©2008 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology, v. 103, pp. 89–115

The Metallogeny of Late Triassic Rifting of the Alexander Terrane in

Southeastern Alaska and Northwestern British Columbia*
CLIFF D. TAYLOR,† WAYNE R. PREMO, ALAN L. MEIER, AND JOSEPH E. TAGGART, JR.
U.S. Geological Survey, Central Mineral Resources Program, Box 25046 Federal Center, Mail Stop 973, Denver, Colorado, 80225-0046

Abstract
A belt of unusual volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) occurrences is located along the eastern margin of the
Alexander terrane throughout southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia and exhibits a range of
characteristics consistent with a variety of syngenetic to epigenetic deposit types. Deposits within this belt in-
clude Greens Creek and Windy Craggy, the economically most significant VMS deposit in Alaska and the
largest in North America, respectively. The occurrences are hosted by a discontinuously exposed, 800-km-long
belt of rocks that consist of a 200- to 800-m-thick sequence of conglomerate, limestone, marine clastic sedi-
mentary rocks, and tuff intercalated with and overlain by a distinctive unit of mafic pyroclastic rocks and pil-
lowed flows. Faunal data bracket the age of the host rocks between Anisian (Middle Triassic) and late Norian
(late Late Triassic). This metallogenic belt is herein referred to as the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt.
The VMS occurrences show systematic differences in degree of structural control, chemistry, and strati-
graphic setting along the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt that suggest important spatial or temporal
changes in the tectonic environment of formation. At the southern end of the belt, felsic volcanic rocks over-
lain by shallow-water limestones characterize the lower part of the sequence. In the southern and middle por-
tion of the belt, a distinctive pebble conglomerate marks the base of the section and is indicative of high-en-
ergy deposition in a near slope or basin margin setting. At the northern end of the belt the conglomerates,
limestones, and felsic volcanic rocks are absent and the belt is composed of deep-water sedimentary and mafic
volcanic rocks. This northward change in depositional environment and lithofacies is accompanied by a north-
ward transition from epithermal-like structurally controlled, discontinuous, vein- and pod-shaped, Pb-Zn-Ag-
Ba-(Cu) occurrences with relatively simple mineralogy, to sulfosalt-enriched VMS occurrences exhibiting char-
acteristics of vein, diagenetic replacement, and exhalative styles of mineralization, and finally to Cu-Zn-(Co-Au)
occurrences with larger and more clearly stratiform orebody morphologies. Occurrences in the middle of the
belt are transitional in nature between structurally controlled types of mineralization that formed in a shallow-
water, near-arc setting, to those having a more stratiform appearance, formed in a deeper water, rift-basin set-
ting. The geologic setting in the south is consistent with shallow subaqueous emplacement on the flanks of the
Alexander terrane. Northward, the setting changes to an increasingly deeper back- or intra-arc rift basin.
Igneous activity in the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt is characterized by a bimodal suite of volcanic
rocks and a previously unrecognized association with mafic-ultramafic hypabyssal intrusions. Immobile trace
and rare earth element (REE) geochemical data indicate that felsic rocks in the southern portion of the belt
are typical calc-alkaline rhyolites, which give way in the middle of the belt to peralkaline rhyolites. Rhyolites
are largely absent in the northern part of the belt. Throughout the belt, the capping basaltic rocks have transi-
tional geochemical signatures. Radiogenic isotope data for these rocks are also transitional (basalts and gabbros:
εNd = 4–9 and 87Sr/86Sr initial at 215 Ma = 0.7037–0.7074). Together these data are interpreted to reflect vari-
able assimilation of mature island-arc crust by more primitive melts having the characteristics of either mid-
ocean ridge (MORB) or intraplate (within-plate) basalts (WPB).
The ore and host-rock geochemistry and the sulfosalt-rich mineralogy of the deposits are strikingly similar
to recent descriptions of active sea-floor hydrothermal (white smoker) systems in back arcs of the southwest
Pacific Ocean. These data, in concert with existing faunal ages, record the formation of a belt of VMS deposits
and occurrences in a propagating intra- to back-arc rift tectonic setting during the Late Triassic. A modern ana-
logue having similar tectonic and metallogenic features is the southward projection of the Lau basin, from the
active sea-floor hydrothermal vents of the Valu Fa Ridge to the Taupo volcanic zone of the North Island, New
Zealand.

Introduction 1997, 1999; Newberry et al., 1997). These deposits constitute

NUMEROUS papers over the last few decades have identified a
series of unusual polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide
(VMS) deposits hosted in an Upper Triassic sequence of vol-
cano-sedimentary rocks that stretch the length of southeast-
ern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia (Fig. 1; com-
pilations by Cobb, 1972, 1978; Berg and Grybeck, 1980;
Goldfarb et al., 1987; Taylor et al., 1992; Newberry and Brew,
† Corresponding author: e-mail, ctaylor@usgs.gov
*A digital supplement to this paper is available at <http://www.geoscience
world.org/> or, for members and subscribers, on the SEG website, <http://
www.segweb.org>.
a metallogenically important belt, approximately 800 km in
length that comprises the easternmost and youngest portion
of the Alexander terrane (Fig. 1). Most notable are the world-
class Greens Creek mine, a hybrid-type deposit (Taylor et al.,
1999b, 2000a) that is currently the leading producer of silver
in the United States, with an estimated global resource of
21.9 million metric tons (Mt) of ore at 13.9 percent Zn, 5.1
percent Pb, 4.8 g/t Au, and 599 g/t Ag at zero cut-off, and the
Windy Craggy deposit, the largest Besshi-type VMS deposit
in the world (see review by Slack, 1993), with an estimated re-
source of 297.4 Mt at 1.4 percent Cu, 0.07 percent Co, 0.2 g/t

0361-0128/08/3719/89-27 89
90 TAYLOR ET AL.

Km Yukon-Tanana terrane
0 40 80
26 WINDY Taku terrane
CRAGGY
Gravina overlap assemblage

24
25 Alexander terrane
MT. HENRY
CLAY Haines TRIASSIC ROCKS

59

Wrangellia terrane

Chugach terrane

YOUNG BAY
Juneau
MANSFIELD
PENINSULA 23
22 SWAN ISLAND
58 133
58
137
21 WINDFALL HARBOR
GREENS
CREEK
20
ADMIRALTY 19 18

BR
ISLAND 17 16

IT
AL

IS
Sitka

H
AS

CO
KA

LU
DUNCAN CANAL

M
132
57
57

BI
136
GAMBIER 14 15

A
131
13 12 Petersburg KUPREANOF
BAY
11 ISLAND
8 9 10 ZAREMBO
7 ISLAND
KEKU STRAIT 6
5

SCREEN ISLANDS
56
WOEWODSKI 56 130
135
ISLAND

Ketchikan
N
3
2
1
55
55 130

133 132 131

GRAVINA ISLAND
NEHENTA BAY DUKE ISLAND
ANNETTE ISLAND
FIG. 1. Generalized map of southeastern Alaska (modified from Campbell and Dodds, 1983, and Gehrels and Berg, 1992),
showing terrane relationships and the locations of mines, mineral deposits, mineral occurrences, and other features discussed
in the text, in relationship to the belt of Upper Triassic host rocks that form the eastern margin of the Alexander terrane.
Numbered locations: 1 = Crab Bay, 2 = Sylburn peninsula, 3 = Bostwick Inlet, 4 = Round Point, 5 = Frenchie, 6 = Brushy
Creek, 7 = Butterworth Island, Helen S, and Lost Show, 8 = Castle River, 9 = Castle Islands, 10 = Junior Creek, 11 = Tay-
lor Creek, 12 = Wetboot, 13 = Cornwallis peninsula; Kuiu Zinc and Hungerford Creek, 14 = Keku Islets; Ladder Vein, 15 =
Hamilton Island, 16 = North Shore, 17 = Cave Mountain Point, 18 = North Gambier, 19 = Yellow Bear Mountain, 20 = Etta,
21 = Pyrola, 22 = Zinc Creek, 23 = Little Sore, 24 = Low Herbert, Herbert Mouth West, Grizzly Heights, and Buckwell
Moraine, 25 = Mount Henry Clay (Boulderado), Glacier Creek (Main), and RW zone (Little Jarvis and Upper zone), and 26
= Windy Craggy, Tats, X, and Rainy Monday.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 90
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
Au, and 3.8 g/t Ag ( Peter, and Scott, 1999). The limits of the
belt are delineated by a large number of smaller (less than 1
Mt) deposits dominated by Ba-Zn-Pb-Ag ± Cu-Au or Cu-Zn
± Au. The deposits are unusual in that they exhibit a range of
syngenetic, diagenetic, and epigenetic features that are tran-
sitional between VMS and sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX;
see review by Goodfellow et al., 1993) genetic models. From
south to north, they occur from the islands west of Ketchikan
(Fig. 1), through the Alaska-British Columbia border at
Mount Henry Clay, to the vicinity of Windy Craggy between
the Tatshenshini and Alsec Rivers. This metallogenic belt is
herein referred to as the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt.
The VMS deposits are nearly uniformly hosted within a
thin package of structurally dismembered Late Triassic (No-
rian) rocks characterized by bimodal volcanic and abundant
flysch-type sedimentary rocks. Mafic volcanic rocks predomi-
nate and commonly are volcaniclastics or flow breccias with
lesser pillowed and massive flows. At larger, more obviously
stratiform occurrences, sedimentary rocks appear to have
been deposited in deeper basins, with high proportions of
graphitic argillite and thin lenses of pyrite. Metamorphic
grade varies from prehnite-pumpellyite to mid-greenschist.
The base of the package is typically marked by the presence
of angular to rounded polymictic conglomerate with clasts
composed of the immediately underlying unit. In places, dis-
crete packages of conglomerate occupy flow channels that
migrate laterally and vertically within a short distance. High-
angle faults of probable normal displacement are common
and tend to mark changes in lithology, such as from sedimen-
tary to volcanic strata. Thin carbonate units are common and
are generally dolomitic. Small outcrops of serpentinized
mafic and/or ultramafic rock tend to be spatially associated
with deposits throughout the Alexander Triassic metallogenic
belt.
From south to north, a distinct variation in host rock lithol-
ogy is evident. At the southern end of the Alexander Triassic
metallogenic belt, the felsic component of the bimodal vol-
canic rocks is significant and becomes much less important or
even absent northward. The volcanic stratigraphy on both An-
nette and Gravina islands (Fig. 1) is characterized by a thick
sequence of rhyolitic volcaniclastic rocks and tuffs, low in the
Late Triassic section, that give way to voluminous mafic vol-
caniclastic rocks and flows in the upper portion of the section.
On the Cornwallis peninsula in the Keku Strait area (Fig. 1),
minor mafic volcanic rocks constitute the base of the package
and are overlain by a thick sequence of rhyolitic volcaniclastic
rocks and flows. Felsic volcanic rocks are rare north of Keku
Strait. The northernmost occurrence of felsic volcanic rocks is
on Mount Henry Clay (Fig. 1) where thin flows of trachyan-
desite and quartz-sericite-pyrite–altered rhyolite and rhyolitic
tuffs are associated with mineral occurrences (Green et al.,
2003). Additional, but perhaps less obvious, regional changes
in the host rocks include an increase in the percentage of vol-
canic to sedimentary rocks to the north and possibly an in-
crease in metamorphic grade.
South to north changes in the morphology, mineralogy, and
metal contents of the deposits parallel the change in host rock.
The deposits in the south are predominantly Zn-Pb-Ag bear-
ing with significant amounts of barite. Some, such as on the
Sylburn peninsula on Annette Island (Fig. 1) and the Castle
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
91
Island barite deposit in the Duncan Canal area, are composed
primarily of barite with minor sphalerite, galena, and tetra-
hedrite. These deposits share many similarities with Kuroko-
type ores (e.g., Franklin, 1986, 1993). From the latitude of
about Petersburg (Fig. 1) to the north, deposits are charac-
terized by a Cu-Zn ± Au-Co-Ni metal assemblage and are
typical of Besshi-type ores (e.g., Slack, 1993). The Frenchie
VMS occurrence (St. John’s Harbor) may be the southern-
most of this type, and deposits of both descriptions occur on
either side of the international border in the Mount Henry
Clay area (Fig. 1). The best example of the transitional nature
of deposits in the central portion of the belt is the Greens
Creek deposit (Fig. 1). By the latitude of about the Tatshen-
shini River, the majority of the deposits are Besshi-like with
Windy Craggy being the notable example.
In this paper we document the geology, stratigraphic set-
ting, and mineral and host-rock geochemistry at a number of
mineral occurrences within the Alexander Triassic metallo-
genic belt. We seek to demonstrate the continuity of the belt
and to provide a coherent metallogenic framework for a
group of mineral deposits with widely varying characteristics.
We propose that the geodynamic environment that best ac-
counts for the spatial variation in stratigraphy and lithogeo-
chemistry of the host rocks and the transitional nature of the
mineral deposits is that of a propagating intra-arc rift. Thus,
the belt in southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Co-
lumbia is an ancient analog of present-day propagating rifts
and similarly variable active sea-floor deposits forming in the
Woodlark and eastern Manus basins of Papua, New Guinea,
and the southern Lau basin and Kermadec arc north of New
Zealand.
Terrane Relationships
The basement to the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt is
pre-Triassic rocks of the Alexander terrane (Berg et al., 1972,
1978; Churkin and Eberlein, 1977). Terrane relationships in
southeastern Alaska are shown in Figure 1. The terrane is an
allochthonous fragment of island-arc crust that began forming
in the latest Precambrian in low latitudes as demonstrated by
paleomagnetic studies (Hillhouse and Gromme, 1984; Hill-
house, 1987; Haeussler et al., 1992). In southern southeastern
Alaska the terrane consists of up to 10,500 m of predomi-
nantly marine sedimentary and volcanic strata and plutonic
rocks of the latest Precambrian (?) to Middle (?) Jurassic
(Gehrels and Saleeby, 1987; Gehrels and Berg, 1994). By the
Devonian, the terrane had been modified by two periods of
orogenesis and a protracted period of quiescence marked by
erosion and formation of extensive carbonate platforms. Pale-
ontologic and detrital zircon studies (Bazard et al., 1994;
Gehrels et al., 1994; Savage, 1994) suggest that by the Middle
Permian the terrane was outboard of a continental landmass
and that depositional environments were characterized by
shallow, tropical marine, possibly evaporitic conditions. Rift-
fill stratigraphic sequences and bimodal volcanism along the
eastern edge of the terrane (Gehrels et al., 1986, 1987; Mac-
Intyre, 1986; Taylor et al., 1995a, b, 1999a, 2000a; Taylor, 1997)
mark the beginning of an extensional tectonic event in the
Late Triassic that either split the terrane or separated it from
its low- latitude, offshore position and transported it to its
present location on the western North American continental
91
92 TAYLOR ET AL.
margin (Gehrels and Berg, 1994). The general evolution of
the Alexander terrane in southeastern Alaska has been dis-
cussed by Sampson et al. (1989), who suggested based on ra-
diogenic isotope studies that it has the characteristics of a
wholly oceanic island arc.
The allochthonous Wrangellia terrane of Pennsylvanian to
Early Jurassic age (Jones et al., 1977; Nokleberg et al., 1994),
which is also of oceanic-arc derivation (Sampson et al., 1990),
adjoins the Alexander terrane on its western, northern, and
northeastern sides. To the north and northeast, the Wrangel-
lia terrane is characterized by Early Pennsylvanian to Early
Permian variably metamorphosed mafic to intermediate arc-
related volcanic and intrusive rocks that are overlain by up to
6,000 m of Middle to Late Triassic subaerial basalt and re-
lated intrusive rocks. These are overlain by Upper Triassic to
Lower Jurassic shallow marine clastic, siliceous, and calcare-
ous rocks (Plafker and Berg, 1994). The Wrangellia terrane in
southeastern Alaska is characterized by a similar sequence as
described above. Upper (?) Paleozoic mafic volcanic, pyro-
clastic, and clastic sedimentary rocks, with minor chert and
marble ranging in metamorphic grade from greenschist to
amphibolite facies, are overlain by a thick sequence of sub-
aerial mafic volcanic rocks and overlying shallow to deep ma-
rine carbonate rocks of Middle to Late Triassic age. These are
overlain by Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic pelitic sedimen-
tary rocks (Gehrels and Berg, 1994).
The eastern margin of the Alexander terrane in southeast-
ern Alaska is everywhere in fault contact with the Taku ter-
rane (Brew and Grybeck, 1984; Gehrels, 2000) or is covered
by the Gravina belt (Gehrels and Berg, 1992). Exposures of
Taku strata southeast of Juneau consist of a coherent strati-
graphic sequence of Permian or older slate and volcaniclastic
rocks, Permian metabasalts and marble, and Middle and
Upper Triassic metabasalts overlain by metapelitic rocks
(Gehrels, 2000). Previous studies of the Taku strata have pro-
posed correlation of these rocks with those of the Alexander
terrane (Brew and Ford, 1984), Wrangellia terrane (Plafker
and Hudson, 1980; Davis and Plafker, 1985; Rubin and
Saleeby, 1988; Plafker et al., 1989; Gehrels, 2000), and Stikine
terrane (Rubin and Saleeby, 1991; Currie and Parrish, 1997),
with much of the uncertainty due to the poor match of Taku
strata to the sequence in any of the adjacent terranes
(Gehrels, 2000). However, a recent detrital zircon study of
the Taku terrane has established a link between Taku strata
and rocks of the Yukon-Tanana and Stikine terranes to the
east, thus placing the suture between the Alexander and
Wrangellia terranes and inboard terranes along the western
margin of the Taku terrane (Gehrels, 2002).
The Alexander and Wrangellia terranes were stitched to-
gether by Middle Pennsylvanian plutons in southern Alaska
(Gardner et al., 1988) to form the Wrangellia composite ter-
rane (Plafker and Berg, 1994). Accretion of the Wrangellia
composite terrane in southeastern Alaska may have com-
menced by the Early or Middle Jurassic (McClelland and
Gehrels, 1990) or the Late Jurassic (Saleeby, 1994) and was
complete by about the Middle Cretaceous, as indicated by
the intrusion of subduction-related, magmatic-epidote–bear-
ing plutons and the development of the Jurassic-Cretaceous
Chugach accretionary prism outboard of the composite ter-
rane (Gehrels and Berg, 1994). Collision resulted in regional
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
metamorphism and deformation related to underthrusting of
the continental margin (Gehrels and Berg, 1994). This event
produced relatively flat lying, northwest-vergent thrust faults
identified underground at Greens Creek and in surface out-
crops on Admiralty Island and throughout southeastern
Alaska. Mapping of regional metamorphic facies by Dusel-
Bacon (1994) places Triassic and older rocks in southeastern
Alaska within the lower to middle greenschist facies. In the
early Tertiary (Goldfarb et al., 1991; Miller et al., 1994),
oblique subduction changed to right-lateral transcurrent mo-
tion along the margin, imparting the present structural grain
to the country rocks and causing the formation of numerous,
subparallel, high-angle, strike-slip faults that dismember the
outboard terranes.
Lithostratigraphic Variation of Host Rocks to
Late Triassic Mineral Occurrences and Correlation
Throughout Southeastern Alaska
The host rocks to the mines, deposits, and mineral occur-
rences examined during the course of this study are discon-
tinuously exposed for approximately 800 km along the eastern
margin of the Alexander terrane, from Annette Island in the
south, northward to Windy Craggy. In general, the stratigra-
phy within the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt consists
of a 200- to 800-m-thick sequence of conglomerate, lime-
stone, marine clastic sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, and
tuff that are intercalated with, and overlain by, a distinctive
unit of mafic pyroclastic rocks and pillowed flows (Fig. 2).
Faunal data bracket the age of the host rocks between the
Anisian (Middle Triassic) and the late Norian (late Late Tri-
assic). In this section we describe, from south to north, the
systematic lithostratigraphic variation of a chronostratigraph-
ically equivalent package of rocks. Figure 2 shows the facies
variations of the major Triassic lithologic units at key locations
throughout the belt, however, formal stratigraphic descrip-
tions and assignment of units to Member, Formation, and
Group status in a manner consistent with the North American
Stratigraphic Code are beyond the scope of this paper.
Basal section
On Annette and Gravina Islands at the southern end, and
in Keku Strait in the middle portion of the Alexander Triassic
metallogenic belt (Fig. 1), the base of the Triassic section is
marked by a distinctive pebble conglomerate indicative of
high-energy deposition in a near-slope or basin-margin set-
ting (Fig. 2; Walker, 1984). This unit is referred to as the con-
glomerate member of the Nehenta Formation on Gravina Is-
land (Berg, 1973) and as the Burnt Island Conglomerate
Formation of the Hyd Group in Keku Strait (Muffler, 1967).
Clasts are polymictic, extremely immature, and are locally de-
rived from the immediately underlying rocks. Features of the
conglomerates indicate changing proximity to the source
area. The median size and sorting of the clasts, as well as the
thickness and continuity of the units, changes drastically to
the north.
On Annette and Gravina Islands the dominant clast lithol-
ogy is Silurian trondjhemite derived from the extensive plu-
ton that underlies most of Annette Island and the south end
of Gravina Island (Berg, 1972, 1973; Karl, 1992). Clast sizes
range from pebbles to boulders 3 m in diameter in continuous
92
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA 93

