Geology
Stratigraphy of Dan's Pup
The stratigraphy of Dan's Pup consists of three general units:
Pay Gravel: The boulder-rich gulch gravel containing much of the placer gold is up to 5 ft in thickness. Placer gold is erratically distributed throughout the gravel and not necessarily on the bedrock contact. Most of the gold is coarse-grained.
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Oxidized Gulch Gravel: overlying the pay gravel is a finer, oxidized gravel with fewer boulders. The upper contact of this unit is sometimes cemented by an iron-rich ferricrete layer. This unit is considered overburden.
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Gravel and Colluvium: the upper part of the section consists of modern stream gravel that is mixed with sediment entering the valley bottom from the hillsides. This hillside material, or colluvium, consists of broken fragments of bedrock. Both layers are considered overburden.
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Discontinuous permafrost is present in Dan's Pup, particularly near the more shaded left limit hillside (west side of creek). Opportunities exist where previous mining avoided frozen ground.
Photo courtesy of Yukon Geological Survey
Theoretical cross-section of Seattle Creek
Illustration by Jeff Bond
Seattle Creek Profile
The main valley of Seattle Creek remains relatively untouched and unexplored. A resistivity geophysical survey from upstream of camp identified a deep channel cut into bedrock and a buried bench surface. The deep channel is approximately 80 ft deep whereas the shallower ground is approximately 30 ft. Closer to camp, the deep channel shifts to the north side of the valley as is shown in the illustration looking down Seattle Creek from camp.
Geophysics by Geoplacer Exploration Ltd.