MINFILE Mineral Inventory

MINFILE Record Summary

MINFILE No 094M 022

File Created:	21-Aug-1987	by	Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:	08-Mar-1995	by	Chris J. Rees (CRE)

SUMMARY

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		NMI
Name	LIARD HOTSPRINGS, TROPICAL VALLEY	Mining Division	Liard
		BCGS Map	094M050
Status	Showing	NTS Map	094M08E
Latitude	059º 25' 43''	UTM	09 (NAD 83)
Longitude	126º 06' 10''	Northing	6591358
		Easting	664345
Commodities	Radioactive Material, Radon, Hotspring	Deposit Types	H01 : Travertine T02 : Geothermal spring
Tectonic Belt	Foreland	Terrane	Ancestral North America

Capsule Geology

This occurrence of radioactive tufa is situated in Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park, at the settlement of Liard River on the Alaska Highway.

Radioactivity is present in the water and calcareous tufa deposits at the hotsprings. Material from the deposit was tested by X-ray fluorescence, and apparently contains little or no uranium or thorium (Geological Survey of Canada Economic Geology Report Number 16). The radioactivity was attributed to radon gas and possibly radium salts derived from unknown bedrock sources. The temperature of the water in the hottest pool at the springs is up to 50 degrees centigrade (Geological Survey of Canada Paper 72-32).

The area is underlain by Upper Devonian to Mississippian shale, argillite, siltstone, sandstone and minor limestone of the Besa River Formation (Geological Survey of Canada Maps 46-1962, 1712A, 1713A).


Bibliography	EMPR MAP 22-61 GSC OF 551 GSC P 44-28, p. 8, 31; 72-32, p. 19 GSC MAP 46-1962; 1712A; 1713A GSC EC GEOL *No. 16 (Rev.), pp. 67, 234