ANNETTE GRAVINA KEKU DUNCAN GAMBIER GREENS MT. HENRY WINDY

ISLAND ISLAND STRAIT CANAL BAY CREEK CLAY CRAGGY

NORIAN

CARNIAN ? ?
?
?
? ?
?
PRE-
SILURIAN ? ? ? ?
TRIASSIC PERMIAN
PERMIAN
DEVONIAN?

Dolomitic limestone Basalt Serpentinite Mafic/ultramafic

hypabyssal intrusive
Rhyolite Coarse grained arkose and calcareous graywacke rocks
Mineralization
Polymictic conglomerate Pyritic-graphitic shales and impure carbonates

Pre-Triassic intrusive rocks Pre-Triassic carbonate rocks Siliceous cherty shales

FIG. 2. Stratigraphy and correlation of Upper Triassic host rocks in southeastern Alaska and adjacent British Columbia.
Sources: Annette Island: Berg (1972), Karl (1992); Gravina Island: Berg (1973); Keku Inlet: Muffler (1967); Duncan Canal:
Taylor (2003); Gambier Bay: Loney (1964), Lathram et al. (1965), Taylor et al. (1992), Greens Creek: this study; Mount
Henry Clay: MacIntyre and Schroeter (1985), Green et al. (2003); Windy Craggy: MacIntyre and Schroeter (1985), Miha-
lynuk et al. (1993), Peter and Scott (1999).

conglomerate sheets 30 to 45 m thick (Fig. 3A). In Keku
Strait clasts are dominantly composed of dolomite and chert
from the underlying Pybus and Cannery Formations. Clasts
are pebble- to boulder-sized (max of 0.3 m in long dimension)
and occur in thin (0–6 m) discontinuous outcrops. In places,
most notably on the northern shore of Hamilton Island (a
large island near the eastern shore of Keku Strait), conglom-
erates occupy discrete scour channels that migrate laterally
and vertically in a graywacke host.
A profound change in the character of the Upper Triassic
stratigraphy occurs between Keku Strait and Duncan Canal.
Both the sedimentary and volcanic units that comprise the
section (described below) pass transitionally into rock types
indicative of a position more distal from their source area.
When present, the basal polymictic conglomerate in Dun-
can Canal (Figs. 1, 2) reflects the character of a debris flow
that is distal to its source (Walker, 1984). These conglomer-
ates occur as discontinuous, thin beds (less than 10 m thick)
and are better sorted than those farther south. Clasts in them
are millimeters to several centimeters in size, are more
rounded than those on Annette and Gravina Islands, and are
dominantly composed of white quartz pebbles and chert with
a lesser, but important, component of black shale chips,
probably derived from the underlying Cannery Formation.
In two outcrops examined, one on the northwestern shore of
Woewodski Island and a second on the west side of Duncan
Canal north of the Castle River, the clasts are stretched con-
siderably and the sericitic matrix is drawn out by shearing.
This deformation, related to movement in the Duncan Canal
shear zone (McClelland and Gehrels, 1990; Haeussler et al.,
1999), has imparted a platy, fissile character to the conglom-
erates not observed elsewhere.
At the latitude of Gambier Bay and Windfall Harbor on Ad-
miralty Island (Fig. 1) the basal polymictic conglomerate is
only locally present (Fig. 2). Individual conglomerate hori-
zons are no thicker than about 3 m. Clasts are mostly pebble
to cobble sized and are dominantly composed of chert and
dolomite, derived from the underlying Permian units. Al-
though thin and discontinuous conglomerate horizons occur
in the northern half of Admiralty Island, their stratigraphic
positions within the Triassic section are uncertain. In most
cases, they are thought to be above the base of the section
within the shales that constitute the middle sedimentary por-
tion of the section. These midsection conglomerates are sim-
ilar in clast composition and maturity to the conglomerates in
the Duncan Canal area. Notable examples are the thin quartz
pebble-rich horizons in the 720 access ramp underground at
the Greens Creek mine (Fig. 2) and the 2-m-thick horizon
immediately west of the drill pad at the Little Sore prospect
several kilometers north of the mine. The stretched quartz
pebble-rich conglomerate near Young Bay along the road to
the Greens Creek mine may be an additional example.
The northernmost occurrences of a conglomerate “marker
horizon” at the base of the Triassic section are on the eastern
shore of Windfall Harbor immediately overlying the siliceous
black shales of the Cannery Formation and the “debriite” in

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 93
94 TAYLOR ET AL.
A abundant pyrite and iron carbonate in the matrix. Similarity
B Rhyolite (Fig. 2). Muffler (1967) also described mafic flows
UP
FIG. 3. A. Photograph of the basal Upper Triassic conglomerate in Ne-
henta Bay, Gravina Island. Note the abundance of light-colored clasts of Sil-
urian trondjhemite derived from the pluton that underlies much of Annette
and southern Gravina Islands. B. Pillowed basalt flow near the base of the
Upper Triassic section on the north shore of Gambier Bay, southern Admi-
ralty Island. Arrow indicates stratigraphic up direction.
Zinc Creek (N. A. Duke, writ. commun., 2002). This unit is a
very poorly sorted, proximally derived polymictic conglomer-
ate, composed of angular fragments of the immediately un-
derlying lithologic units. The unit has been mineralized by
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
to angular conglomerates in the footwall stratigraphy at the
North Gambier pyritic Cu-Zn-Ag-barite occurrence (Taylor
et al., 1992) suggests local fault control on the distribution of
the basal conglomerates and on hydrothermal fluid flow.
North of Admiralty Island, the basal conglomerate is absent
and no conglomerate lenses are reported higher in the Trias-
sic section. In the area around Windy Craggy, Mihalynuk et
al. (1993) reported minor but conspicuous debris flows and
quartz-lithic calcarenite beds in the lower sedimentary divi-
sion of the Upper Triassic Tats group (informal).
Lower volcanic section
In the southern end of the Alexander Triassic metallogenic
belt, dominantly felsic volcanic rocks immediately overlie the
basal conglomerate (Fig. 2). Thin basaltic flows and possibly
sills occur discontinuously near the bottom of the section and
as intercalations within the rhyolites and with clastic sedi-
mentary rocks both below and above the rhyolites. On An-
nette and Gravina Islands the rhyolites are continuous, mas-
sive, flow-banded units. Berg (1973) estimated the cliff
exposure of the Puppets Rhyolite in Nehenta Bay to be 165
m thick. On the Cornwallis peninsula (northwestern shore of
Keku Strait; Fig. 1) the Keku Rhyolite is of uncertain thick-
ness due to structural complexities but occupies an eastward-
dipping belt 1.5 to 5 km wide (Muffler, 1967). Drilling on the
peninsula in 1995 by Sealaska Corporation was collared in the
Keku Rhyolite and penetrated over 366 m of massive, flow-
banded, volcaniclastic, and tuffaceous rhyolite without en-
countering a bottom contact. Massive and pillowed basalt
flows occur within the middle sedimentary portion of the sec-
tion on Gravina Island overlying the Puppets Rhyolite. In the
Keku Strait area, thin basaltic flows occur within an interval
of arkosic sedimentary rocks immediately below the Keku
intercalated with the Keku Rhyolites.
In the Duncan Canal area (Fig. 1), the stratigraphy is
poorly constrained due to limited exposure. Rhyolites are
largely absent north of Keku Strait and their place low in the
section is occupied instead by minor basalt flows interbedded
with black shale (Fig. 2). At the mouth of Castle River on the
west side of Duncan Canal, thin (~4 m thick) columnar-
jointed basalt flows occupy a stratigraphic position just above
the conglomerates. Similarly, pillowed basalt flows are pre-
sent on the north tip of Little Castle Island (a small island in
the center of Duncan Canal) immediately west of (underlying
?) the Castle Island barite deposit. On the northwest shore of
Woewodski Island, a thin basalt flow occurs immediately be-
neath a stretched pebble conglomerate lens that is inter-
preted to be the Upper Triassic basal conglomerate. Black
shales immediately overlying the conglomerate contain sev-
eral 15-cm-thick horizons of pyritic felsic tuff. To the south on
Woewodski Island (Fig. 1) several crudely stratiform mineral
occurrences of probable Late Triassic age (e.g., Lost Show
and Brushy Creek, near the northwest tip and south shore, re-
spectively) are hosted in highly altered volcanic rocks. Less al-
tered country rocks consist of mafic volcanic, volcaniclastic,
and tuffaceous rocks. Highly altered tuffaceous rocks at Brushy
Creek and sericite schist in creek exposures several hundred
meters south of the occurrence likely represent felsic tuffs.
94
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA 95

