A reconnaissance geochemical survey of the Allegheny Front and Hickory Creek Roadless Areas, Allegheny National Forest, Warren County, Pennsylvania

A reconnaissance geochemical survey of the Allegheny Front and Hickory Creek Roadless Areas, Warren County, Pennsylvania, was made by members of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to test for indistinct or unexposed mineral deposits that might be recognized by geochemical halos.

Analyses using semiquantitative emission spectrography and atomic absorption for 32 elements were performed on 21 stream-sediment samples and 31 bedrock samples from the Allegheny Front tract, and on 23 stream-sediment samples and 6 bedrock samples from the Hickory Creek tract. Bedrock samples analyzed are primarily sandstone, siltstone and shale.

Neither major chemical anomalies nor obviously anomalous chemical-element concentrations related to mineralized bedrock were indicated in the geochemical survey. Metallic mineral deposits were not identified in the study area during the survey, which is consistent with other studies reported in the literature for the surrounding region. The lithologic units exposed in the roadless areas do not commonly host metallic deposits in the surrounding region, and the probability is low that such deposits occur in the roadless areas.