1948

Radioactivity in the southern and eastern parts of the Darby Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, appears to be directly related to the occurrence of granite. Concentrates from placers derived from areas containing granite are more radioactive than concentrates from placers not derived from the granite and, generally, contain from 0.01 to 0.05 percent equivalent uranium. The radioactivity of these concentrates is largely due to radioactive elements in common accessory minerals in granite, such as sphene, allanite, zircon, and, locally, monazite. Locally, in the Clear Creek-Vulcan Creek rea, the headwaters of the Kwiniuk River, and on Golovnin Bay near McKinley Creek, concentrates from placers derived from granitic terrain contain as much as 0.1 percent equivalent uranium. The higher radioactivity of the concentrates from the Clear Creek area and on Golovnin Bay is due chiefly to an unidentified uranium-titanium niobate, whereas the higher radioactivity at the headwaters of the Kwiniuk River is due to thorianite.

Circular↗