Poor exposure precludes assignment of these volcanic rocks GREENS CREEK MINE
to a specific position within the Upper Triassic stratigraphy.
On Zarembo Island (Fig. 1), Upper Triassic rocks occur in
a northwest-trending swath of flat topography that limits ex-
posures to creek banks and to borrow pits along logging roads.
A recognizable stratigraphic marker horizon is absent at the
Frenchie pyritic massive sulfide deposit, located near the
northwest end of the trend, and prevents stratigraphic corre-
lation. The host rock immediately overlying the Frenchie de- LATE
posit is a 6- to 10-m-thick unit of pyritic quartz-sericite schist; TRIASSIC
the immediate footwall comprises a thin lens of muscovite
schist overlying graphitic pyritic argillite. Relationships at the
Round Point mineral occurrence near the southeastern tip of NORIAN
the island are similarly obscure. Like the volcanic-hosted de- C
posits on Woewodski Island, Round Point is hosted in altered
volcanic rocks of probable mafic parentage.
North of the Duncan Canal area the position low in the Tri-
assic section contains thin (<10 m) mafic lava flows. On the
north shore of Gambier Bay, at least two separate pillowed F
flows are present in graphitic sedimentary rocks above the CARNIAN C
basal conglomerate (Fig. 3B). Similarly, an outcrop of pillow
?
basalt is present between the basal conglomerate and sedi-
mentary rocks in the footwall section of the North Gambier ?
occurrence, 2.5 km to the north (Taylor et al., 1992). Unconformity
At Greens Creek, the age of the footwall package of phyl- PERMIAN F
litic mafic and ultramafic rocks remains unknown (Fig. 4).
These rocks are highly foliated, green and gray schists defined GREENSTONE
by variable proportions of quartz, sericite, chlorite, and
PILLOW/MASSIVE SILICEOUS/CHERTY
dolomite that are inflated by lenses of chrysotile, iron car- BASALT ARGILLITE
bonate, and fuchsite. Less commonly, more massive lenses of
PYRITIC-GRAPHITIC POLYMICTIC
chlorite-carbonate–altered greenstones display relict gab- ARGILLITE CONGLOMERATE
broic texture and suggest the presence of gabbro sills. The po-
sition of the phyllites immediately below and in apparent con- LIMESTONE/DOLOMITE GABBROIC DIKES/SILLS
formable contact with argillites of the middle sedimentary STRATIFORM MASSIVE SULFIDE
section of the Triassic stratigraphy suggest that they represent
SERPENTINITE F MACROFOSSILS
a locally thickened accumulation of mafic and ultramafic C CONODONTS
rocks low in the section, as observed in Gambier Bay and
elsewhere. Conglomerate horizons are present in both the FIG. 4. Composite stratigraphic column of the Upper Triassic section at
Greens Creek.
footwall and immediate hanging wall as described above, but
neither horizon can be unequivocally correlated to the con-
glomerate marker horizon commonly present at the base of
the section. The highly altered and foliated nature of the foot- Permian, or older lithologic association in the Greens Creek
wall phyllite also distinguishes it from other mafic volcanic stratigraphic column shown in Figure 4.
rocks low in the section and invites comparison to other, older Felsic volcanic rocks are rare in the Alexander Triassic met-
mafic units that display similar styles of deformation. N. A. allogenic belt north of the felsic tuffs on the northwest shore
Duke (writ. commun., 2002) assigned the footwall phyllites to of Woewodski Island and the Keku rhyolites in Keku Strait.
the Devonian (?) Retreat Group. S. M. Karl (pers. commun. Recent mapping (S. M. Karl, pers. commun., 2004) has iden-
2004) mapped a metamorphic unit of mixed lithologic units tified outcrops of rhyolite of probable Triassic age on central
including black phyllite, greenschist, and Devonian marble Admiralty Island along the shoreline west of Swan Island
on the north side of Greens Creek, stratigraphically beneath (Fig. 1). Thin units of quartz-sericite-pyrite–altered trachyan-
the Cannery Formation and Hyd Group. However, recent desite, rhyolite, and felsic tuffaceous rocks associated with the
structural interpretations by Kennecott Greens Creek Mining RW zone (also called the Little Jarvis and Upper Main occur-
Company staff (A. West, pers. commun., 2005), correlate rence) of the Glacier Creek (Main) deposit in the Mount
greenstones associated with thin, conodont-bearing carbon- Henry Clay area (Fig. 1; Green et al., 2003) constitutes the
ate lenses of Triassic (Norian) age on the ridge to the south of northernmost occurrence of Upper Triassic felsic volcanic
the mine with the footwall phyllites. These data suggest a rocks. At Windy Craggy, felsic volcanic rocks are absent and
Late Triassic age for the footwall and this interpretation is their position low in the section is occupied by fine-grained
shown in our regional stratigraphic correlation diagram (Fig. clastic sedimentary rocks and mafic sills (MacIntyre and
2). However, in the absence of direct evidence of a Late Tri- Schroeter, 1985; Mihalynuk et al., 1993; Peter and Scott,
assic age we assign the footwall to an uncertain Late Triassic, 1999).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 95
96 TAYLOR ET AL.
Middle sedimentary section
In the southern portion of the Alexander Triassic metallo-
genic belt, the rhyolites are overlain by dolomitic limestones
that in places contain ooids (Muffler, 1967) and abundant fos-
sils (Muffler, 1967; Berg, 1973), indicative of a shallow marine
depositional environment (Muffler, 1967). The carbonate
portion of the section also contains carbonate turbidites and
carbonate breccias with fining-upward sequences (e.g., Ne-
henta Bay of Gravina Island, Screen Islands), indicative of the
destruction of a shallow carbonate ramp during the resump-
tion of rifting following a brief period of quiescence. The
limestones are present as 15-m-high cliffs on the Cornwallis
peninsula but thin dramatically northward. They occur dis-
continuously in the Duncan Canal area and across Admiralty
Island. In Gambier Bay the limestones are present as a locally
exposed carbonate and/or dolomite breccia near the base of
the sedimentary section. In the Cliff Creek cirque, several
kilometers southeast of Greens Creek, a thin carbonate bed
occurs just below the capping Hyd basalts. At several loca-
tions along Gallagher Ridge immediately south of the Greens
Creek mine, thin carbonate beds are intercalated with the
greenstones described above. Underground at Greens Creek,
thin discontinuous beds of fossiliferous limestone with frag-
ments of Halobia establish a Late Triassic age for carbonates
in the footwall of the orebody. Unfortunately, the highly al-
tered nature of the footwall carbonate rocks and their com-
monly brecciated, foliated texture makes the nature of the
phyllite-carbonate contact uncertain. The footwall carbonate
rocks may well be carbonate debris flows. North of Admiralty
Island, discrete limestone units appear to be missing from the
section.
The northward disappearance of the limestones from the
section is accompanied by a corresponding increase in car-
bonaceous shales, indicative of deeper water settings. As far
north as Keku Strait (Figs. 1, 2), the middle portion of the
section is composed of very limy, arkosic sedimentary rocks
characteristic of a proximal, carbonate-rich source on the
flanks of the Alexander terrane. From Zarembo Island north-
ward, the sedimentary section contains more graphitic, pyritic
black shale, indicative of an anoxic to euxinic, sediment-
starved depositional environment distal to the flanks of the
rift. At Greens Creek, the shales (argillites) are intercalated
with dolomitic limestone, and at Windy Craggy the black
shales are markedly calcareous (Peter and Scott, 1999).
Upper mafic volcanic section
Most everywhere throughout southeastern Alaska and adja-
cent British Columbia the Triassic stratigraphy is capped by a
thick (200–600 m) sequence of basalts, including the Mount
Chapin Formation on Gravina Island (Berg, 1973), the
Hound Island Formation in the Keku Strait (Muffler, 1967),
the Hyd Group basalts on Admiralty Island (Lathram et al.,
1965), the Jarvis basalts (informal) in the Mount Henry Clay
area (Forbes et al., 1989), and the Tatshenshini basalts (infor-
mal) of northwestern British Columbia (MacIntyre and
Schroeter, 1985). These basalts are massive to pillowed and
commonly show spectacular volcaniclastic textures. In hand
specimen and thin section, the basalts are vesicular and mostly
aphanitic; minor porphyritic-aphanitic varieties contain relict
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
phenocrysts of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and hornblende,
and rare olivine. Compared to the generally foliated Paleozoic
greenstones of the Alexander terrane, these Norian-aged
basalts are relatively undeformed (Lathram et al., 1965; Berg,
1973). In the absence of the basal conglomerates, the thick
sequence of greenstones overlying the sedimentary portion of
the section is the most distinctive feature of the Late Triassic
stratigraphy.
Geochemistry of Upper Triassic Basalts and
Rhyolites of the Alexander Triassic Metallogenic Belt in
Southeastern Alaska and British Columbia
Immobile element geochemistry and discriminant analysis
Whole-rock geochemical data for Upper Triassic igneous
rocks at mineral occurrences and unmineralized outcrops
throughout southeastern Alaska and British Columbia were
obtained in order to evaluate the petrogenetic setting of the
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt and to check for varia-
tion in chemistry throughout its length. This was done by ex-
amining the chemistry of two distinct volcano-stratigraphic
units at a number of key locations throughout the belt. We
have concentrated on the lithogeochemistry of the rhyolitic
volcanic rocks that are present near the base of the Triassic
section in the southern and central portions of the belt and
the distinctive basaltic rocks that cap the section throughout
the belt. In the few cases where gabbroic rock chemistry is re-
ported, they are interpreted to be the subvolcanic sources of
the overlying basaltic rocks. A few analyses are of basaltic
rocks from the thin flows near the base of the section in Dun-
can Canal and Gambier Bay and from just below the Glacier
Creek main zone sulfide lens in the Mount Henry Clay area.
Two samples from the immediate footwall and one from the
immediate hanging wall of the North orebody were collected
at Windy Craggy and correspond to the middle volcanic divi-
sion of the Tats group (informal; Peter and Scott, 1999).
These analyses are shown with asterisks in Table 1 and in the
accompanying figures.
Major, minor, and trace element abundances were deter-
mined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), by (lithium metaborate
fusion) inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-
MS), and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spec-
troscopy (ICP-AES) in the USGS laboratories in Denver.
General analytical methods and information on accuracy and
precision of each method are described in Taggart (2002). In-
formation on the lithium metaborate fusion ICP-MS analyti-
cal method used to obtain rare earth and high field strength
elemental (REE and HFSE, respectively) data is available in
Meier and Slowik (2002). Lower limits of detection (LOD)
are 3σ values that are calculated for each instrument run
based on multiple analyses of reagent blanks. Multiple analy-
ses of internal laboratory standards are used to calibrate the
instrument response, and then accuracy and precision of the
analyses are verified to be within published limits by analysis
of several USGS standard reference materials that are in-
cluded in each run. Due to the nature of the ICP-MS tech-
nique, lower limits of detection vary between analytical runs.
Also, there was an instrumentation change during the course
of this study, with a resulting order-of magnitude increase in
instrument sensitivity for analyses performed after 1994,
96
 TABLE 1. Geochemical Data for Triassic Basaltic and Rhyolitic Rocks at Key Locations in Southeastern Alaska and Northwestern British Columbia
(asterisks indicate samples not collected from the uppermost basalt)
Central Greens Greens Mt.
Duncan Gambier Admiralty Creek Creek Mansfield Henry Windy
Location Annette Is. Gravina Is. Keku Strait Canal Bay Island south north Peninsula Clay Craggy
97ADM- 97ADM- 97ADM- 97ADM- 94WC-
Field no. 93AN-35 93AN-16 96GR-18 96GR-14 92KK-19 93KK-36 98DC-066 96AD-58 54 43A 03 28 94LH-09 RG03*
Lithology Basalt Rhyolite Basalt Rhyolite Basalt Rhyolite Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt*
SiO2 (wt %) 51.1 83.0 40.9 73.6 43.8 71.4 48.0 42.7 55.8 53.6 49.0 47.9 47.1 31.0
Al2O3 19.2 9.0 12.5 13.7 12.6 10.7 13.8 13.4 13.9 15.2 15.4 15.5 13.9 17.3

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Fe(total)O3 10.3 0.5 11.7 0.5 18.2 4.5 13.9 13.5 11.7 9.9 13.2 12.9 12.7 22.3
MgO 3.1 0.2 2.6 0.2 7.3 0.2 5.9 4.8 6.0 6.4 5.8 5.1 5.7 17.6
CaO 7.1 0.0 14.9 0.3 5.3 0.2 10.8 12.4 2.0 4.7 8.2 10.5 7.3 0.8
Na2O 4.3 1.2 2.4 2.0 3.6 <0.15 2.0 2.4 5.1 6.0 2.1 2.4 5.1 0.0
K2O 0.9 4.8 1.1 7.8 0.8 8.1 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.0
TiO2 0.8 0.1 2.3 0.2 3.7 0.2 1.8 2.2 1.8 0.5 2.0 1.7 1.2 1.3
P2O5 0.2 <0.05 0.9 0.1 0.6 <0.05 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.6
MnO 0.2 <0.01 0.3 <0.01 0.3 0.9 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1
LOI 2.5 0.6 9.5 0.9 4.0 3.0 2.6 7.5 2.9 2.5 3.6 2.3 5.7 9.2
CO2 0.1 <0.01 0.0 2.9
Total H2O 3.2 0.6 5.3 0.7
Sum 99.7 99.4 99.0 99.3 99.9 99.0 99.3 99.7 99.9 99.3 99.9 99.2 99.2 100.2
La (ppm) 10 44 29 53 16 120 7.1 8.2 19 11 9.2 7.4 9.8 17
Ce 23 93 69 100 38 180 18 21 40 21 22 19 21 40
Pr 3 12 9.9 13 5.5 24 2.6 3.3 5.3 2.4 3.4 2.7 2.7 5.3
Nd 14 45 46 53 23 75 13 16 23 9.9 16 14 12 22
Sm 2.9 8.2 11 10 6.4 12 3.9 4.6 5.5 2.3 4.5 3.8 3.2 4
Eu 0.96 1.1 3.4 1.6 2.3 0.93 1.4 1.6 1.6 0.68 1.7 1.4 1.1 0.49

97
Gd 2.7 6.3 12 11 7.3 4 5 5.4 6.1 2.6 5.7 4.6 4.5 4.6
Tb 0.53 1 1.8 2 1.4 1.4 0.88 0.92 0.96 0.48 0.93 0.78 0.82 0.81
Dy 3.2 4.9 11 14 8.4 9.8 4.9 5.9 5.7 3 5.6 4.6 5.2 5.1
Ho 0.66 0.99 2.4 3.4 1.6 2.1 1 1.2 1.2 0.68 1.1 0.94 1.2 1.2
Er 1.8 2.8 6.6 11 4.6 6.2 2.9 3.4 3.3 2.2 3.1 2.7 3.5 3.5
Tm 0.27 0.48 0.98 2 0.68 1 0.4 0.5 0.48 0.34 0.43 0.37 0.56 0.54
Yb 1.8 3.3 6.1 14 4.2 6.9 2.9 3 3 2.4 2.8 2.3 3.6 3.3
Hf 2 6 5.2 10 5 10 3.8 3 5.5 2 4.1 4 3 4
Ta <1 <1 0.82 2.4 <1 3 0.61 0.68 4 0.5 0.72 0.6 <3 <3
Rb 15 52 19 73 9.3 120 2.9 11 7.8 <0.5 2.4 8 <1 <1
Y 16 24 56 85 43 56 31 30 31 19 31 25 31 33
Zr 42 160 260 390 130 380 140 110 200 70 200 100 70 97
Nb 1 17 8.1 22 14 49 7.8 6 10 4 8 6 <20 20
Ba 960 2400 350 1000 1200 850 230 81 480 120 72 190 57 <9
Th 2 4.2 3.2 6.5 1 19 0.68 0.88 3.2 2.2 0.69 0.68 2 5
Sc 26 <4 20 22 40 <4 48 30 29 33 31 29 46 28
V 280 <4 99 <5 520 <4 430 520 320 240 360 350 330 220
Cr 25 2 <20 <20 40 <2 130 1400 <20 72 160 190 13 540
Ni 12 <4 -1 5 28 <4 52 52 6 41 61 69 28 200
Co 28 <2 30 <0.5 46 <2 54 44 6.7 44 46 42 46 34
Cu 170 27 18 4 21 4 220 61 <6 36 120 76 72 98
Zn 99 57 160 25 160 71 120 100 20 92 100 89 92 25
METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA

Ga 21 12 28 16 20 45
Sr 1200 44 410 29 690 13 350 160 150 220 240 290 310 33
Cs 0.41 0.49 <2 1.9 2 <0.05 0.1 0.2
Pb <8 <8 3.2 9.7 <4 <8 <2 3 <2 5.7 3.2 2 7 5
Sn <10 <10 3 4 <5 <10 2 0.7 10 10 <4 <4 <5 <5
W 0.52 0.57 <1 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.2
U <200 <200 1.3 2.8 <100 <200 0.15 0.23 1.2 0.78 0.19 0.19 <100 <100
97
98 TAYLOR ET AL.

resulting in lower limits of detection for those analyses. Addi-
tional discussion of the use of ICP-MS analysis for the deter-
mination of trace elements in igneous rocks is available in
Longerich et al. (1990), Jenner et al. (1990), and Jenner
(1996). Data for 14 rhyolitic and 84 basaltic rocks at key loca-
tions are available as a digital supplement to this paper at
<http://www.geoscienceworld.org/> or, for members and sub-
scribers, on the SEG website, <http://www.segweb.org>.
Table 1 shows representative analyses of basaltic and rhyolitic
rocks throughout the belt.
The lithogeochemical data are used to infer the first-order
tectonic setting of the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt
through the use of immobile element-based tectonic discrim-
inant diagrams. We have followed the recommendations and
cautions as explained by Pearce (1996).
In order to highlight south to north geochemical changes of
the two volcanic units throughout the belt, the data have been
organized by key locations at regular intervals. Figure 5 shows
the Upper Triassic igneous whole-rock data plotted on the
immobile element classification diagram of Winchester and
Floyd (1977). The most important feature of the data is that
a bimodal suite of rocks extend from Annette Island north-
ward to the Cornwallis peninsula on the northwestern shore
of Keku Strait. North of Keku Strait, felsic rocks are rare and
the volcanic rocks are predominantly basaltic. The basaltic
rocks mainly plot in the subalkaline basalt and basaltic an-
desite fields, with a few examples of alkaline basalts from the
central and northern parts of the Alexander Triassic metallo-
genic belt.
The felsic volcanic rocks on Annette and Gravina Islands
are calc-alkaline rhyolites with bulk compositions similar to
those of island-arc rocks (Table 1). However, data for the rhy-
olitic rocks at Keku Strait (Cornwallis peninsula suite-Keku
Strait area rhyolite, Fig. 5) consistently plot in the commen-
dite and/or pantellerite to trachyte fields of Winchester and
Floyd (1977). Whereas the peralkaline composition of the
Keku rhyolites is difficult to confirm due to a high degree of
brecciation and alteration, at least some of the samples dis-
play the subequal Na2O + K2O/Al2O3 values (Table 1) that
characterize such rocks (Cole, 1978). This is an important ob-
servation due to the distinctive tectonic setting of such rocks,
which commonly occur in rift-related environments and are
often the indicators of incipient rifting of thickened arc crust
or continental crust (e.g., Smith et al., 1977; Smith and John-
son, 1981; Civetta et al., 1984; Mahood and Baker, 1986; Pin
and Paquette, 1997). The occurrence of felsic volcanism
prior to basaltic volcanism throughout the southern portion of
the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt and the peralkaline

Annette Island-rhyolite
Annette Island-basalt
Gravina Island-rhyolite
Gravina Island-basalt
Keku Strait area-rhyolite Comendite/Pantellerite
1 Keku Strait area-basalt
Duncan Canal area-basalt Phonolite
X Gambier Bay-basalt
+ Central Admiralty Island-basalt Rhyolite
Greens Creek area south-basalt
Greens Creek area north-basalt
Mansfield Peninsula-basalt
Mt. Henry Clay area-basalt Trachyte
Zr/TiO2

0.1 Windy Craggy-basalt Rhyodacite/Dacite

Trachyandesite

Andesite
+
+
++
0.01 +X + Basanite/
X Nephelinite
+ X X
Andesite/Basalt X Alkaline Basalt

