Klamath Gold EarthCache

There is adequate parking along the riverside of the highway. Winter snows will cover the exposures and spring runoff in the river may get high enough to put the exposures underwater.

Gold prospecting in the Klamath Mountains has been occurring since the California Gold Rush. Along the Klamath River, gold is found in placer deposits (see Seiad Valley Gold Dredging ). The source of these placer deposits is the gold associated with the quartz veins similar to the ones seen here. These quartz veins are found through out the surrounding Klamath Mountains.

The placement of the quartz and gold veins are thought to be the result of the movement of hydrothermal fluids though fractures. The fractures are created as a nearby magma chamber cools extruding superheated fluids into the surrounding rock fracturing it. The hot fluids travel through these fractures until they cool and deposit minerals, often quartz. Gold has a relatively low melting point so it is also transported the same way and solidifies in these same veins.

Later streams erode the soft gold out of these veins and transport them down river. As the flow of the river varies, the gold is deposited on the inside of meaner loops, in covered rock holes, and other areas where the flow of the river slows. These areas are called typical gold traps. These gold traps form placer deposits. You will likely find prospectors out in the river at these locations looking for gold.

The density and chemical inertness of gold are the primary characteristics that create gold placer deposits. Gold is a very dense metal. For that reason, gold will get lodged in the river bottom wherever the current slows down even slightly and will work its way down below other rocks. Gold is also inert which means it does not react with other compounds. Thus gold will remain gold pretty much no matter what else comes in contact with it.

At the pool of slower moving water below these rapids, a prospecting club recovered over a million dollars of gold from the river bottom in the 1988.

Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :

1. The text "GC23MVB Klamath Gold" on the first line.
2. The number of people in your group.
3. How do the areas of quartz relate to the shape of the rock around them?
4. Are there any flakes of gold in these veins? Why or why not?

The following sources were used to generate this cache:

• http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99242.htm
• http://www.jeffersonstate.com/bhelsaple/StateofJeffersonScenicBy.html

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