Economic Geology Vol. 64, 1969, pp.

228-229

DISCUSSIONS

CHRONOLOGY OF INTRUSION, VOLCANISM, AND DEPOSITION AT BINGHAM, UTAH

ORE

The above captioned paper byW. J. Moore,M. A. latitic lavas that were being eruptedto the surface. Lanphere, andJ. D. Obradovich, appeared in Ecoa. This magmamay well haveactedvery differentlyat Gv.o.., v. 63, p. 612-621,1968. The areastudied by pointsonly a few miles apart. Plutonsthat invade closelyrelatedvolcanicpiles the authors lies just north of one I mapped many
are not unusual in Utah. Thoseat Tintic (Lindgren years ago(Gilluly, 1932). TheFairfield quadrangle embraces part of theBingham igneous complex and and Loughlin, 1919, p. 42; Morris and Lovering,

(Butler, 1913,p. 50), relations thereinare pertinent to the igneous history 1961,p. 124), San'Francisco Marysvale(Callaghan and Parker, 1961), and Tickof the Oquirrh Range. The authorsestablished their chronology entirely ville Gulch (Gilluly, 1932, p. 55), all invadevolon the basisof radiometricdating, as was necessary canics of closely similar composition. Although the in an area where no mutual contactsof intrusive and Boutwelland Wolsey (1912, p. 93) considered at Park City to be youngerthan the inextrusive rocks areto befound(Boutwell andKeith, volcanics both their map (Plate 2) and one of their 1905,p. 24-25). They conclude that all the vol- trusives, (Plate XVI, C--C') indicatethe reverserecanics at Bingham are younger than the intrusive sections

more dioritic than monzonitic,it is true--can be Parker, 1961). REFERENCES seen in intrusive contactwith the overlying latitic volcanics. The field relationsare unequivocal;we Boutwell, J. M., and Wolsey,L. H., 1912,Geology and ore

rocks, though all were emplaced withinan interval lations. Here, too, the intrusivesappearto have cut pile. This relationis of course of about 7 m.y. This conclusion is not in question.their own volcanic as somevolcanics at Gold Hill overlie I write,however, to pointoutthatonlyabout 4 miles not universal, eroded plutons nonconformably (Nolan, 1935) asdo south of theBingham area,in TickvilleGulch, Fairthe younger lavas of Marysvale (Callaghan and fieldquadrangle, an intrusive porphyry--somewhat

deposits of the Park City district,Utah: U.S. Geol.Surmustconclude that thisintrusive is younger thanthe vey Prof. Paper 77, 231 p. associated volcanics. Either, then, the intrusive in Butler, B. S., 1913,Geology and ore deposits of the San Francisco and adjacent districts,Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Tickville Gulchis somewhat younger than thoseof
Prof. Paper 80, 212 p. theBingham district proper, or thevolcanics in Tick- Callaghan, Eugene, andParker,R. L., 1961,Geology of the ville Gulch are older than thoseto the north, despite

Gilluly, James, 1932, Geology andoredeposits of the Stockdistinguishable, either petrographically or chemically.

the fact that the two suitesof rocksare virtually in-

Monroe quadrangle, Utah: U.S.

rangle Map Series,GQ-155.

Geol. Survey, Quad-

The volcanicfield is continuous from one localityto

the other.

Lindgren, Waldemar andLoughln., G. F., 1919, Geology and

ore deposits of the Tintic mmmgdistrict,Utah: U.S. Geol.Survey Prof. Paper107, 282p. Morris, H. T., and Lovering, T. S., 1961,Stratigraphy of
the East Tintic Mountains, Utah: U.S. Prof. Paper 361, 145 p. Geol. Survey

ton and Fairfield Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 173, ldangles, .

So far as I know,thereare no radiometric dates

for the Tickville Gulchrocksso that one cannotdecide betweenthesealternatives. I see no important

metricwork at Bingham and my own conclusions U.S. Geol. SurveyProf. Paper 177,172 p.
from the field relationsin Tickville Gulch. Even

inconsistency, however, between the careful radiothough thevolcanics at Bingham areallyounger than
the associated intrusives, there must have been a

Nolan,T. B., 1935,The Gold Hill miningdistrict,Utah:

JAES
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

DEVER, COLORA)O 80225,

December9, 1968

monzonitic magma activeat depthto furnish the

POTASH-BEARING EVAPORITES---DANAKIL AREA

p.573) ofthe paper "Potash bearing Evaporites in the Danakil Area (Dec. 1967-Feb. 1968). theDanakil Area," byHolwerda and Hutchinson During this international mission, a crew ofeight (Vol. 63, N.2,pp. 124-150) opens a controversy geoscientists surveyed an area ofabout 15,000 km ,
228

Sir'The discussion byP.A.Mohr (Vol. 63, N.5, tions made during a recent volcanological mission in

towhich itmay be useful to contribute some observawhich, despite the literature published on the subject,