Potential breccia pipes in the Mohawk Canyon area, Hualapai Indian Reservation, Arizona

Abstract

The Hualapai Indian Reservation is on the southwestern corner of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona. Hundreds of solution-collapse breccia pipes crop out in the canyons and on the plateaus of northern Arizona. The pipes originated in the Mississippian Redwall Limestone and stoped their way upward through the upper Paleozoic strata, locally extending into the Triassic Moenkopi and Chinle Formations. The occurrence of high-grade U ore, associated with potentially economic concentrations of Cu, Ag, Pb, Zn, V, Co, and Ni in some of these pipes, has stimulated mining activity in northern Arizona despite the depressed market for most of these metals. Two breccia pipes, 241, and 242, have significant mineralized rock exposed on the Esplanade erosion surface; unfortunately, their economic potential is questionable because of their inaccessibility at the bottom of Mohawk Canyon. All warrant further exploration.