Subalkaline Basalt
after Winchester and Floyd (1977)
0.001
0.01 0.1 1 10

Nb/Y
FIG. 5. Volcanic rock classification diagram of Winchester and Floyd (1977) based on immobile element ratios, showing
the composition of southeastern Alaska Upper Triassic volcanic rocks analyzed for this study. Note the distinctly bimodal
basalt-rhyolite distribution, and the commendite-pantellerite to trachytic compositions of the Keku rhyolites (Cornwallis
Peninsula suite).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 98
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA 99

composition of the Keku Strait rhyolites are typical features of
intra- and back-arc rifts (Wilson, 1989). The transition shown
in Figure 5 from calc-alkaline to peralkaline rhyolites north-
ward along the belt is also consistent with a shift from a prox-
imal-arc to an arc-slope or basin-margin setting.
Application of discriminant analysis to the basaltic rocks of
the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt provides additional
information regarding their petrogenetic and tectonic origins.
We use three ternary plots based upon the immobile elements
Ti, Zr, Th, Nb, and Y (Fig. 6A-F), MORB-normalized trace el-
ement plots of Pearce (1996), and chondrite-normalized REE
plots (Fig. 7A-V). The Ti-Zr-Y diagram of Pearce and Cann
(1973; Fig. 6A, D) is most effective for separating WPB from
those showing either destructive plate margin (volcanic-arc
basalt, VAB), including both calc-alkaline and tholeiitic basalt
trends, CAB and IAT, respectively) or MORB compositions.
Transitional processes such as attenuation of continental
lithosphere cause trends from the WPB to the MORB field
and assimilation of upper crust results in a shift of these com-
positions toward the CAB field (Pearce, 1996). The Nb-Zr-Y
plot (Fig. 6B, E; Meschede, 1986) is similar to the first plot but
has the advantage of providing a discriminant between normal
and enriched (or transitional) MORB compositions. The Zr-
Th-Nb discriminant diagram of Wood (1980; Fig. 6C, F) is
most efficient at separating VAB from MORB-WPB composi-
tions and at separating calc-alkaline and tholeiitic VAB trends.
As with the previous two diagrams, complex tectonic settings
result in transitional data arrays between fields.
Data for the basaltic volcanic rocks that cap the Triassic
section throughout the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt
exhibit some scatter that is likely attributable to alteration ef-
fects as well as the likelihood that there are geochemical differ-
ences between individual flows in the capping basaltic unit that
were not resolved at the scale of this study. However, we suggest
that the analyses can be roughly assigned to two basic groups
based on how they plot in this series of discrimination diagrams.
Basalts from locations predominantly in the central portion of
the belt (Keku Strait to the Mansfield peninsula) show a transi-
tional nature with compositions characteristic of WPB and a
spread between variably enriched or depleted MORB and CAB
areas of the diagrams (Group 1; Fig. 6A-C). The second group
is composed of basalts from the southern and northern ends of
the belt and the area immediately surrounding the Greens
Creek mine (Annette Island, Greens Creek area south, and
Mount Henry Clay area). This group plots in arrays that are
transitional between the CAB and variably enriched MORB
areas of the diagrams. (Group 2; Fig. 6D-F). Rocks from several
locations along the belt (Gravina Island, Gambier Bay, Greens
Creek area north, and the Mansfield peninsula) have composi-
tions characteristic of both groups. Notable exceptions are the
rocks from Keku Strait, which exhibit a shift toward alkaline in-
traplate compositions in the Zr-Th-Nb (Wood, 1980) diagram
and the consistent N- to E-MORB or alkaline intraplate com-
positions of the Windy Craggy basalts.
Trace and REE plots of the basaltic rocks of the Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt (Fig. 7A-V) generally support the
division of rocks into two groups. The first group of rocks that
plot in the transitional WPB to E-MORB to CAB arrays in
Figure 6A-C have gently sloping profiles enriched in Th, Nb,
and Zr, and depleted in Y, which are characteristic of intraplate

Ti/100 Nb*2 AI=WP Alkali Basalt (Zr/39)/3

A=Island Arc Tholeiites (IAT)
B=Mid-ocean Ridge Basalts AII=WP Alkali Basalt and WP Tholeiite A=N-MORB
(MORB), IAT, and CAB B=E-MORB B=E-MORB and
C=Calc-alkaline Basalts (CAB) C=WP Tholeiite and VAB WP Tholeiite
A) D=Within-plate Basalts (WPB) B) D=N-MORB and VAB C) A C=alkaline WPB
IAT D=VAB
GROUP 1
AI Keku Strait area-basalt
Duncan Canal area-basalt
X Gambier Bay-basalt +
D + central Admiralty Island basalt D B
A AII X
X Greens Creek area north-basalt
X B Mansfield Peninsula-basalt +
XX + +
++ + X
X
+ ++
+ + B ++ + X +
+
+ XX X + C
C X
C CAB
after Pearce and Cann (1973) D
after Meschede (1986) after Wood (1980)
X
Zr Y*3 Zr/4 +
Y Th Nb/16
Ti/100 Nb*2 GROUP 2 (Zr/39)/3
Annette Island-basalt
Gravina Island-basalt
Greens Creek area south-basalt
Mt. Henry Clay area-basalt A
D) E) Windy Craggy-basalt F) IAT

AI

AII D
D B
A
B

B
C C C
D CAB
after Pearce and Cann (1973) after Meschede (1986) after Wood (1980)
Zr Y*3 Zr/4 Y Th Nb/16
FIG. 6. A-F. Discrimination diagrams showing compositions of southeastern Alaska Upper Triassic basalts. (A) through
(C) show data from locations within the central Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt and are characterized by transitional
chemistry that reflects a stronger intraplate signature than samples from the north and south end of the belt and from the
Greens Creek mine as shown in (D) through (F). The second set of diagrams indicates signatures transitional between WPB
and/or E-MORB and CAB.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 99
100 TAYLOR ET AL.

GROUP 1
100 100
93KK-24
Keku Strait area basalts 92KK-21

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

93KK-23
92KK-19
rock/MORB

93KK-67
10 93KK-66
98KK-31
10

A. B.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
100
100
93DC-23A
Duncan Canal area-basalts 93DC-22

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

98SK091A
93DC-21
93DC-30
rock/MORB

10 98SK082A
93DC-24B
98DC-067 10 98DC-066
98DC-077 98SK139A
93DC-44
98SK084A
1 98DC-062*
98DC-063*
98DC-078
D. 98DC-055*
C. 1
98SK076A
0.1 La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y 100
100

Gambier Bay basalts 92GB-42

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

96AD-58
92GB-22*
97ADM-80*
10 92GB-37*
rock/MORB

92GB-47
10

E. F.
1
0.1 La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y 100
100

central Admiralty Island-basalts 97ADM-95

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

97JCW-01
97ADM-54
97JCW-04
10 97ADM-88
rock/MORB

10

G. H.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
100 100

Greens Creek area north-basalts 96AD-60

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

96AD-61
97ADM-03
10 96AD-59
rock/MORB

10

I. J.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
100 100

Mansfield Peninsula-basalts 96ADM-08

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

97ADM-28
97ADM-72
96ADM-01
10
96ADM-05
rock/MORB

10

K. L.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb

FIG. 7. (A) through (V). MORB-normalized abbreviated immobile trace elements (after Pearce, 1996) and REE plots of
data for samples from locations throughout the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt corresponding to the samples and loca-
tions shown in the discriminant plots. Chondrite values from Boynton (1984).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 100

 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA 101

GROUP 2
100 100

Annette Island basalts 93AN-15B

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

93AN-35
93AN-29
93AN-13
10 96AN-05
rock/MORB

93AN-22
93AN-37 10

M. N.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
100 100

Gravina Island basalts and gabbros 96GR-20 basalt

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

96GR-18 basalt
96GR-22 gabbro
96GR-21 gabbro
10
rock/MORB

10

O. P.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
100 100
Greens Creek area south-basalts 96ADM-23
NAD T4-5-8

REE Sample/REE Chondrite

96ADM-24
97ADM-43A
10 NAD T4-5-9
rock/MORB

NAD T4-5-10
97LG-06
97LG-08 10

1
97LG-02
97LG-10
97LG-07
Q. R.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb

100 100
94LH-06
94LH-07
Mt. Henry Clay area-basalts
REE Sample/REE Chondrite

MZ-1-05*
94LJ-12
94MZ-09
10 P94-1-19
rock/MORB

P94-1-22
94LH-09 10
P94-1-24

S. T.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb

ALKALINE INTRAPLATE
100 100
(WPB)
Windy Craggy-basalts 94WC-RG03*
REE Sample/REE Chondrite

94WC-WP06*
94WC-WP10*
10
rock/MORB

10

U. V.
0.1 1
Th Nb Ce Zr Ti Y La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb

FIG. 7. (Cont.)

rocks and of complex tectonic settings. Similarly, the REE pat-
terns show uniformly smooth slopes without negative Eu
anomalies. The second group of rocks that plots in an array
transitional between CAB and N-MORB in the discriminant
plots in Figure 6D-F are all characterized by depletions in
Nb, Zr, Ti, and Y, which are the hallmark of destructive mar-
gin basalts (Wilson, 1989). The REE profiles of these rocks
generally have steeper LREE profiles and a slight negative
Eu anomaly, which probably indicates plagioclase fractiona-
tion and a subducted slab component in the melt.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 101

102 TAYLOR ET AL.

Radiogenic isotope geochemistry
A suite of Late Triassic igneous rocks ranging from ultra-
mafic to rhyolitic in composition were collected from
throughout the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt and ana-
lyzed for their Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotope compositions in
order to characterize the tectonic environment(s) and provide
information regarding the setting(s) of the VMS-style miner-
alization. A systematic procedure from a single aliquot disso-
lution of whole-rock powders allowed for analyses of both iso-
topic systems in each sample. Data and analytical techniques
are presented in Table 2. With the exception of two samples
from Gambier Bay and a sample from the immediate footwall
at Windy Craggy, all basalts analyzed are from the uppermost
Triassic basalt. As with previous radiogenic isotope studies
(Sampson et al., 1989, 1990, 1991), Sr-Nd isotope analyses of
pre-Triassic rocks of the Alexander terrane and of footwall
phyllites at Greens Creek (W. R. Premo and C. D. Taylor,
unpub. data) suggest derivation from a depleted mantle
source and are consistent with isotopic signatures of oceanic
island arcs.
Initial isotopic compositions at 215 Ma (the average age of
host rocks: W. R. Premo and C. D. Taylor, unpub. data) of
metabasalts and metagabbros for the majority of the suite var-
ied between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7036 to 0.7058 and εNd = 4 to 9.5
(Table 2, Fig. 8), indicating derivation from mantle sources
and most likely in oceanic magmatic environments; elevated
Sr values may be the product of alteration. The data overlap
with both modern oceanic island basalts (OIB) and island-arc
basalts (IAB). Exceptions to these ranges of isotopic compo-
sitions include metabasalt and microgabbro from Windy
Craggy and the Upper Cap occurrence in the Mount Henry
Clay area that has significantly lower initial εNd values (~2)
compared to the rest of the suite. These differences may in-
dicate a slightly more enriched mantle source toward the
north end of the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt. Radi-
ogenic isotope data on footwall phyllites at Greens Creek (W.
R. Premo and C. D. Taylor, unpub. data) are bimodal (εNd ~8
and 2), which is consistent with the intrusion of petrographi-
cally distinct and compositionally primitive Late Triassic gab-
broic sills into the footwall basaltic pile (Taylor et al., 2000a).

DEPLETED ENRICHED
(MANTLE) (CRUSTAL)
DEPLETED
MORB extent of data
10 from Stikine terrane (MANTLE)
field (Samson et al. '89)

GR IAB
8 AN (island arc basalt)
GB GB*
field
KK MZ GB*
GB DC
Initial epsilon Nd

6 GC
MP LH
GB GC LJ
Most depleted data GC Basalts &
from Alexander terrane Metabasalts
4 (Samson et al. '89)
Gabbros &
Ultramafic Rocks

WC*
OIB UC WC
2 (oceanic island
basalt) field

0
extent of most data
from Alexander terrane
All WR initials
ENRICHED
(Samson et al. '89) at 215 Ma
(CRUSTAL)
-2
0.7025 0.7035 0.7045 0.7055 0.7065 0.7075
87 86
Initial Sr / Sr
FIG. 8. Plot of εNd vs. 87Sr/86Sr initial ratio at 215 Ma of Upper Triassic mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks from through-
out the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt shown in relationship to average fields for MORB, IAB, and OIB. Also shown
are previously established fields for the Alexander and Stikine terranes (Sampson et al., 1989). Data are presented in Table
2. AN = Annette Island, GR = Gravina Island, KK = Keku Strait area, DC = Duncan Canal area, GB = Gambier Bay area,
GC = Greens Creek area, MP = Mansfield peninsula, in the Mount Henry Clay area: LH = Low Herbert, LJ = Little Jarvis,
MZ = Glacier Creek (Main zone), UC = Upper Cap occurrences, and WC = Windy Craggy.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 102

 TABLE 2. Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd Analytical Data for Igneous Whole-Rock Samples from the Alexander Triassic Metallogenic Belt (asterisks indicate samples not collected from the uppermost basalt)

Sample Rb * Sr * Sm * Nd * 87Rb/ Rb/Sr 87Sr/ 87/86 147Sm/ 147/144 143Nd/ 143/144 Initial εNd(total)
Name (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) 86Sr 1 2σ 86Sr 1 2σ 144Nd 1 2σ 144Nd 1 2σ 87Sr/86Sr 2

Southern occurrences
Annette Island
Basalt
93 AN-22 4.07 17.63 n.d. 0.13947 0.00041 0.512829 0.000015 5.34
93 AN-29 5.04 152.0 3.67 15.75 0.09592 0.00014 0.705302 0.000043 0.14087 0.00019 0.512940 0.000009 0.705009 7.47
93 AN-29-2 5.66 188.2 4.32 18.45 0.08696 0.00230 0.705277 0.000014 0.14142 0.00013 0.512938 0.000014 0.705011 7.41

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Gravina Island
Basalt
96 GR-20 17.06 410.1 4.24 13.54 0.12033 0.00072 0.704461 0.000027 0.18886 0.00030 0.513042 0.000015 0.704093 8.14
Microgabbro
96 GR-21 3.08 10.60 n.d. 0.17568 0.00026 0.513079 0.000015 9.22
96 GR-22 3.23 11.30 n.d. 0.17266 0.00032 0.513088 0.000023 9.48
Rhyolite
96 GR-12 76.59 27.4 13.34 62.63 8.08484 0.01147 0.720263 0.000021 0.12860 0.00035 0.512772 0.000014 (0.695542) 4.52

Central occurrences
Keku Strait
Basalt
92 KK-19 8.86 1171.6 6.29 23.04 0.02186 0.00003 0.703589 0.000023 0.16493 0.00021 0.512937 0.0000097 0.703522 6.74
93 KK-66 6.13 22.92 n.d. 0.16148 0.00046 0.513029 0.000014 8.64
Rhyolite
93 KK-32 92.60 21.9 9.71 58.42 12.26715 0.01702 0.729196 0.000014 0.10035 0.000269 0.512704 0.000011 (0.691687) 3.97
93 KK-36 99.27 11.9 12.23 72.94 24.14483 0.09211 0.747950 0.000100 0.10123 0.00032 0.512698 0.000015 (0.674123) 3.83
93 KK-61 7.66 43.10 failed 0.10735 0.00019 0.512709 0.000010 3.88

103
93 KK-61-2 111.87 12.7 8.21 47.26 25.55704 0.04615 0.749786 0.000015 0.10494 0.00020 0.512695 0.000015 (0.671640) 3.67
Ultramafic rocks
92 KK-18 4.44 16.15 n.d. 0.16597 0.00028 0.512958 0.000014 7.13
Duncan Canal
Basalt
93 DC-24B 10.83 373.4 3.89 13.09 0.08390 0.00333 0.706007 0.000021 0.17959 0.00023 0.512957 0.000015 0.705750 6.74
Gambier Bay
Basalt
92GB-22* 4.1 233 2.7 7.3 0.05042 0.00008 0.705075 0.000022 0.22327 0.00051 0.513050 0.000042 0.704924 7.31
92GB-80* 40.9 199 4.6 17.0 0.59302 0.00237 0.706549 0.000031 0.16172 0.00022 0.512973 0.000034 0.705234 7.52
92GB-80-2* 41.3 198 4.5 16.9 0.60334 0.00297 0.706535 0.000020 0.16253 0.00038 0.512971 0.000028 0.705206 7.46
92GB-42 3.6 708 4.6 19.2 0.01467 0.00001 0.704159 0.000028 0.14578 0.00020 0.512939 0.000027 0.704032 7.29
96AD-58 8.5 125 4.4 15.4 0.19617 0.0004 0.704577 0.000025 0.17225 0.00015 0.512928 0.000012 0.703977 6.37
Basaltic dike
92GB-59 7.3 122 2.0 7.2 0.17383 0.00087 0.704534 0.000017 0.17114 0.00035 0.512868 0.000022 0.704299 5.22
Greens Creek south
Basalt
97LG-17 41.7 158 0.71 3.0 0.76260 0.0007 0.707035 0.000022 0.14490 0.00009 0.512804 0.000014 0.704703 4.70
97LG-17-2 41.4 189 0.75 3.1 0.63169 0.0023 0.707015 0.000023 0.14517 0.00007 0.512837 0.000023 0.705084 5.34
Gabbro/microgabbro
97LG-69 3.53 318 1.8 6.0 0.03216 0.0001 0.704303 0.000021 0.17862 0.00010 0.512920 0.000010 0.704205 6.03
METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA

97LG-69-2 3.35 331 1.8 6.2 0.02926 0.0003 0.704272 0.000018 0.17775 0.00025 0.512922 0.000015 0.704183 6.10
97LG-70 3.46 151 1.3 3.3 0.06641 0.0001 0.704698 0.000041 0.22646 0.00025 0.512963 0.000017 0.704495 5.58
97LG-70-2 3.72 165 1.2 3.2 0.06503 0.0004 0.704756 0.000025 0.23365 0.00010 0.512965 0.000014 0.704557 5.41
97LG-71 23.2 160 1.9 6.8 0.41874 0.0533 0.705487 0.000014 0.17076 0.00017 0.512892 0.000010 0.704225 5.70
103
 104

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
TABLE 2. (Cont.)

