Tin and tungsten veins and skarns in the McQuesten River area occur in the contact zones of Cretaceous feldpspar-porphyritic biotite granite stocks, plugs, and dykes. Most occurrences are located in the exocontact of plutons, in the brittle metasedimentary country rocks known as the Grit Unit of Upper Precambrian to Lower Cambrian age. Cassiterite (+/- silver) occurs in chlorite-, tourmaline-, and quartz-matrix breccias with fragments of quartzite, schist, and vein material of chlorite, tourmaline or quartz; in thin veinlets with little gangue of tourmaline, K-feldspar, or muscovite; and in actinolite-quartz-epidote-axinite-garnet skarn (+/- pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite). Scheelite is mainly disseminated in fine-grained, diopside-quartz, or actinolite-quartz (+/- pyrrhotite) exoskarn which is interlayered with white wollastonite-quartz skarn. Scheelite (+/- molybdenite) also occurs in sheeted quartz (+/- feldspar) veins in both the endo- and exocontact regions of two feldspar-porphyritic granite stocks. Rarely do tin and tungsten occur together, however some low tin values are found in some tungsten occurrences, and vice versa. Tungsten occurs closer to the associated intrusion than tin.

Mid-Cretaceous plutons in the McQuesten River region intrude Upper Proterozoic to Mississippian miogeoclinal metasedimentary rocks of Selwyn Basin. They form a belt trending east from the Tintina Trench which can be roughly subdivided into two parallel belts. Plutonic rocks fall into three main groups: 1) biotite-muscovite (two-mica) granite in the southernmost belt which follows the trend of the McQuesten Anticline; 2) biotite-hornblende quartz monzonite, granite and granodiorite in the northern belt which follows the thrust faulted contact of the Hyland Group (Grit Unit) with the Road River Formation; and 3) hornblende-biotite syenite and associated quartz syenite, quartz monzonite, granite and tourmaline-orbicular granite along the north edge of the northern belt. Tin-silver breccia veins and skarns are spatially associated with the two-mica granites, while tungsten-gold skarns and sheeted veins are associated with biotite-hornblende granite, quartz monzonite and granodiorite. The concentrically zoned syenite intrusion in the northern belt (ZETA) includes all the plutonic phases (two-mica granite, biotite-hornblende granitoids, and hornblende-biotite syenitoids), and links them cogenetically through the fractional crystallization process. The ZETA tin-silver veins are associated with the tourmaline orbicular granite, which is the most evolved phase of the concentrically zoned ZETA syenite intrusion. Plutons in the McQuesten region resemble those of the Selwyn and Tombstone Plutonic Suites. They are post to syntectonic, roughly circular in shape, and intrude miogeoclinal metasedimentary rocks of ancient North America. They show a concentric zonation and are surrounded by contact aureoles. The intrusive suite is bimodal, with a southern belt consisting of evolved two-mica granites and a northern belt consisting of less evolved biotite-hornblende granites. Lavas associated with the plutons are believed to be coeval.

Magmatism in the Nahanni region, which defines the eastern extent of the Tintina Gold Province, is generally associated with tungsten mineralization and/or gold-copper-antimony-bismuth-lead-zinc metal occurrences. Intrusions are subalkaline, granitic to granodioritic, and contain several types of textural variations and highly evolved phases. The intrusions range from large composite batholiths to small stocks with associated felsic dykes and veins. Initial U-Pb and Ar-Ar geochronology reveals ages of 97.5-95 Ma with short (0.5-1.5 m.y.) cooling periods, although the intrusion associated with the Cantung tungsten-skarn orebody cooled over a relatively long period (3 m.y.). Magmatism in the area has been interpreted as crustally derived, however, the rare earth element primitive-mantlenormalized profile revealed negative niobium, tantalum and titanium anomalies suggesting an arctype setting. Furthermore, the granites lack volumetrically significant, primary peraluminous mineralogies characteristic of S-type granites.

Meta-sandstone, siltstone and phyllite, with marble and intermediate-to-felsic tuffaceous horizons, host the Munson (TBMB) and Mod zinc-lead occurrences, about 7 km southwest of the Dan and Crescent properties. These host rocks are part of the Late Devonian Dorsey assemblage. Complexities resulting from isoclinal folding and faulting inhibit direct correlation of strata from one ridge exposure to another. The strata are overlain by dark meta-siltstone of the mid-Mississippian Swift River succession. Although faulted, the lack of a strong lithologic contrast between the units suggests only minor dislocation. Pre-Jurassic and Cretaceous granites and a diorite sill intrude the Dorsey rocks. Chloritic tuffaceous layers host showings of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite; carbonate pods contain sphalerite + galena ± pyrrhotite; and quartz-feldspar meta-tuff layers are pyritic. U-Pb zircon age results for leucosome from a nearby exposure of lower Dorsey rocks indicate an approximate crystallization age of 373 Ma, and about 358 Ma for a granitic dyke in the upper Dorsey assemblage, bracketing the age of deposition of this Yukon-Tanana Terrane assemblage.

Pentlandite-bearing serpentinized ultramafic flows with a komatiitic composition have been identified within volcano-sedimentary stratigraphy in the Nadaleen Range. Associated listwaenites or silica-carbonate-fuchsite-altered serpentinites carry locally significant gold, copper, nickel and cobalt values. The occurrence of laterally extensive ultramafi c units at the northern edge of the Selwyn Basin remains difficult to explain within the current scope of geological knowledge in the area. However, it represents a new style of exploration target for copper-nickel-bearing massive sulphide deposits, as well as listwaenite-associated gold.

