Geology and uranium mineralization of the Florida Mountain area, Needle Mountains, southwestern Colorado

Collier, James D.

doi:10.3133/ofr84336

Cited by 2 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Its similar composition and intrusive position within the Bolus suggest a genetic relationship. Studies by Collier (1985) suggest that the Trimble is a latestage differentiate of its parent Bolus Granite. This late-stage granite is enriched in uranium, which forms ore deposits in places where the granite is broken by faults and fractures.…”

Section: Intrusive Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mineral resource potential and geology of the San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Loenen¹,

Gibbons²,

Raby³

et al. 1997

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USGS BULLETIN 2127: MINERAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL AND GEOLOGY OF THE SAN JUAN NATIONAL FOREST• The San Juan National Forest ("the Forest") contains many famous mining districts, such as those at Rico and La Plata, but there is no significant mining being done within the Forest today.• Fourteen types oflocatable mineral deposits were assessed, and, of those, five were assessed quantitatively.• The five, quantitatively assessed, undiscovered locatable mineral deposits could possibly contain as much as 136,500 metric tons of copper, 17 metric tons of gold, 223,000 metric tons of zinc, 1,425 metric tons of silver, 184,000 metric tons of lead, and 33,900 metric tons of molybdenum. The probability that these amounts exist is 10 percent or less.• Estimates were made of the amount of leasable commodities, including conventional oil and gas, gas in tight (impermeable) sandstone reservoirs, coal, and coal-bed gas that could be present in the Forest.• Sixteen million barrels of oil and 26 billion cubic feet of gas or more may be present in conventional reservoirs.• Recoverable gas in tight gas reservoirs may total as much as 18 billion cubic feet.• Six billion short tons of bituminous coal may be present.• Coal beds may contain 1 1/2 trillion cubic feet of gas.• Considering the vast size of the Forest, the estimated amounts of leasable commodities are relatively small.• Most leasable minerals are concentrated in a small southern area of the Forest that overlaps the energy-rich San Juan Basin.• It is not implied that any commodities, leasable or locatable, could be extracted for a profit, even if they were discovered.• Salable minerals, such as sand, gravel, and building stone, are abundant within the Forest.

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Section: Intrusive Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schmitt and Raymond (1977) reported ages of 10 Ma and 9 Ma for different phases of the stock. It has close genetic ties to mineralization in the district, having supplied both metals and heat to convection systems in surrounding rocks (Collier, 1985;Schmitt and Raymond, 1977).…”

Section: Late Tertiary Intrusive Terranementioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral resource potential and geology of the San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Loenen¹,

Gibbons²,

Raby³

et al. 1997

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“…In fact, the Trimble Granite is host to a relatively large vein-type uranium deposit, with perhaps as much as 10,000 tonnes U 3 0 8 (Collier, 1985). The age of the deposit is unknown, but it is probably considerably younger than the emplacement of the granites.…”

Section: Mineralizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mass-balance calculations indicate that these refractory accessory minerals are capable of accounting for the entire uranium content of the rocks (Collier, 1985).…”

Section: Mineralizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mid-Proterozoic postorogenic granites, and associated uranium mineralization of the Needle Mountains, southwestern Colorado

Collier

1989

Geological Society of America Special Papers

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The Eolus batholith of the Needle Mountains, southwestern Colorado, contains two principal map units, the Eolus and Trimble Granites. The Eolus Granite has been dated at 1,460 Ma; the Trimble Granite formed about 1,350 Ma. Thus, the Eolus and Trimble Granites fall within the time range spanned by two well-documented anorogenic periods in North America (see Bickford and others, this volume).Although the rocks of the Eolus batholith share many chemical traits with anorogenic, or A-type, granites, they differ by having a wider, and on the average lower, range of silica contents, by being calcalkaline rather than alkaline, and by having rare-earth element (REE) patterns more characteristic of synorogenic granites. The Eolus batholith also differs from most anorogenic batholiths by having undergone extensive fractionation, involving both partial-melt fractionation and hornblende-dominated fractional crystallization.A consequence of this fractionation was progressive enrichment of uranium as the Eolus batholith evolved. In early products of differentiation, uranium is held entirely within relatively nonlabile accessory minerals such as zircon, sphene, apatite, and allanite. In late-stage differentiates, particularly the Trimble Granite, most uranium is found in scattered grains of more readily teachable high-uranium phases such as uraninite and uranothorite. These late-stage differentiates were source rocks for later mineralization.It is believed that the Eolus batholith formed by melting of an underplated mantle wedge above subducted oceanic plate. Melting may have been initiated by low pressure in an extensional regime, caused by a transition in tectonic style from synorogenic ductile compression to postorogenic brittle extension. Melting was probably localized along preexisting zones of weakness, which would account for synchronous magmatism over a broad transcontinental belt. Differences in distance from a subduction zone, crustal thickness, depth of melting, and other factors may account for the chemical dissimilarities between the postorogenic Eolus batholith and other "anorogenic" batholiths of approximately the same age.

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Geology and uranium mineralization of the Florida Mountain area, Needle Mountains, southwestern Colorado

Cited by 2 publications

References 18 publications

Mineral resource potential and geology of the San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Mineral resource potential and geology of the San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Mid-Proterozoic postorogenic granites, and associated uranium mineralization of the Needle Mountains, southwestern Colorado

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