Sample Rb * Sr * Sm * Nd * 87Rb/ Rb/Sr 87Sr/ 87/86 147Sm/ 147/144 143Nd/ 143/144 Initial εNd(total)
Name (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) 86Sr 1 2σ 86Sr 1 2σ 144Nd 1 2σ 144Nd 1 2σ 87Sr/86Sr 2

Greens Creek north

Gabbro/microgabbro
97LG-45 15.1 219 4.4 15.5 0.19996 0.0002 0.705159 0.000060 0.17358 0.00025 0.512913 0.000016 0.704548 6.04
97LG-45-2 15.9 260 4.1 14.5 0.17726 0.0008 0.705190 0.000016 0.17211 0.00030 0.512926 0.000014 0.704648 6.34
97LG-82 4.00 238 2.8 10.3 0.04891 0.0001 0.704012 0.000024 0.16266 0.00016 0.512899 0.000022 0.703862 6.05
97LG-82-2 4.00 241 2.7 10.1 0.04783 0.0003 0.704006 0.000015 0.17539 0.00013 0.512854 0.000015 0.703860 5.23
Gst-2, NW1/4, Sec 6 0.75 144 3.4 11.6 0.01515 0.0001 0.704745 0.000014 0.17539 0.00013 0.512957 0.000010 0.704699 6.85
Mansfield peninsula
basalt
96ADM-01 20.6 171 3.2 10.9 0.34844 0.0010 0.704726 0.000021 0.17635 0.00014 0.512911 0.000015 0.703661 5.93
Northern occurrences
Mount Henry Clay
basalt

104
P94-1-19 0.22 465.0 3.56 15.22 0.00138 0.000001 0.703784 0.00002 0.14141 0.00014 0.512920 0.000015 0.703780 7.06
94 LJ-12 36.53 370.6 2.83 11.29 0.28513 0.00110 0.706421 0.000019 0.15137 0.00007 0.512840 0.000012 0.705549 5.23
94 UC-08 26.40 104.3 4.89 18.98 0.73202 0.00215 0.706679 0.000019 0.15548 0.00014 0.512694 0.000008 0.704441 2.26
TAYLOR ET AL.

94 LH-09 0.36 281.3 3.32 11.84 0.00372 0.00022 0.705018 0.000019 0.16944 0.00018 0.512884 0.000014 0.705007 5.59
Windy Craggy
Basalt
94 WC RG-04* 1.37 51.3 5.98 33.68 0.07730 0.00019 0.706058 0.000028 0.10719 0.00008 0.512646 0.000015 0.705822 2.65
Microgabbro
94 WC-WP01 44.46 1088.7 7.79 46.67 0.11811 0.00023 0.705604 0.000051 0.10076 0.00018 0.512631 0.000010 0.705243 2.54
94 WC-WP01-2 43.68 1219.3 7.98 47.33 0.10362 0.00536 0.705550 0.000011 0.10176 0.00021 0.512590 0.000015 0.705233 1.71

Notes: n.d. = not determined, failed = some mass spectrometric runs failed and were not reattempted
1 Isotopic ratios corrected for blank and mass fractionation, 87Sr/86Sr data are normalized to 86Sr/88Sr = 0.1194 and adjusted for instrumental bias to 87Sr/86Sr = 0.710265 for NBS SRM 987 standard;

the mean value of 87Sr/86Sr for 30 analyses the Sr standard was 0.710265 ± 10; isotopic ratios corrected for blank and mass fractionation, 143Nd/144Nd data are normalized to 146Nd/144Nd = 0.7219 and
adjusted for instrumental bias to 143Nd/144Nd = 0.511860 for the La Jolla Nd standard; the mean value of 143Nd/144Nd for 30 analyses of the La Jolla Nd standard was 0.511865 ± 10
2 Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and initial eNd values are calculated using an age of 215 Ma; l = 1.42 × 10-11/yr, l = 6.54 x 10-12/yr; numbers in parentheses indicate open isotopic behavior where present

day (143Nd/144Nd)CHUR = 0.512636, and (147Sm/144Nd)CHUR = 0.1967; CHUR = chondritic uniform reservoir
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
Hyd Group basalts have a relatively primitive isotopic signa-
ture (εNd = 8–9) consistent with derivation from a depleted
mantle source.
Recalculated Sr-Nd values (at 215 Ma) for various Alexan-
der and Stikine terrane rocks first analyzed by Sampson et al.
(1989) are similar to or slightly more enriched than values for
the Late Triassic suite of igneous rocks, indicating that incor-
poration of significant amounts of older Alexander crustal ma-
terial could have affected the Sr-Nd isotope systematics of the
Late Triassic igneous suite. It is possible that Late Triassic ig-
neous rocks were derived from a mixture of MORB and en-
riched mantle sources or MORB that was contaminated with
slightly older, more enriched, Alexander terrane crust.
Metarhyolitic and andesitic rocks, mostly collected from
southern occurrences (Keku Strait and Gravina Island), have
consistent initial εNd values at ~3.9 but disturbed 87Sr/86Sr val-
ues, suggesting a slightly more enriched source or greater
amounts of crustal contamination than the basalt-gabbro
suite, yet still within the range of depleted mantle values.
Late Triassic Mineral Occurrences of Southeastern Alaska
The northward change in depositional environment and
volcanic host-rock chemistry in Upper Triassic strata is ac-
companied by a northward transition from epithermal-type
base metal occurrences having a relatively simple mineralogy,
to sulfosalt-enriched polymetallic VMS occurrences, and fi-
nally to larger Cu-Co–bearing occurrences with stratiform
morphologies.
Mineral occurrences in the southern Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt
Mineral occurrences on Annette and Gravina islands are
characterized by structurally controlled, discontinuous veins,
breccias, and pod-shaped bodies, and less commonly by small
stratiform lenses. They are Pb-Zn-Ag-Ba-(Cu) rich, with a rel-
atively simple sulfide mineralogy and occur at or near the con-
tact between felsic volcanic rocks and overlying fossiliferous
and locally oolitic limestone. In places, the limestone is
dolomitized and brecciated. A pervasive orange to black iron-
and manganese-rich hydrothermal alteration locally colors the
otherwise medium gray dolomite (e.g., Nehenta Bay on Grav-
ina Island; Fig. 9A). Where this alteration is most intense, the
matrix of the dolomite breccia consists of quartz and iron-rich
dolomite cement with sparsely disseminated sulfides. Solution
cavities are present and commonly have inward-projecting eu-
hedral crystals of quartz, late dolomite, and sulfides. Textu-
rally, the hydrothermal features are similar to those in Missis-
sippi Valley-type deposits (Leach and Sangster, 1993).
Examples of the pod-shaped and vein-like occurrences are
numerous, especially on Annette Island, and include barite-
chalcopyrite-sphalerite-galena pods (Fig. 9B) associated with
the altered gabbroic dike on the Sylburn peninsula (Berg 17:
Berg, 1972). The best example of the small stratiform occur-
rences is also located on the Sylburn peninsula of Annette Is-
land. Four holes drilled in 1976 at two locations intersected
low-grade strata-bound barite-sulfide intervals, one reaching
21.3 m in thickness with an average grade of 16 percent
BaSO4 and minor Pb, Zn, and Ag (D. C. McCrillis, unpub. re-
port, 1976: Berg and Clautice, 1982). A 1- to 2-Mt deposit
averaging 32 percent BaSO4, 2 to 3 percent combined Pb and
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 105
105
Zn, and 28 g/t Ag was estimated based on the drilling results
and the persistence of soil geochemical anomalies (T. Eng,
unpub. report for HOMEX, 1983, 39 p.; Taylor, 1993).
Epigenetic, vein-like mineral occurrences are also present
on Annette and Gravina Islands and are typified by occur-
rences in the Crab Bay area on the east side of Annette Is-
land. Mineralization here occurs predominantly at and near
the contact of rhyolitic volcaniclastic rocks and locally
dolomitized limestone. Discontinuous and generally small
ribbon and ladder quartz veins occurring as en echelon sets
tens to hundreds of meters long are best developed within
the limestone (Hawley and Assoc., unpub. report 1975). They
contain sphalerite, galena, and rare chalcopyrite, malachite,
tetrahedrite, barite, and possibly stibnite. The largest vein is
0.45 m thick and contains 30 to 50 percent sulfides over an ex-
posed length of 6 m. Minor galena and sphalerite is also ir-
regularly disseminated throughout the limestone.
Mineral occurrences in the central Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt
Mineral occurrences in the middle of the Alexander Trias-
sic metallogenic belt are transitional between structurally
controlled types that are interpreted to have formed in a shal-
low-water, near-arc setting and stratiform deposits that are
considered to have formed in a deeper water, rifted basin-
margin setting. The stratiform deposits tend to be polymetal-
lic (Fe-Pb-Zn-Ag-Ba (-Cu-Au-Sb-Hg-Mn-Mo)). They are
larger than occurrences to the south and have more pro-
nounced silica-barite-carbonate alteration. Greens Creek is
the best example. Other examples include a number of oc-
currences on Woewodski Island in Duncan Canal, Pyrola on
Admiralty Island, as well as the Glacier Creek (Main), Upper
Cap, and other deposits on both sides of the border in the
Mount Henry Clay area.
Structurally controlled mineral occurrences in the central
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt are similar to those de-
scribed in the southern end of the belt. They occur as far
north as the latitude of Keku Strait, Woewodski Island, and
southern Admiralty Island. Numerous small, epigenetic
barite-sphalerite-galena (-chalcopyrite) showings occur on
the islets and shoreline of the Cornwallis peninsula in the
Keku Strait area (Fig. 1). The majority consist of weakly min-
eralized, irregular pods and veins of massive to bladed, pink
to white barite with minor sulfides. Less commonly, colloform
banded textures suggestive of mineral growth in open space
or in unlithified sediments are present (Fig. 9C). The collo-
form banded vein shown in Figure 9C also exhibits a close
spatial relationship with a 1-m-wide mafic dike which has 1-
cm-thick galena veins along its margins. With few exceptions
these occurrences are localized at the contact between the
Keku rhyolite and the overlying Cornwallis limestone, which
is marked by widespread iron- and manganese-rich hy-
drothermal alteration. Two of the largest, the Kuiu zinc de-
posit and the Hungerford Creek occurrence, consist of stock-
work- and breccia-textured Cornwallis limestone cemented
and replaced by sphalerite, galena, and pyrite (Fig. 9D).
A nearly identical style of mineralized limestone breccia
associated with mafic dikes is present at the Taylor Creek
occurrence on the west side of Duncan Canal (Fig. 1). The
occurrences are hosted entirely in a dolomitic limestone that
106 TAYLOR ET AL.

overlies a penetratively foliated chlorite-calcite- (muscovite-
quartz) phyllite, similar to the footwall rocks at Greens Creek.
A Carnian (early Late Triassic) conodont age has been as-
signed to the limestone at Taylor Creek (A. Harris, writ. com-
mun., 1998). Mineralization here has two distinct styles. The
first and most prevalent style of mineralization is best exposed
in a 1.6-m-thick subhorizontal band over the top of the dis-
covery trench (Taylor, 2003). It consists of irregularly distrib-
uted veins, patches, and pods of disseminated to locally abun-
dant pyrite, sphalerite, and galena in dolomite gangue (Fig.
9E). The strong Ag and Sb enrichment of this assemblage is
typical of the abundant Sb-rich tetrahedrite in Late Triassic
mineral deposits throughout the Alexander Triassic metallo-
genic belt. This style of mineralization appears to be a re-
placement of the host limestone.
The second style of mineralization has only recently been
recognized and is likely a result of early diagenetic replace-
ment of limestone during carbonate sedimentation (Taylor,
2003). This type of occurrence is exemplified by a stratiform
(?) horizon at Taylor Creek that consists predominantly of
nodular pyrite (“pudding stone:” Fig. 9F) replacing the lime-
stone. The pyrite occurs as rounded nodules up to several
centimeters in diameter in a dolomite matrix and as irregular
botryoidal crusts in dolomitic limestone. Locally, orange
sphalerite and galena are present as a fine-grained crystalline
matrix and as sparse, coarse crystalline clots. Identical nodu-
lar pyrite textures are present in footwall carbonate units and
in massive pyritic ore at the Greens Creek mine.
A third style of structurally controlled mineralization con-
sists of discontinuous and vein or stockwork-like occurrences,
typified by Lost Show and Brushy Creek on Woewodski Is-
land and by the North Gambier occurrence in Gambier Bay
of Admiralty Island (Fig. 1; Taylor, 2003).
The barite-quartz-carbonate polymetallic veins and semi-
massive sulfides at the North Gambier occurrence are de-
scribed in detail by Taylor et al. (1992) and are thought to be
the northernmost structurally controlled, epigenetic mineral-
ization within the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt. Min-
eralization occurs within sheared and brecciated zones at the
transition between sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks.
Chalcopyrite occurs as clots up to several centimeters in di-
ameter with associated coarsely crystalline, bladed, white
barite, as millimeter-sized grains disseminated in the green-
stone, and as massive, banded material that is intimately in-
tergrown with bornite, covellite, tetrahedrite, and fine-
grained pyrite and quartz. The dominance of chalcopyrite and
bornite at the North Gambier occurrence is unusual, but
mineralized samples contain 0.1 to 1 percent Cu, 0.1 percent
Zn, several parts per million Ag, and highly anomalous con-
centrations of Mn, As, Cd, Mo, Pb, Sb, and Hg, similar to the
Greens Creek deposit and other occurrences throughout the
belt (Taylor, 2003; C. D. Taylor, unpub. data).
Larger, more stratiform deposits that more closely resem-
ble Greens Creek are also present in the central area of the
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt and persist northward
to the latitude of Mount Henry Clay. The Castle Island barite
deposit is located in a group of small islands in the middle of
Duncan Canal (Fig. 1). The host rocks are composed of mas-
sive, volcaniclastic and pillowed mafic volcanic rocks that
grade into phyllitic greenstone, which in turn grade into a
thin layer of phyllitic pebble conglomerate. Phyllitic calcare-
ous mudstone, silty limestone, and interbedded graywacke
are cut by sulfide-bearing, 1-cm to 0.7-m-thick, quartz-car-
bonate veins, which may represent the feeder zone to the de-
posit. The sulfides consist of disseminated euhedral grains of
coarse crystalline pyrite, sphalerite, and minor galena. Geo-
chemical analyses of the veins indicate that the carbonate is
iron and manganese rich, similar to carbonate alteration min-
erals associated with mineral occurrences throughout the
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt (Taylor et al., 2000b; C.
D. Taylor, unpub. data). The Castle Island barite deposit was
approximately 95 m long, 63 m wide, and extended below sea

FIG. 9. (A) through (N). Photographs of outcrops and polished rock slabs from mineral occurrences of the Alexander Tri-
assic metallogenic belt. A. Pervasive orange-black, hydrothermal iron and manganese alteration of the Nehenta limestone
and carbonate debris flows in Nehenta Bay, southern Gravina Island. Note the pod-shaped occurrence of bladed white barite
and minor sulfides to the right of the hammer. B. Altered gabbroic sill beneath barite-sulfide pod. Berg 17 occurrence, Syl-
burn peninsula, Annette Island. C. Massive vein of pink and white barite cutting clastic sedimentary rocks and limestone at
the top of the Keku rhyolite. Note the botryoidal banding defined by fine galena. Northeastern shoreline of the Cornwallis
peninsula on Kuiu Island, Keku Strait area, central southeastern Alaska. D. Mineralized Cornwallis limestone breccia from
the Kuiu Zinc deposit on the Cornwallis peninsula. The matrix to the clast is composed of sphalerite, galena, and Fe-Mn car-
bonate. E. Mineralized limestone from the top of the open cut at the Taylor Creek occurrence, Duncan Canal, central south-
eastern Alaska. The sample contains pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and tetrahedrite in irregular veins and as replacements of
limestone, with a white dolomite gangue. F. Nodular pyrite in limestone near the Taylor Creek open cut. This texture is in-
terpreted to be the result of early diagenetic replacement of carbonate mud. G. Barite-galena–rich material from the Castle
Island barite mine in the Duncan Canal area, central southeastern Alaska. H. Glacier Creek (Main) deposit in the Mount
Henry Clay area, northern southeastern Alaska. The central, orange-white zone consists of quartz-sericite-carbonate schist
with lenses of massive barite and lesser sulfides. The outcrop above and below consists of massive and pillowed basalt flows.
I. Barite-sulfide lens at the Upper Cap occurrence in the Mount Henry Clay area, northern southeastern Alaska. Rocks over-
lying the lens are massive basalt flows. J. South side of Windy Peak at the Windy Craggy deposit in northwestern British Co-
lumbia. Light and dark subhorizontal layering comprises intercalated mafic sills and flows with calcareous black argillites. K.
Typical pyritic massive sulfide with minor pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in a quartz-carbonate gangue, from the north crosscut
of the Windy Craggy deposit in northwestern British Columbia. The black elongate inclusion in the lower right part of the
sample is an argillite clast. L. Pyrite- and sphalerite-rich massive sulfide from a boulder found at the Mount Henry Clay
(Boulderado) occurrence in northern southeastern Alaska. M. Massive sulfide lens at the Frenchie deposit on Zarembo Is-
land, central southeastern Alaska. Timbers in the adit are ~2 m high and are holding up a hanging wall of graphitic quartz-
sericite schist. N. Samples from the Frenchie deposit. Left sample is dominantly pyritic with some chalcopyrite and charac-
terizes the majority of the sulfide lens. The center sample is more sphalerite and galena rich; the right sample has significant
barite typical of the distal portion of the lens.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 106

 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA 107

A B

gn
gn

D E

gn
sph

F G
py
py

gn bt
py
py
bt
bt

gn

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 107

108 TAYLOR ET AL.

H I

J K

arg
illite

bas
alt

arg
illite
argillite clast

basa
lt

L M

FIG. 9. (Cont.)

