Isotopic ages from intrusive rocks near the Stuyahok gold placer deposits, south-central Holy Cross quadrangle, Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998

In the Stuyahok area of the south-central Holy Cross quadrangle, Alaska, felsic to intermediate dikes and sills intrude Lower Cretaceous volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Koyukuk terrane. These previously undated intrusions are the probable source of at least 933 kg (30,000 oz) of past placer gold production. Additional placer, and perhaps lode, resources are likely present at Stuyahok. New U/Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar isotopic data indicate two of the dikes are early Tertiary in age (63.6+0.2 Ma and 60.4+1.1 Ma, respectively). In addition to helping constrain the age of gold mineralization, these early Tertiary ages suggest the Stuyahok dikes are part of a Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary belt of gold mineralized felsic dikes that lie in the Kuskokwim mineral belt. Also reported herein are previously unpublished conventional K-Ar ages of 69.4+2.1 Ma and 69.3+2.1 Ma for two felsic intrusions from the western edge of this mineralized belt, the Marshall–Kako Creek area, which lies about 40 km west-southwest of the Stuyahok area.