Use of Archival Data and Remote Sensing to Determine the Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on the Distribution of Tungston In the Cherry Creek Mining District, Nevada

Scheelite, Calcium Tungstate, associated with silver ores and quartz, was discovered in the Cherry Creek Mining District in 1915. Scheelite in the district occurs in vein and replacement deposits in limestone. Mining of the ore took place from WW2 to 1958 when the last mine closed. The purpose of this study is to use remote sensing to: 1) determine if there are other structural controls on the distribution of the ore and 2) evaluate the prior reports' distribution models. Strata in the district range from the pre-Cambrian to the Triassic. The scheelite was deposited in the Cambrian blue/gray El Dorado Limestone; although in the SW section it is believed to have been deposited in younger strata. The El Dorado Limestone is approximately 500' thick with a strike of N20E and a dip of 45۫ to the NW. The distribution of the ore is thought to be controlled by bedding fractures and three steeply dipping NE striking faults. Although most of the faults have little displacement, the ore body ends to the NE in a fault believed to have a displacement of 2000' with a zone of brecciation of up to 100'. Archival geological and mining data was obtained from the National Mine Map Repository and the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Additional data was found in reports prepared by the United States Geological Survey and the United States Bureau of Mines dating from the early 1940s to the early 1950s. The data includes geological information and mine maps containing assays obtained from diamond drill holes, mine samples, and trenches. The remote sensing data will be collected from ASTER, Landsat, Radar satellite images, and aerial photographs. This data will help to identify additional structural features that may not be recognized from ground level.