Sampling problems and hydraulic factors related to the dispersion of scheelite in drainage sediments, Clea Property, Yukon Territory

Multifractional analysis for scheelite, magnetite, heavies, mediums, and lights, in drainage sediments downstream of the Clea tungsten-bearing skarn deposit, Yukon, revealed three interdependent problems that complicate interpretation of results of drainage surveys for W: (1) Scheelite concentrations in stream sediments reflect, in part, hydraulic sorting rather than source distribution. (2) Low numbers of scheelite grains in stream sediments cause high random sampling and subsampling errors and present analytical difficulties. (3) Scheelite/heavies or scheelite/mediums ratios may not be appreciably higher downstream of scheelite-bearing skarn than barren bedrock, because scheelite, heavies and mediums occur in increased amounts in skarns (i.e. they covary in source materials). Hydraulic effects result in systematic changes in mineral distributions between high and low energy environments (characterized by coarse gravel and fine gravel to sand, respectively). Scheelite, magnetite, heavies and mediums concentrations in -10-mesh sediments are greater in high energy environments, and this relative enrichment increases with grain size and density (up to one-hundredfold for…

Publisher

Government of Yukon

Resources

2

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-09-09