Totem Bay occurrences, Kupreanof Island, Petersburg Borough, Alaska, USA i
Regional Level Types
Totem Bay occurrences Mineral Occurrence Area
Kupreanof Island Island
Petersburg Borough Borough
Alaska State
USA Country

Location: The coordinates are at the approximate center of a block of nine lode claims staked on southern Kupreanof Island in 1955. The center of the claims is in about the middle of the east side of section 19, T. 62 S., R. 77 E.

Geology: In 1952, Houston and others (1958) searched the Totem Bay area for radioactive veins similar to those found to the south across Sumner Strait on southern Prince of Wales Island. They found no indications of them. However claims were staked here for radioactives in 1955 under the name Monongehela. Rocks in the vicinity consist of a thick sequence of Quaternary or Tertiary rhyolite (Brew, 1997 [OF 97-156-G]).
Still and others (2002) briefly examined the area with a scintillometer and found a 3-foot-by-3-foot zone that was approximately 60 percent above background. A sample contained 7 parts per million (ppm) uranium, 17 ppm thorium, 43 ppm neodymium, 38 ppm lanthanum, and 110 ppm cerium.

Workings: Nine lode claims staked for radioactive minerals in 1955; apparently there has been no work since on these claims other than a brief examination by government geologists in the late 1990's.

Age: Tertiary or younger based on the age of the host rocks.

Commodities (Major) - Th, U; (Minor) - Ce, La, Nd
Development Status: No

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

ⓘ Cerium

ⓘ Thorium

List of minerals for each chemical element

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	PE021

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

North America PlateTectonic Plate

Alexander DomainDomain
Alexander TerraneVolcanic Arc

USA

Alaska
- Petersburg Borough
  - Kupreanof Mining DistrictMining District
- ⭔Wrangell-Petersburg Census AreaBorough

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References

Brew, D.A., 1997, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg B-5 quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-156-G, 19 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360. Brew, D.A., Ovenshine, A.T., Karl, S.M., and Hunt, S.J., 1984, Preliminary reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg and parts of the Port Alexander and Sumdum 1:250,000 quadrangles, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-405, 43 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. Grybeck, D.J., Berg, H.C., and Karl, S.M., 1984, Map and description of the mineral deposits in the Petersburg and eastern Port Alexander quadrangles: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-837, 86 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Houston, J.R., Bates, R.G., Velikanje, R.S., and Wedow, Helmuth, Jr., 1958, Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in southeastern Alaska, 1952: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1058-A, p. 1-31. Still, J.C., Bittenbender, P.E., Bean, K.W., and Gensler, E.G., 2002, Mineral assessment of the Stikine area, central Southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Land Management Technical Report 51, 560 p. U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1980, Claim map, Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Map 117, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

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