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 108

 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
level to a depth of 47 m (Grybeck et al., 1984). A premining
estimate of the size of the deposit was 218,000 Mt of 89 per-
cent BaSO4 and 4.5 percent SiO2, with 0.5 to 2.5 percent Zn,
0.5 to 1 percent Pb, 1 to 2 percent Fe, 0.5 to 2.0 oz/ton Ag,
and trace Au (Burchard, 1914; Williams and Decker, 1932;
Race, 1963; Grybeck et al., 1984). Cross sections suggest that
the deposit was a single massive lens, conformable with the
enclosing sedimentary rocks and dipping eastward into Dun-
can Canal. Samples of the barite are massive with millimeter-
scale bands and discontinuous wisps of fine crystalline sul-
fides (Fig. 9G) consisting of sphalerite, galena, pyrite,
pyrrhotite, bornite, tetrahedrite-tennantite, and chalcopyrite
(Berg and Grybeck, 1980; Grybeck et al., 1984).
The Glacier Creek (Main) deposit and the nearby Upper
Cap occurrence are other stratiform deposits on the United
States side of the border in the Mount Henry Clay area (Fig.
1). They are barite-rich, polymetallic deposits of Late Triassic
age and the northernmost examples in the central, transi-
tional portion of the belt. The Glacier Creek deposit consists
of a 20- to 30-m-thick, 600-m-long layer of highly altered
quartz-sericite schist that contains lenses of massive barite ac-
companied by bands of sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite
(MacIntyre and Schroeter, 1985). The deposit is underlain by
mafic flows and sedimentary rocks and is overlain by massive
pillow lavas (Fig. 9H). The Upper Cap occurrence, located
several kilometers up Glacier Creek, is similar to the Glacier
Creek deposit. It consists of a 3-m-thick, silica-barite lens
with minor amounts of pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and tetra-
hedrite (Fig. 9I; MacIntyre and Schroeter, 1985). The foot-
wall is largely covered by ice; the hanging wall consists of
massive basalt flows. Reports of ruby silver (Ag sulfosalt) at
Upper Cap (M. Palmer, pers. commun., 1994) suggest miner-
alogical similarities to Greens Creek. X-ray diffraction analy-
sis of reddish-black crystals in silica-barite identified the pres-
ence of the Pb-Sb sulfide mineral geocronite (Taylor et al.,
1995b), which also occurs at Greens Creek (C.D. Taylor,
unpub. data). Other similar stratiform occurrences in the cen-
tral portion of the belt (Butterworth Island, Pyrola) are de-
scribed fully in Taylor (2003).
Mineral occurrences in the northern Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt
The northern end of the Alexander Triassic metallogenic
belt is characterized by larger and more clearly stratiform oc-
currences of pyrite-pyrrhotite-(chalcopyrite-sphalerite) with
Cu-Zn- (Co-Au)–dominant metal assemblages. They are
hosted by thick sections of argillite intercalated with basaltic
flows and sills or by the uppermost Triassic sequence of mafic
volcanic rocks. The best example is the giant Windy Craggy
massive sulfide deposit in northwestern British Columbia
(Fig. 1). Windy Craggy is hosted in a rift succession (Miha-
lynuk et al., 1993) of mafic flows, sills, and argillites (Fig. 9J)
and consists of three stratiform massive sulfide lenses com-
posed predominantly of variably recrystallized pyrite and
pyrrhotite with lesser and variably remobilized chalcopyrite,
sphalerite, marcasite, galena, digenite, arsenopyrite, an
unidentified bismuth telluride, cobaltite, cubanite, electrum,
and native gold and silver (Peter and Scott, 1999; Fig. 9K).
Each sulfide lens is associated with a well-developed sulfide
stringer zone (Peter and Scott, 1999). In striking contrast to
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 109
109
many of the Late Triassic occurrences to the south, tetra-
hedrite-bearing, barite-rich white ores are absent at Windy
Craggy; barite only occurs in trace amounts. Hydrothermal
sedimentary rocks (exhalites) are present at the base of the
massive sulfide lenses and suggest that hydrothermal fluids
breached the sediment-water interface early in the ore-form-
ing process (Peter and Scott, 1999).
Numerous other occurrences on the Canadian side of the
border in the northern Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt
consist of similar stratiform accumulations of pyrite-pyrrhotite
massive sulfide with Cu-Zn (-Au-Co-Ag)–dominant metal as-
semblages. The Tats, X, and Rainy Monday occurrences (Mi-
halynuk et al., 1993; Peter and Scott, 1999) in the vicinity of
Windy Craggy, and as well as several others in the Mount
Henry Clay area such as the Herbert Mouth West, Grizzly
Heights, and Buckwell Moraine (MacIntyre and Schroeter,
1985) all have features similar to Windy Craggy. Notably, they
are all hosted in Upper Triassic strata dominated by distal tur-
biditic sedimentary rocks and by mafic sills and flows with
transitional chemistry indicative of rifting (Mihalynuk et al.,
1993; Peter and Scott, 1999). At Mount Henry Clay on the
United States side of the border, the stratigraphic setting is
similar to that in the Windy Craggy area; however, occur-
rences mostly consist of stratiform Pb-Zn-Ag-Ba (-Cu) de-
posits such as Glacier Creek (Main) and Upper Cap. The Lit-
tle Jarvis occurrence on the opposite side of the ridge from
the Glacier Creek deposit contains pyrite-pyrrhotite-chal-
copyrite-sphalerite-arsenopyrite-barite–bearing semimassive
sulfides that may be more similar to the northern group of oc-
currences. Drilling in the late 1990s demonstrated continuity
of the Little Jarvis occurrence with the Upper Main, or RW
Zone, occurrence that lies 90 m stratigraphically above the
Glacier Creek (Main) lens (Green et al., 2003). This may be
the only place in the belt where a stratigraphic and thus tem-
poral relationship between Greens Creek- and Windy
Craggy-like mineralization is observed.
Other Windy Craggy-like occurrences include the numer-
ous small stratiform pyritic bodies in the Duncan Canal, Woe-
wodski and Zarembo islands area in the central portion of the
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt (Frenchie, Junior Creek,
Helen-S; Taylor, 2003). The Frenchie deposit on Zarembo Is-
land is one of the largest and most clearly stratiform deposits,
after Greens Creek and Windy Craggy, within the Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt and has mineralogical and textural
features similar to the pyritic deposits in the Mount Henry
Clay (Boulderado; Fig. 9L) and Windy Craggy areas. The
Frenchie deposit consists of a 2- to 3-m-thick, ~250-m-long
massive sulfide lens (Fig. 9M) composed primarily of pyrite
with lesser and variable chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and barite
(Fig. 9N; Taylor, 2003). From the adit (proximal) to the distal
end of the deposit, the massive lens is zoned from Cu-Au to
Zn, and from footwall to hanging wall the lens is zoned from
Zn-Mn-Ba, to Fe-Cu-Au, to Pb (Taylor, 2003). The Frenchie
occurrence has a geochemical signature that is more similar
to the chemistry of the northern group of stratiform occur-
rences than Greens Creek.
Discussion and Conclusions
Within the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt there are
crude but systematic differences in structural appearance,
110 TAYLOR ET AL.
mineralogy, and morphology of the mineral occurrences that
imply important spatial and/or temporal changes in the tec-
tonic environments of mineral deposit formation along the
belt. We have described how the northward change in depo-
sitional environment is accompanied by a northward transi-
tion in the nature of the mineral occurrences and by system-
atic changes in the chemistry of the volcanic rocks. We
suggest that the geologic setting in the south is consistent
with shallow subaqueous emplacement on the flanks of the
Alexander terrane. Northward, the setting changes to in-
creasingly deeper subaqueous deposition in an evolving back-
or intra-arc rift basin.
The most important criteria for the recognition of the rift
tectonic setting of the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt is
the clear presence of a bimodal suite of volcanic rocks (Fig.
5). Such bimodal suites are a common feature of rift-related
tectonic environments worldwide (Wilson, 1989) and are
commonly associated with VMS mineral districts (Lentz,
1998; Barrett and MacLean, 1999). Results of the tectonic
discriminant analysis (Fig. 6A-F) in combination with the
primitive and transitional trace, REE, and radiogenic isotope
geochemical signatures (Figs. 7A-V, 8) are also consistent
with rift-related basalt produced in an incipient intra- or
back-arc setting (Wilson, 1989). These data also suggest a
temporal and/or spatial evolution of the rift evident in the
lithostratigraphic variation described above. Basalts at several
locations, especially in the southern end of the belt, the
Greens Creek area, and at Mount Henry Clay (Group 2
basalts; Fig. 7M-T), have compositions that are similar to
those of relatively unfractionated calc-alkaline basalts formed
in an oceanic volcanic arc, whereas those in other areas, most
notably in the central portion of the belt (Group 1 basalts;
Fig. 7A-L), have transitional chemistry consistent with de-
rivation from E-MORB or WPB-like sources and variable as-
similation of preexisting arc crust. Similar to the trends for
the mafic volcanic rocks, the felsic volcanic rocks show a tran-
sition from more arc-like compositions in the south to in-
traplate compositions in the center of the belt. The most in-
traplate-like basalt compositions in the belt are the Tats
Group basalts at Windy Craggy (Fig. 7U-V). Consistent with
the extensive geochemical data of Peter and Scott (1999) we
note elevated LREE compositions and lower εNd for the Tats
Group compared to Triassic basalts to the south (Table 2, Fig.
8). Peter and Scott (1999) interpreted the tectonic setting at
Windy Craggy at the time of ore formation as a mature back-
arc basin and our data support this conclusion.
Tectonic reconstructions suggest that the pre-Jurassic his-
tory of the Alexander terrane involved the formation and
transport of a large fragment of island-arc crust to a position
just outboard of an eastward-dipping subduction zone prior
to the Late Triassic (Plafker and Berg, 1994). Whether colli-
sion and partial subduction (or obduction) of the Alexander
terrane occurred at this time is uncertain; however, by Late
Triassic the formation of Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt
volcanic rocks indicate a period of crustal relaxation outboard
of the destructive margin resulting in lithospheric extension
and incipient rifting in the Alexander terrane. We suggest that
the Alexander terrane must have been thick enough that ini-
tial rifting resulted in deep melting of a relatively enriched
mantle and that the first melt products thus have chemistry
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 110
similar to WPB and E-MORB (Fig. 6A-C). In places where
attenuation or rifting of the crust was more pronounced, shal-
lower melting of variably enriched mantle at variable degrees
of partial melting produced compositions between arc-like
CAB and variably enriched MORB (Fig. 6D-F). Thus the
transitional chemistry of the volcanic rocks likely reflects a
combination of generation at variable depths and degrees of
partial melting beneath the rifting Alexander landmass, and
variable amounts of crustal assimilation producing arc-like
CAB signatures. We suggest the same factors are responsible
for the presence of calc-alkaline rhyolite on Annette and
Gravina Islands and peralkaline rhyolite in Keku Strait (Fig.
5).
Temporal versus spatial variation of mineral deposits
Whereas most of our observations concerning the Alexan-
der Triassic metallogenic belt relate to the variation of lithos-
tratigraphy and geochemistry of volcanic rocks along the
length of the rift, we note that there is also across-strike vari-
ation in the location of mineral occurrences within the rift
that may account for some of their differences in character.
For example, a profound change in the character of the
Upper Triassic stratigraphy occurs between Keku Strait and
Duncan Canal (Fig. 2). Both the sedimentary and volcanic
units that comprise the section in Keku Strait pass transition-
ally into rock types indicative of a position more distal from
their source area in the Duncan Canal. Whether this simply
reflects a more seaward Late Triassic relative position of the
Duncan Canal area to the east of Keku Strait or juxtaposition
by faulting or folding of the two areas has occurred is not re-
solvable, given the current state of mapping and the generally
poor exposure on most of Kupreanof Island. Tectonic short-
ening of a former basin is consistent with the synclinal struc-
ture proposed for the Keku Strait (Muffler, 1967) and is also
compatible with the pattern of open folding and northwest-
vergent thrusting documented by recent mapping in the
Duncan Canal area (Karl et al., 1999). Alternatively, we sug-
gest that juxtaposition of seaward (Duncan Canal) and land-
ward (Keku Strait) areas of a northward-deepening rift basin
may have resulted due to northward transport of the southern
portion of the belt during Tertiary margin-parallel faulting
(Goldfarb et al., 1991; Miller et al., 1994).
Differences in the timing of formation of the mineral oc-
currences during the evolution of the rift may also explain
some of the differences in style, with mineral occurrences
formed in shallow water, low in the section, and deposits
formed in deeper water, higher in the section. It is plausible
that the epithermal-like and strata-bound to more nearly
stratiform shallow-water VMS-like occurrences that charac-
terize the southern and central portions of the Alexander Tri-
assic metallogenic belt formed early during incipient stages of
rifting and that the larger and more sediment-dominated oc-
currences in the northern part of the belt formed during a
later more mature stage of rifting. Such a stratigraphic rela-
tionship is present in the stacked lenses of baritic massive sul-
fide in the Glacier Creek (Main zone) and the overlying more
copper-zinc rich RW zone in the Mount Henry Clay area. It
is possible to suggest that the smaller and more epithermal-
like occurrences in the southern and middle parts of the belt
are related to the igneous activity that produced the rhyolitic
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
and thin basaltic rocks low in the section and that later, larger
and more stratiform occurrences formed after deposition of
the middle sedimentary section and are related to the arrival
of mafic-ultramafic intrusions at shallow crustal levels. How-
ever, such a temporal relationship cannot be confirmed with
the present data. The 226 Ma age of the gabbro at Duke Is-
land and the 210 Ma age of altered ultramafic rocks in Gam-
bier Bay, combined with the Anisian to Norian (Middle to late
Late Triassic) microfossil ages of the shales between Duncan
Canal and Windy Craggy are not sufficient to resolve the tem-
poral relationships between the deposits of the belt.
Nevertheless, there is a close spatial association of miner-
alization of all styles throughout the belt to mafic or ultra-
mafic intrusions (Figs. 2, 4, 9B), which may indicate forma-
tion of a large number of the deposits during a relatively
brief period of hypabyssal mafic and/or ultramafic intrusive
activity that occurred nearly contemporaneously throughout
the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt. We suggest that the
most important control on the style of mineralization was
water depth and the presence or absence of a thick sedi-
mentary pile. Modern analogs with similarly diverse styles of
mineralization forming contemporaneously in different por-
tions of a rift can be found along propagating rifts in intrao-
ceanic and continental margin arc environments (see discus-
sion below).
A metallogenic model for the Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt
A coherent metallogenic model for the Alexander Triassic
metallogenic belt must allow for a south to north progression
of (1) shallow-water, near-source to deep-water, distal stratig-
raphy; (2) bimodal volcanism and associated mafic and/or ul-
tramafic hypabyssal intrusions that vary from arc-contami-
nated MORB to intraplate compositions; and (3) styles of
mineralization that change from epithermal vein and carbon-
ate replacement to early diagentetic (SEDEX), to Kuroko-
like, and then finally Besshi-type VMS. Available age con-
straints suggest broadly contemporaneous formation of the
mineral occurrences within the belt but cannot resolve tem-
poral relationships between the deposits.
We propose that the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt in
southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia
formed by oblique propagation of a rift into the Alexander
terrane (Taylor et al., 1995a, b, 1999a, 2000a; Taylor, 1997).
Recent work on ancient (Barrett and MacLean, 1999) and
modern (Binns et al., 1993; Fouquet et al., 1993; Halbach et
al., 1993; Stoffers et al., 1999; Hannington et al., 2005) VMS
deposits relative to the location (continental margin, oceanic)
and maturity level of the hosting rift basins can help to explain
the variations in the mineral occurrences of the belt. Excel-
lent modern examples of propagating rifts are the southern
Lau basin spreading center propagating southward into the
Tonga-Kermadec arc (Fouquet et al., 1993), the western
Woodlark basin spreading center propagating westward into
Papua New Guinea, and the eastern Manus back-arc spread-
ing center propagating into arc crust of New Ireland (Binns et
al., 1993). Similar variations in stratigraphy, volcanic rock geo-
chemistry, and styles of mineralization are observed in these
propagating rifts that are analogous to the features described
in the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 111
111
The landward portions of these rifts are characterized by
subaerial to shallow subaqueous deposition of volcanic rocks
and sediments near to their source areas. Associated lavas are
bimodal in nature and heavily contaminated by the overlying
arc crust that the melts are rising through. Mineral deposits
observed within the on-land and shallow marine portions of
these propagating rifts include epithermal or hot-spring styles
of mineralization, such as the deposits of the Taupo volcanic
zone (White, 1981; Hedenquist and Henley, 1985) and active
hot springs on the D’Entrecasteaux Islands west of the Wood-
lark basin, Papua New Guinea (Binns et al., 1993). We sug-
gest that this shallow to subaerial portion of a propagating rift
accounts for the characteristics we have described in the
southern Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt.
The central portions of these rifts are deeper subaqueous
settings, and the bimodal volcanism changes from arc-like to
intraplate in composition. Most notably, the felsic volcanic
rocks are locally peralkaline, like the Keku rhyolites in the
central Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt. This is an im-
portant observation due to the relatively distinctive tectonic
setting of such rocks, which commonly occur in rift-related
environments and are often the indicators of incipient rifting
(e.g., Mayor Island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and
the D’Entrecasteaux Islands; Smith et al., 1977; Smith and
Johnson, 1981; Civetta et al., 1984; Mahood and Baker, 1986;
Pin and Paquette, 1997). Deposits that form in incipient or
immature arc rifts are generally of the Kuroko type (Barrett
and MacLean, 1999; e.g., bimodal-mafic setting of Barrie and
Hannington, 1999), with transitional styles of mineralization
between shallow (e.g., in the Bay of Plenty: Stoffers et al.,
1999; at Franklin Seamount: Binns et al., 1993) and deeper
white and black smoker systems in the southern Lau basin
(Fouquet et al., 1993). These different styles of mineraliza-
tion are similar to the different deposits that we have ob-
served in the central portion of the belt.
Deposits that form in the deeper, seaward portion of prop-
agating rifts or in mature rifts have a Cu-Zn–rich metal as-
semblage and are often associated with distal clastic sedimen-
tary rocks (e.g., Windy Craggy: Peter and Scott, 1999; other
Besshi deposits: Slack, 1993). In mature rift settings Besshi
deposits are associated with primitive mafic magmas that may
or may not show contamination by melting and incorporation
of rifted crust (Barrett and MacLean, 1999; e.g., mafic-silici-
clastic setting of Barrie and Hannington, 1999). We suggest
that the northern portion of the Alexander Triassic metallo-
genic belt represents such a deep, seaward portion of a prop-
agating rift.
Figure 10 is a cross-sectional (or oblique) view through
such a tectonic setting, showing the various subaerial to deep-
water settings of the southeastern Alaska late Triassic mineral
occurrences in the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt.
The metallogenic setting of the Greens Creek deposit
The segment of a propagating oceanic rift that is analogous
to the tectonic setting of Greens Creek is that portion sea-
ward of the propagating tip of a rift basin and landward of the
point at which new oceanic crust begins to form. Within this
segment, bimodal volcanism may include peralkaline rhyo-
lites and variably enriched basalts that are similar to intraplate
rocks with varying degrees of crustal contamination (e.g.,
112 TAYLOR ET AL.

