Mineral resources of the Battle Creek, Yatahoney Creek, and Juniper Creek Wilderness Study Areas, Owyhee County, Idaho

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Goeldner, Carolyn A. Sawlan, Michael G. King, Harley D. Winters, Richard A. Leszcykowski, Andrew M. Graham, David E.
Copyright Year	1986
Abstract	The parts of the three wilderness study areas included in this report and for which mineral surveys were requested, Battle Creek (ID-016-49E), Yatahoney Creek (ID-016-49D), and Juniper Creek (ID-016-52), encompass 31,880 acres, 9,550 acres, and 12,350 acres, respectively, in southwestern Idaho. In this report, the areas studied are referred to as "the wilderness study areas," or simply "the study areas." Field work for this report was carried out by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Survey in 1984 and 1985. The three study areas contain no known mines, claims, or prospects. They are covered by natural gas leases or lease applications, but no exploration has occurred. On the basis of geologic studies, geochemical and geophysical evidence, and mineral surveys, these wilderness study areas are defined as having low mineral resource potential for gold, silver, lead, tin, and diatomite. In this report, any references to the Battle Creek, Yatahoney Creek, and Juniper Creek Wilderness Study Areas refer only to those parts of the wilderness study areas for which the Bureau of Land Management requested mineral surveys. Character and Setting The Battle Creek, Yatahoney Creek, and Juniper Creek Wilderness Study Areas lie along the Owyhee River and its tributaries in extreme southwestern Idaho (fig. 1). All three study areas are located in the Owyhee Plateau subprovince of the Columbia Intermontane geologic province, informally known as the Owyhee volcanic field (Pansze, 1975). Elevation ranges from 4,609 ft on the Owyhee River near Wiley Ranch in the Yatahoney Creek Wilderness Study Area to 5,651 ft in the northern part of the Battle Creek Wilderness Study Area. Plateau topography characterizes the intercanyon areas, although, within the study areas, relief is as much as 500 ft along the Owyhee River and Battle Creek. The stratigraphy of the three areas comprises horizontal, laterally extensive Miocene (about 14 to 10 million years before present, or Ma) rhyolitic rocks locally overlain by Miocene sedimentary rocks and Miocene and (or) Pliocene(5 to 2 Ma) basalt (fig. 2) (see Geologic Time Chart, last page of report). In the Battle Creek Wilderness Study Area, sedimentary rocks and basalt occur mostly southeast of Battle Creek. Northwest-trending en echelon normal faults with vertical displacements of 20-100 ft occur primarily southeast of Battle Creek (fig. 2).
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.3133/b1719B
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1719b/report.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.3133/b1719B
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article