Placer gold deposits are widespread throughout the largely unglaciated Stewart River and southern part of the Dawson map areas. These deposits include the world famous Klondike goldfields, the historic Fortymile and Sixty Mile goldfields, and well known placers along Black Hills, Scroggie, Thistle and Kirkman creeks. Although the deposits have been mined for over 100 years and have produced an estimate 311 tonnes of gold, they still account for about 85% of Yukon's annual placer gold production. The placer deposits are classified into three levels of gravel with four main units: high-level gravel, which usually forms prominent, continuous high-level terraces and is subdivided into the White Channel Gravel (which is locally subdivided into a lower White Gravel and an upper Yellow Gravel unit) and Klondike Gravel; intermediate-level gravel, which mostly forms relatively small, irregularly distributed intermediate to low-level terraces; and low-level gravel, which represents alluvium along present day creeks, gulches and rivers. The White Channel Gravel, is up to 46 m thick and characterized by a predominance of quartz clasts (which are generally more abundant in the White Gravel than in the Yellow Gravel). It is considered Early Pliocene to earliest Late Pliocene in age (~5 to 3 Ma). The Klondike Gravel, not considered an economical placer, is up to 53 m thick and is distinguished by chert clasts derived from the Ogilvie Mountains, located northeast of the map areas. It was deposited as glaciofluvial outwash during the end of the initial and most widespread of the pre-Reid glaciations, and is probably latest Early Pliocene to earliest Late Pliocene (~3 Ma). The intermediate-level gravel, the least important economically, is up to 9 m thick. The low-level gravel, historically the most important gold-bearing unit, is 5 m thick in creeks and up to 20 m thick in rivers. The intermediate-level and low-level gravel have similar amounts of quartz, igneous and metamorphic rock particles, although locally, the low-level gravel contains sedimentary rock particles. The intermediate-level gravel is thought to be Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (~3 Ma to 750 Ka) in age and the low-level gravel is considered Late Pleistocene to Holocene in age. Practically all of the placers are fluvial in origin and were deposited primarily in braided streams that flowed parallel to the present day streams along which the deposits occur. Gold recovered from the various levels of gravel is detrital in origin and was mainly derived from early Mesozoic auriferous quartz veins. The concentration of gold in the gravel is related to a hierarchy of physical scales: at the lithofacies scale (metres), bed roughness determined sites of gold deposition; at the element scale (tens of metres), gravel bars were preferentially enriched in gold; at the reach scale (hundreds of metres), stream gradient was an important factor; at the system scale (hundreds of kilometres), braided river environments transported large amounts of gold; and at the sequence scale (thousands of kilometres), economic placers formed initially in the high-level White Channel Gravel and later in the intermediate- and low-level gravel.

Gold mineralization at the Mt. Skukum deposit occurs in nearly vertical quartz-carbonate veins which crosscut flat-lying andesites with a NNE trend. The mineralized veins represent the second stage of a two stage hydrothermal system, the first of which resulted in emplacement of thin chalcedonic veinlets. These two stages of veins are probably indicative of an evolving hydrothermal fluid rather than being representative of two separate events. Vein emplacement is one of the latest of a series of events which began with volcanism, producing felsic and andesitic volcanic rocks which overlie basement in this area. Subsequent periods of tectonism produced large faults along which rhyolitic dykes were emplaced. Continued tectonism resulted in reactivation of old faults along which andesitic and dacitic dykes were injected, crosscutting rhyolite dykes in many cases. As volcanic activity waned, the faults remained active, leaving zones of high permeability which acted as conduits for the still active hydrothermal circulation. Veins appear to have been emplaced at low temperature in a circulating hydrothermal system driven by a heat source at depth associated with dykes present in the area. Circulating hydrothermal fluids may have leached gold from the surrounding andesitic volcanics during propylitization. Permeability may have been controlled by faulting, brecciated flow tops and bottoms, and lapilli tuff horizons. Gold was precipitated in highly permeable conduits, such as the Main Fault Zone and breccia bodies.

Between the Cretaceous granitic rocks (Hake Batholith on the west; Cassiar Batholith to the east) are three belts of metamorphic rocks, collectively part of Yukon-Tanana terrane. These are remnants of oceanic and continental volcanic arcs, and marginal basin sediments of Early to mid-Paleozoic age. At the head of Borden Creek are thick carbonate and andesitic volcanic rocks correlated with Klinkit Group. The Ram Creek fault and Hidden Lake fault are not exposed but deduced to be steeply dipping brittle structures with northeastward thrust or transpressional offset, based upon more complete exposure to the southeast in 105B/3 map area. The former is likely of Cretaceous age; the latter was active between mid-Permian and Early Jurassic time.

The Boulevard gold prospect, located in the Independence Creek area of the Dawson Range, comprises sheeted, auriferous quartz-sulphide-carbonate veins and fault breccia, hosted mainly by mafic schist. The nearby Toni Tiger molybdenum showing is characterized by quartz-molybdenite veins cutting Late Permian meta-aplite and garnet-pyroxene skarn of uncertain age. We present geochronological evidence that gold and molybdenum were deposited at 96-95 Ma, approximately 3 m.y. after intrusion of the Dawson Range batholith and Coffee Creek granite. Fluid inclusions from mineralized quartz veins suggests that gold at Boulevard and molybdenite at Toni Tiger were formed from similar H2O-CO2-NaCl type fluids between 279 and 310°C and >1 kbar. We conclude that both are part of the same mineralizing system, and that structurally-hosted gold at the nearby Coffee deposit and in the Moosehorn Range of western Yukon may be broadly related, post-arc orogenic systems developed during exhumation of the Dawson Range in mid-Cretaceous time.

A copy of this thesis is available at the EMR library – QE195 E46. This thesis is available online at https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/1985-01029.