DEEP INTRA/BACK-ARC RIFT

SHALLOW SHELF
PALEOZOIC ISLAND ARC
southern ATMB northern
central CONTINENTAL MARGIN ?
AN/GR KK/DC/GB GC/MHC WC ISLAND ARC ?

LEGEND

Basalt/gabbro
Rift-related rocks

Arkose Shale
Limestone/dolomite Mineral
Rhyolite deposit
Conglomerate
Paleozoic arc terrane
Oceanic crust
Mantle

FIG. 10. Schematic drawing showing a cross-sectional view of the Upper Triassic metallogenic setting of mineral deposits
and occurrences in southeastern Alaska. The diagram shows a series of mineral deposits at progressively deeper water posi-
tions within an evolving intra- or back-arc rift. The rift basin is interpreted to be ~100 km wide with an exaggerated vertical
scale showing upwelling mantle as the source for Upper Triassic igneous rocks that traverse variable thicknesses of overlying
oceanic lithosphere and island-arc crust. Relative positions of the southern, central, and northern sectors of the Alexander
Triassic metallogenic belt are indicated, but these sectors are distributed along strike rather than in adjacent positions as
shown: AN/GR = Annette and Gravina Islands, GC/MHC = Greens Creek on northern Admiralty Island and Mount Henry
Clay, KK/DC/GB = Keku Strait, Duncan Canal, and Gambier Bay on southern Admiralty Island, and WC = Windy Craggy.

Smith et al., 1977; Smith and Johnson, 1981). In the seaward
portion of the rift, the rhyolites are absent and mafic magmas
become less contaminated and compositionally akin to E-
MORB or “transitional” basalts (e.g., Gill and Whelan, 1989;
Stern et al., 1990; Aitchison and Flood, 1995; Dadd, 1998).
The seaward portion may or may not evolve into a sediment-
covered ridge. This model accounts for the geochemical and
sedimentological change from a bimodal-mafic to a mafic-
siliciclastic environment observed in the Alexander Triassic
metallogenic belt between Keku Strait and Greens Creek
(Figs. 2, 10). Within this segment host rocks change from
shallow-water dolomitic limestones and overlying peralkaline
rhyolites and basalts to deep-water clastic sediments overling
a suite of crustally contaminated mafic-ultramafic volcani-
clastics and sills; rhyolites are absent. The portion of an
evolving rift represented by this stratigraphy, where host
lithologic units include footwall mafic-ultramafic rocks that
are contaminated by a mature arc and covered by distal clas-
tic sedimentation, is strikingly similar to the failed epiconti-
nental rift tectonic setting common to most SEDEX deposits.
At the time of Late Triassic rifting, the Alexander terrane was
a landmass of wholly oceanic affinities cored by Proterozoic
and lower Paleozoic crust. At the latitude of Greens Creek,
rifting resulted in the formation of a small (second-order?),
restricted, anoxic, and very organic rich sedimentary basin,
which was intruded by rift-related mafic-ultramafic intrusive
rocks. This SEDEX-like metallogenic setting specific to
Greens Creek is interpreted to have been an integral part of
a larger scale propagating rift, more similar to the metallo-
genic setting common to many VMS deposits. Thus the
Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt contains a spectrum of
deposit types that includes epithermal, diagenetic, and both
volcanic- and sediment-hosted exhalative styles of massive
sulfide mineralization.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 112

