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Occurrence Details


Occurrence Number
105O 069
Occurrence Name
Avalanche Creek
Occurrence Type
Hard-rock
Status
Anomaly


General Information

Primary Commodities: gold
Aliases: Einarson, Mars
Deposit Type(s): Unknown
Location(s): 63.8280 N, -131.3130 W
NTS Mapsheet(s): 105O14
Location Comments: location from map in 2020 technical report
Hand Samples Available at YGS: No

Capsule

The Einarson district is underlain by sedimentary rocks of the Selwyn Basin deposited in a marine environment along the margin of ancestral North America from Late Proterozoic into Paleozoic times, following the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. These rocks comprise siliciclastic units like argillites, shales, sandstones grading to quartz pebble conglomerates with varying degrees of carbonate content, interlayered with carbonate units like limestones and dolomites, with minor turbidite and debris flow units.

The oldest units in the area are the Yusezyu and Algae Lake formations, comprising mainly arenites and carbonates respectively. These are overlain by the Narchilla formation, which has its basal Senoah member, which are overlain by the distinctive maroon and green argillites and shales of the Arrowhead Lake member, and the clastic Gull Lake formation, which includes minor volcanic units. Instances of the overlying Old Cabin volcanic formation are also present in the project area.

Structurally, the Einarson district sits in a broad zone of tectonic flexure, wherein major east-west trending features like the Dawson thrust and the Kathleen Lakes fault west of the district give way to a network of northwest-southeast and north-south trending deep-seated faults at Einarson (Moynihan, 2014). South of Einarson, this tectonostratigraphic package wraps around further in a 10’s-of-km wide synclinal feature attributed to motion along the Hess-Macmillan Fault system, the nose of which is intruded by members of the Cretaceous Emerald Lake plutonic suite south of Einarson. This deformation has resulted in a high degree of shortening, particularly in the upper Narchilla formation and above.

Steeply dipping faults cut stratigraphy that is relatively flat lying on a regional scale, but variably folded at smaller scales depending on formation. The Yusezyu and Algae Lake formations and the Senoah member of the Narchilla formation form broad anti- and synclinal features across the district, with large (multiple km-scale) faulted anticlines corresponding to three domal structural features that expose both Yuzesyu and Algae Lake formations. Within the Narchilla formation, between the Senoa and Arrowhead Lake members, is a detachment surface that sees heavy isoclinal folding and shortening of up to 80% in overlying units, including the Gull Lake and Old Cabin formations.

A one kilometre long boulder train of abundant arsenopyrite-rich quartz was discovered at Avalanche Creek in late September, 2020. Mineralization and textures at Avalanche Creek are similar to those observed at Mars NE. The presence of the West Fourteen thrust fault, which forms a recessive mountain pass at the head of the boulder train, adds further evidence of a genetic link between the two zones, which are separated by roughly 12 kilometres.

Abundant quartz float was observed in the area in 2013 and a grab sample of float returned 0.31 g/t gold. Arsenic values were low in all the samples collected.

Location Map

Last Updated: Apr 8, 2022

Work History

Year Work Type Comment
2013 Geochemistry: Rock
2013 Geochemistry: Silt
2013 Geochemistry: Soil
2013 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
2012 Geochemistry: Silt
2012 Geochemistry: Soil
2012 Geology: Regional Bedrock Mapping
2011 Geochemistry: Plant
2011 Geochemistry: Silt

Regional Geology - Terrane

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Regional Geology - Bedrock

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Age Max: MA
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Related References

Number Title Page(s) Document Type
2014-1 Geological map of NTS 106B/04, east-central Yukon Open File (Geological - Bedrock)
Citations

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