Exploration Computer Applications To Primary Dispersion Halos: Kougarok Tin Prospect, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA

Computer processing and high resolution graphics display of geochemical data were used to quickly, accurately, and efficiently obtain impor¬tant decision-making information for tin (cassiterite) exploration, Seward Peninsula, Alaska (USA). Primary geochemical dispersion patterns were determined for tin-bearing intrusive granite phases of Late Cretaceous age with exploration bedrock lithogeochemistry at the Kougarok tin prospect. Expensive diamond drilling footage was required to reach exploration objectives. Recogni¬tion of element distribution and dispersion patterns was useful in subsurface interpretation and correla¬tion, and to aid location of other holes. Tin was its own best pathfinder. Arsenic, also a useful pathfinder element, forms a discrete halo peripheral to tin mineralization. The arsenic halo is expressed in hand specimens by asenopyrite and/or scorodite staining.