 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
Acknowledgments
This study would not have been possible without the logisti-
cal support and expert local knowledge of both safe anchorages
and mineral occurrences supplied by Captain Gary McWil-
liams, MV Hyak, and the exceptional skills of helicopter pilot
Jeff Anderson. USGS colleagues Poul Emsbo and David Siems
(deceased), and Volunteer for Science David Taylor provided
helpful discussions and cheerful assistance in the field. We
thank John Slack and Warren Day for insightful reviews of an
early version of this paper and Economic Geology reviewers
JoAnne Nelson and Neil Rogers for comments that greatly im-
proved the paper. Special issue editor Steven Piercey also pro-
vided many helpful suggestions on how to salvage this beast.
REFERENCES
Aitchison, J.C., and Flood, P.G., 1995, Gamilaroi terrane: A Devonian rifted
intra-oceanic island-arc assemblage, NSW, Australia: Geological Society
Special Publication 81, p. 155–168.
Barrett, T.J., and MacLean, W.H., 1999, Volcanic sequences, lithogeochem-
istry, and hydrothermal alteration in some bimodal volcanic-associated
massive sulfide systems: Reviews in Economic Geology, v. 8, p. 101–127.
Barrie, C.T., and Hannington, M.D., 1999, Classification of volcanic-associ-
ated massive sulfide deposits based on host-rock composition: Reviews in
Economic Geology, v. 8, p. 1–11.
Bazard, D.R., Butler, R., Gehrels, G., and Soja, C.M., 1994, New constraints
for Late Silurian-Devonian paleogeography of the Alexander terrane,
southeastern Alaska [abs]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with
Programs, v. 26, p. A384.
Berg, H.C., 1972 Geologic map of Annette Island, Alaska: U.S. Geological
Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-684.
——1973, The geology of Gravina Island, Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey
Bulletin 1373, 41 p.
Berg, H.C., and Clautice, K.H., 1982, Status of mineral resource information
for the Annette Island reserve, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey
Administrative Report BIA-84, 77 p.
Berg, H.C., and Grybeck, D., 1980, Upper Triassic volcanogenic Zn-Pb-Ag-
(Cu-Au)-barite mineral deposits near Petersburg, Alaska: U. S. Geological
Survey Open-File Report 80-527, 9 p.
Berg, H.C., Jones, D.L., and Richter, D.H., 1972, Gravina-Nutzotin belt:
Tectonic significance of an upper Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic se-
quence in southern and southeastern Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Pro-
fessional Paper 800-D, p. D1–D24.
Berg, H.C., Jones, D.L., and Coney, P.J., 1978, Map showing pre-Cenozoic
tectono-stratigraphic terranes of southeastern Alaska and adjacent areas:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-1085.
Binns, R.A., Scott, S.D., Bogdanov, Y.A., Lisitzin, A.P., Gordeev, V.V., Gur-
vich, E.G., Finlayson, E.J., Boyd, T., Dotter, L.E., Wheller, G.E., and Mu-
ravyev, K.G., 1993, Hydrothermal oxide and gold-rich sulfate deposits of
Franklin Seamount, western Woodlark basin, Papua New Guinea: ECO-
NOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 88, p. 2122–2153.
Boynton, W.V., 1984, Cosmochemistry of the rare earth elements: Meteorite
studies, in Henderson, P., ed., Rare earth element geochemistry: Amster-
dam, Elsevier, p. 63–114.
Brew, D.A., and Ford, A.B., 1984, Tectonostratigraphic terranes in the Coast
plutonic-metamorphic complex, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Sur-
vey Circular 939, p. 90–93.
Brew, D.A., and Grybeck, D., 1984, Geology of the TracyArm-Fords Terror
wilderness study area and vicinity, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin
1525-A, p. 21–52.
Burchard, E.F., 1914, A barite deposit near Wrangell: U.S. Geological Survey
Bulletin 592, p. 109–117.
Campbell, R.B., and Dodds, C.J., 1983, Geology of Tatshenshini River map
area (114P), British Columbia: Geological Survey of Canada Open File
926.
Churkin, M., Jr., and Eberlein, G.D., 1977, Ancient borderland terranes of
the North American Cordillera: Correlation and microplate tectonics: Ge-
ological Society of America Bulletin, v. 88, p. 769–786.
Civetta, L., Cornette, Y., Crisci, G., Gillot, P.Y., Orsi, G., and Requejos, C.S.,
1984, Geology, geochronology and chemical evolution of the island of Pan-
telleria: Geological Magazine, v. 121, p. 541–562.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
113
Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Petersburg quad-
rangle, Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map
MF-415.
——1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than min-
eral fuels and construction materials) in the Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-870, 52 p.
Cole, J.W., 1978, Tectonic setting of Mayor Island volcano: New Zealand
Journal of Geology and Geophysics, v. 21, p. 645–647.
Currie, L.D., and Parrish, R.R., 1997, Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks of
Stikinia exposed in northwestern British Columbia: Implications for corre-
lations in the northern Cordillera: Geological Society of America Bulletin,
v. 109, p. 1402–1420.
Dadd, K.A., 1998, Incipient backarc magmatism in the Silurian Tumut
trough, new South Wales: An ancient analogue of the early Lau basin: Aus-
tralian Journal of Earth Science, v. 45, p. 109–121.
Davis, A., and Plafker, G., 1985, Comparative geochemistry of Triassic
basaltic rocks from the Taku terrane on the Chilkat peninsula and Wrangel-
lia: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 22, p. 183–194.
Dusel-Bacon, C., 1994, Metamorphic history of Alaska: Geological Society of
America, Decade of North American Geology, v. G1, p. 495–533.
Forbes, R.B., Gilbert, W., and Redman, E., 1989, Geologic setting and
petrology of the metavolcanic rocks in the northwestern part of the Skag-
way B-4 quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological
and Geophysical Surveys, Public-Data File 89-14, 43 p.
Fouquet, Y., Von Stackelberg, U., Charlou, J.L., Erzinger, J., Herzig, P.M.,
Muhe, R., and Wiedicke, M., 1993, Metallogenesis in back-arc environ-
ments: The Lau basin example: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 88, p. 2154–2181.
Franklin, J.M., 1986, Volcanic-associated massive sulphide deposits-an up-
date, in Andrew, C.J., Crowe, R.W.A., Finlay, S., Pennel, W.M., and Pyne,
J.F., eds., Geology and genesis of mineral deposits in Ireland: Irish Associ-
ation for Economic Geology, p. 49–69.
——1993, Volcanic-associated massive sulphide deposits: Geological Associ-
ation of Canada Special Paper 40, p. 315–334.
Gardner, M.C., Bergman, S.C., Cushing, G.W., MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Plafker,
G., Campbell, R.B., Dodds, C.J., McClelland, W.C., and Mueller, P.A.,
1988, Pennsylvanian pluton stitching of Wrangellia and the Alexander ter-
rane, Wrangell Mountains, Alaska: Geology, v 16, p. 967–971.
Gehrels, G.E., 2000, Geology and U-Pb geochronology of the western flank
of the Coast Mountains between Juneau and Skagway, southeastern Alaska:
Geological Society of America Special Paper 343, p. 213–233.
——2002, Detrital zircon geochronology of the Taku terrane, southeast
Alaska: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 39, p. 921–931.
Gehrels, G.E., and Berg, H.C., 1992, Geologic map of southeastern Alaska:
U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1867.
——1994, Geology of southeastern Alaska: Geological Society of America,
Decade of North American Geology, v. G1, p. 451–468.
Gehrels, G.E., and Saleeby, J.B., 1987, Geologic framework, tectonic evolution,
and displacement history of the Alexander terrane: Tectonics, v. 6, p. 151–173.
Gehrels, G.E., Dodds, C.J. and Campbell, R.B., 1986, Upper Triassic rocks
of the Alexander terrane, SE Alaska, and the Saint Elias Mountains of B.C.
and Yukon [abs]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v.
18, p. 109.
Gehrels, G.E., Saleeby, J.B., and Berg, H.C., 1987, Geology of Annette,
Gravina, and Duke Islands, southeastern Alaska: Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences, v. 24, p. 866–881.
Gehrels, G.E., Dickinson, W.R., Ross, G.M., Stewart, J.H., and Howell,
D.G., 1994, Provenance of detrital zircons in strata of the Cordilleran mio-
geocline and selected outboard terranes [abs]: Geological Society of Amer-
ica Abstracts with Programs, v. 26, p. A384.
Gill, J., and Whelan, P., 1989, Early rifting of an oceanic island arc (Fiji) pro-
duced shoshonitic to tholeiitic basalts: Journal of Geophysical Research, v.
94, no. B4, p. 4561–4578.
Goldfarb, R.J., Nelson, S.W., Berg, H.C., and Light, T.D., 1987, Distribution
of mineral deposits in the Pacific Border Ranges and Coast Mountains of
the Alaska Cordillera, in Elliot, I.L., and Smee, B.W., eds., Geoexpo/86—
exploration in the North American Cordillera: Vancouver, B.C., Association
of Exploration Geochemists, p. 19–41.
Goldfarb, R.J., Snee, L.W., Miller, L.D., and Newberry, R.J., 1991, Rapid de-
watering of the crust deduced from ages of mesothermal gold deposits: Na-
ture, v. 354, p. 296–298.
Goodfellow, W.D., Lydon, J.W., and Turner, R.J.W., 1993, Geology and gen-
esis of stratiform sediment-hosted (SEDEX) zinc-lead-silver sulphide de-
posits: Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 40, p. 201–251.
113
114 TAYLOR ET AL.
Green, D., MacVeigh, J.G., Palmer, M., Watkinson, D.H., and Orchard, M.J.,
2003, Stratigraphy and geochemistry of the RW zone, a new discovery at
the Glacier Creek VMS prospect, Palmer Property, Porcupine mining dis-
trict, southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical
Surveys Professional Report 120, p. 35–51.
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 quadran-
gles, southeastern Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-
837, 87 p.
Haeussler, P.J., Coe, R.S., and Onstott, T.C., 1992, Paleomagnetism of the
Late Triassic Hound Island Volcanics: Revisited: Journal of Geophysical
Research, v. 97, p. 19,617–19,639.
Haeussler, P.J., Karl, S.M., Mortensen, J.K., Layer, P., and Himmelberg,
G.R., 1999, Permian and mid-Cretaceous deformation of the Alexander
terrane on Admiralty and Kupreanof Islands, southeastern Alaska [abs.]:
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs v. 31, no. 6, p. A-
60.
Halbach, P., Pracejus, B., and Marten, A., 1993, Geology and mineralogy of
massive sulfide ores from the central Okinawa trough, Japan: ECONOMIC
GEOLOGY, v. 88, p. 2210–2225.
Hannington, M.D., de Ronde, C.E.J., and Peterson, S., 2005, Sea-floor tec-
tonics and submarine hydrothermal systems: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 100TH
ANNIVERSARY VOLUME, p. 111–141
Hedenquist, J.W., and Henley, R.W., 1985, Hydrothermal eruptions in the
Waiotapu geothermal system, New Zealand: Their origin, associated brec-
cias, and relation to precious metal mineralization: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v.
80, p. 1640–1668.
Hillhouse, J.W., 1987, Accretion of southern Alaska: Tectonophysics, v. 139,
p. 107–122.
Hillhouse, J.W., and Gromme, C.S., 1984, Northward displacement and ac-
cretion of Wrangellia: New paleomagnetic evidence from Alaska: Journal of
Geophysical Research, v. 89, p. 4461–4477.
Jenner, G.A., 1996, Trace element geochemistry of igneous rocks: Geochem-
ical nomenclature and analytical geochemistry: Geological Association of
Canada Short Course Notes, v. 12, p. 51–77.
Jenner, G.A., Longerich, H.P., Jackson, S.E., and Fryer, B.J., 1990, ICP-
MS—a powerful tool for high-precision trace-element analysis in earth sci-
ences: Evidence from analysis of selected U.S.G.S. reference samples:
Chemical Geology, v. 83, p. 133–148.
Jones, D.L., Silberling, N.J., and Hillhouse, J., 1977, Wrangellia: A displaced
terrane in northwestern North America: Canadian Journal of Earth Sci-
ences, v. 14, p. 2565–2577.
Karl, S.M., 1992, Map and table of mineral deposits on Annette Island,
Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92–690 57 p.
Karl, S.M., Haeussler, P.J., and McCafferty, A., 1999, Reconnaissance geo-
logic map of the Duncan Canal/Zarembo Island area, southeastern Alaska:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99–168, 23 p.
Lathram, E.H., Pomeroy, J.S., Berg, H.C., and Loney, R.A., 1965, Recon-
naissance geology of Admiralty Island, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bul-
letin 1181–R, 48 p.
Leach, D. L., and Sangster, D. F., 1993, Mississippi Valley-type lead-zinc de-
posits: Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 40, p. 289–314.
Lentz, D.R., 1998, Petrogenetic evolution of felsic volcanic sequences asso-
ciated with Phanerozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide systems: the role
of extensional geodynamics: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 12, p. 289–327.
Loney, R.A., 1964, Stratigraphy and petrography of the Pybus-Gambier area,
Admiralty Island, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1178, 103 p.
Longerich, H.P., Jenner, G.A., Fryer, B.J., and Jackson, S.E., 1990, Induc-
tively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric analysis of geological samples: A
critical evaluation based on case studies: Chemical Geology, v. 83, p.
105–118.
MacIntyre, D.G., 1986, The geochemistry of basalts hosting massive sulfide
deposits, Alexander terrane northwest British Columbia: British Columbia
Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources, Geological Field-
work, 1985, Paper 1986-1, p. 197–210.
MacIntyre, D.G., and Schroeter, T.G., 1985, Mineral occurrences in the
Mt. Henry Clay area: British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and
Petroleum Resources, Geological Fieldwork, 1984, Paper 1985-1, p.
365–379.
Mahood, G.A., and Baker, D.R., 1986, Experimental constraints on depths of
fractionation of mildly alkalic basalts and associated felsic rocks: Pantelle-
ria, Strait of Sicily: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 93, p.
251–264.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 114
McClelland, W.C., and Gehrels, G.E., 1990, Geology of the Duncan Canal
shear zone: Evidence for Early to Middle Jurassic deformation of the
Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska [abs]: Geological Society of Amer-
ica Bulletin, v. 102, p. 1378–1392.
Meier, A.L., and Slowik, T., 2002, Rare earth elements by inductively cou-
pled plasma-mass spectrometry: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report
02–223, Chapter K.
Meschede, M., 1986, A method of discriminating between different types of
mid-ocean ridge basalts and continental tholeiites with the Nb-Zr-Y dia-
gram: Chemical Geology, v. 56, p. 207–218.
Mihalynuk, M.G., Smith, M.T., MacIntyre, D.G., and Deschenes, M., 1993,
Tatshenshini project, northwestern British Columbia. Part B. Stratigraphic
and magmatic setting of mineral occurrences: British Columbia Ministry of
Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Geological Fieldwork 1992,
Paper 1993-1, p. 189–202.
Miller, L.D., Goldfarb, R.J., Gehrels, G.E., and Snee, L.W., 1994, Genetic
links among fluid cycling, vein formation, regional deformation, and pluton-
ism in the Juneau gold belt, southeastern Alaska: Geology, v. 22, p. 203–206.
Muffler, L.J.P., 1967, Stratigraphy of the Keku Islets and neighbouring parts
of Kuiu and Kupreanof Islands, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Sur-
vey Bulletin 1241-C, 52 p.
Newberry, R.J., and Brew, D.A., 1997, The Upper Triassic Greens Creek
VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide) deposit and Woewodski Island VMS
prospects, southeastern Alaska: Chemical and isotopic data for rocks and
ores demonstrate similarity of these deposits and their host rocks: U.S. Ge-
ological Survey Open-File Report 97-539, 49 p.
——1999, Chemical and isotopic data for rocks and ores from the Upper Tri-
assic Greens Creek and Woewodski Island volcanogenic massive sulfide de-
posits, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper
1614, p. 35–55.
Newberry, R.J., Crafford, T.C., Newkirk, S.R., Young, L.E., Nelson, S.W.,
and Duke, N.A., 1997, Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of Alaska:
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY MONOGRAPH 9, p. 120–150.
Nokleberg, W.J., Plafker, G., and Wilson, F.H., 1994, Geology of south-cen-
tral Alaska: Geological Society of America, Decade of North American Ge-
ology, v. G1, p. 311–366.
Pearce, J.A., 1996, A user’s guide to basalt discrimination diagrams: Geolog-
ical Association of Canada Short Course Notes, v. 12, p. 79–113.
Pearce, J.A., and Cann, J.R., 1973, Tectonic setting of basic volcanic rocks de-
termined using trace element analyses: Earth and Planetary Science Let-
ters, v. 19, p. 290–300.
Peter, J.M., and Scott, S.D., 1999, Windy Craggy, northwestern British Co-
lumbia: The world’s largest Besshi-type deposit: Reviews in Economic Ge-
ology, v. 8, p. 261–295.
Pin, C., and Paquette, J.-L., 1997, A mantle-derived bimodal suite in the Her-
cynian belt: Nd isotope and trace element evidence for a subduction-related
rift origin of the Late Devonian Brevenne metavolcanics, massif Central
(France): Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 129, p. 222–238.
Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., 1994, Overview of the geology and tectonic evo-
lution of Alaska: Geological Society of America, Decade of North American
Geology, v. G1, p. 989–1022.
Plafker, G., and Hudson, T., 1980, Regional implications of Upper Triassic
metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks on the Chilkat Peninsula, south-
eastern Alaska: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 17, p. 681–689.
Plafker, G., Blome, C.D., and Silberling, N.J., 1989, Reinterpretation of
lower Mesozoic rocks on the Chilkat peninsula, Alaska, as a displaced frag-
ment of Wrangellia: Geology, v. 17, p. 3–6.
Race, W.H., 1963, Property examination report, Castle Island barite deposit,
Duncan Canal, Alaska, Petersburg quadrangle: State of Alaska Division of
Mines and Minerals, 13 p.
Rubin, C.M., and Saleeby, J.B., 1988, A new perspective on what is the Taku
terrane in southern SE Alaska [abs.]: Geological Society of America Ab-
stracts with Programs, v. 20, no. 3, p. 226.
——1991, Tectonic framework of the upper Paleozoic and lower Mesozoic
Alava sequence: A revised view of the polygenetic Taku terrane in southern
southeast Alaska: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 28, p. 881–893.
Saleeby, J.B., 1994, Tectonic history of the Insular suture zone, southeastern
Alaska [abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 26,
p. A384.
Sampson, S.D., McClelland, W.C., Patchett, P.J., Gehrels, G.E., and Ander-
son, R.G., 1989, Evidence from neodymium isotopes for mantle contribu-
tions to Phanerozoic crustal genesis in the Canadian Cordillera: Nature, v.
337, p. 705–709.
 METALLOGENY OF THE LATE TRIASSIC ALEXANDER TERRANE, SE ALASKA AND NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
Sampson, S.D., Patchett, P.J., Gehrels, G.E., and Anderson, R.G., 1990, Nd
and Sr isotopic characterization of the Wrangellia terrane and implications
for crustal growth of the Canadian Cordillera: Journal of Geology, v. 98, p.
749–762.
Sampson, S.D., Patchett, P.J., McClelland, W.C., and Gehrels, G.E., 1991,
Nd and Sr isotopic constraints on the petrogenesis of the west side of the
northern Coast Mountains batholith, Alaska and Canadian Cordillera:
Canadian Journal of Earth Science, v. 28, p. 939–946.
Savage, N.M., 1994, Terrane affinities of Middle and Late Devonian con-
odonts from the Wadleigh limestone, southeastern Alaska [abs.]: Geologi-
cal Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 26, p. A158.
Slack, J.F., 1993, Descriptive and grade-tonnage models for Besshi-type mas-
sive sulphide deposits: Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 40,
p. 343–371.
Smith, I.E.M., and Johnson, R.W., 1981, Contrasting rhyolite suites in the
Late Cenozoic of Papua New Guinea: Journal of Geophysical Research, v.
86, no. B11, p. 10257–10272.
Smith, I.E.M., Chappell, B.W., Ward, G.K., and Freeman, R.S., 1977, Peral-
kaline rhyolites associated with andesitic arcs of the southwest Pacific:
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 37, p. 230–236.
Stern, R.J., Lin, P.-N., Morris, J.D., Jackson, M.C., Fryer, P., Bloomer, S.H.,
and Ito, E., 1990, Enriched back-arc basin basalts from the northern Mar-
iana trough: Implications for the magmatic evolution of back-arc basins:
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 100, p. 210–225.
Stoffers, P., Hannington, M., Wright, I., Herzig, P., de Ronde, C., and Ship-
board Scientific Party, 1999, Elemental mercury at submarine hydrother-
mal vents in the Bay of Plenty, Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand: Geol-
ogy, v. 27, p. 931–934.
Taggart, J.E., Jr., ed., 2002, Analytical methods for chemical analysis of geo-
logic and other materials, U.S. Geological Survey: U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 02–223.
Taylor, C.D., 1993, Summary of geochemical data; Annette Islands Reserve,
southeast Alaska, in Godwin, L.H., and Smith, B.D., eds., Northwest Min-
ing Association Special Symposium 1993 on Economic Mineral Resources
of the Annette Islands Reserve, Alaska, p. 77–82.
——1997, An arc-flank to back-arc transect: Metallogeny of Late Triassic vol-
canogenic massive sulfide occurrences of the Alexander terrane, southeast-
ern Alaska and British Columbia [abs.]: Society of Economic Geologists
Neves Corvo Field Conference, May 7–17, 1997, Lisbon, Portugal, Ab-
stracts and Programs, p. 68.
——2003, Descriptions of mineral occurrences and interpretation of miner-
alized rock geochemical data in the Stikine geophysical survey area, south-
eastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03–154, 51 p.
Taylor, C.D., Cieutat, B.A., and Miller, L.D., 1992, A follow-up geochemical
survey of base metal anomalies in the Ward Creek/Windfall Harbor and
Gambier Bay areas, Admiralty Island S.E. Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey
Bulletin 2041, p. 70–85.
Taylor, C.D., Philpotts, J., Sutley, S., Gent, C., Harlan, S., Premo, W., Tat-
sumoto, M., Emsbo, P., and Meier, A., 1995a, Geochemistry of Late Triassic
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 115
115
volcanic rocks and age of alteration associated with volcanogenic massive
sulfide occurrences, Alexander terrane, southeast Alaska [abs.]: Geology
and Ore Deposits of the American Cordillera, Reno/Sparks, Nevada, 1995,
Program with Abstracts, p. A74.
Taylor, C.D., Philpotts, J.A., Hall, T.E., and Wakeman, B.W., 1995b, New in-
formation on the geochemistry, age, and tectonic history of Late Triassic
volcanic host rocks and associated massive sulfide occurrences of the
Alexander terrane, southeast Alaska [abs.]: Alaska Miners Association Con-
ference, Juneau, Program with Abstracts, p. 31–32.
Taylor, C.D., Premo, W.R., and Meier, A.L., 1999a, The Late Triassic metal-
logeny of the Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska and British Columbia
[abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, no. 6,
p. A-101.
Taylor, C.D., Newkirk, S.R., Hall, T.E., Lear, K.G., Premo, W.R., Leventhal,
J.S., Meier, A.L., Johnson, C.A., and Harris, A.G., 1999b, The Greens
Creek deposit, southeastern Alaska: A VMS-SEDEX hybrid, in Stanley,
C.J., et al., eds., Mineral deposits: Processes to processing: Rotterdam,
Balkema, v. 1, p. 597–600.
Taylor, C.D., Premo, W.R., and Lear, K.G., 2000a, The Greens Creek mas-
sive sulfide deposit: Premier example of the Late Triassic metallogeny of
the Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska and British Columbia [abs.]:
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 32, no. 6, p. A-
71.
Taylor, C.D., Leventhal, J.S., Johnson, C.A., and Lear, K.G., 2000b, The
Greens Creek massive sulfide deposit southeastern Alaska: Stable isotopic
evidence for the involvement of biogenic sulfate reduction in the formation
of ores and carbonates, in Gemmell, J.B., and Pongratz, J., eds., Volcanic
environments and massive sulfide deposits, Program and Abstracts: Ho-
bart, Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Centre of Excellence in Ore De-
posits (CODES), Special Publication 3, p. 209–210.
Walker, R.G., 1984, Turbidites and associated coarse clastic deposits: Geo-
science Canada Reprint Series 1, p. 171–188.
White, D.E., 1981, Active geothermal systems and hydrothermal ore de-
posits: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 75TH ANNIVERSARY VOLUME, p. 392–423.
Williams, J.A., and Decker, P.A., 1932, Exploring Castle Island barite deposit
by diamond drilling, a compilation: U.S. Bureau of Land Management,
Juneau office, Unpublished report MR 117–1, 46 p.
Wilson, M., 1989, Igneous petrogenesis: A global tectonic approach: London,
Unwin Hyman, 466 p.
Winchester, J.A., and Floyd, P.A., 1977, Geochemical discrimination of dif-
ferent magma series and their differentiation products using immobile ele-
ments: Chemical Geology, v. 20, p. 325–343.
Wood, D.A., 1980, The application of a Th-Hf-Ta diagram to problems of
tectonomagmatic classification and to establishing the nature of crustal
contamination of basaltic lavas of the British Tertiary volcanic province:
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 50, p. 11–30.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 116