Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Klondike'

This work focuses on developing and expanding the utility of several new and previously used methods for examining the morphology, composition and crystallinity of placer gold. Several studies using samples from the Klondike District and surrounding areas in west-central Yukon investigating each of these properties are presented, along with potential future applications for the methods, and implications of the results already obtained. The new method for examination of the morphology of placer gold is centered around semi-automated digital image analysis. Automating morphological analysis allows more accurate and reproducible measurement of much larger number of grains as compared to manual methods, allowing for improved statistical analyses of placer gold morphology. Combining results from these new methods of morphological analysis with conventional electron microprobe analysis of composition has produced a detailed model relating placer gold grain morphology to the distance it has been alluvially transported. This model was developed with regard to geology and gold composition and is significantly superior to previous models. A new method using laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma - mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) has been developed to examine minor and trace element composition of placer gold. This new method allows for compositional fingerprints to be defined, and spatial variations in trace and minor elements to be measured within individual grains. Placer gold crystallinity has been observed, however remains poorly examined. We have utilized X-ray diffraction to study the internal crystallographic texture of placer gold, and confirm that several other methods previously used for this purpose do probe internal crystallinity. These new methods have significantly broadened the range of techniques available to investigate placer gold. Examination of the results from these methods has yielded new insights into the potential genesis of gold deposits in the Klondike, the nature of gold crystallinity, and the changes in morphology that occur during alluvial transport. These early studies also indicate that there is still significant work to be done, and that these new methods have significant potential in the study of placer gold.
Science, Faculty of
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
Graduate

Numerous forest fires occurred during the summer of 2004 in the Klondike Goldfields region of the Yukon Territory, an area of extensive discontinuous permafrost. More than 35 shallow detachment failure landslides developed in subsequent weeks in Steele Creek, a small drainage basin located about 60 km south of Dawson City. Preliminary observations of the failures and near-surface thermal regime were made through freeze-up of 2004 and continued in the summers of 2005 and 2006. Detachment failures were mapped and individual sites were surveyed. Air and ground temperatures were measured in burned and unburned areas. In addition, two-dimensional DC resistivity transects were used to examine subsurface conditions in the area. Forest fire contributed to detachment failure activity on permafrost slopes by destroying the surface organic mat, causing burned surface temperatures to rise, thawing active layers by up to 20 cm (+31%) deeper than unburned slopes and weakening the surface root structures. Deeper thaw melted transient layer ground ice, raising soil porewater pressures. The thermal differences between burned and unburned sites were greater at the north-facing than south-facing sites, and active layer freezing and thawing processes varied according to both aspect and burned status. More southerly-facing and/or burned sites generally thawed earlier, refroze later and had warmer temperatures than more northerly and/or unburned sites. Thaw of burned areas with high ground surface temperatures can be expected to continue, depending on climatic conditions, until sufficient revegetation occurs to shade the surface and rebuild the insulating organic mat. The detachment failures occurred from a few weeks to two years after forest fire, and only on slopes where permafrost was extensive. They were not similar to others in the literature in that almost all occurred in coarse-gained soils and had failure planes elevated above the permafrost table. These landslides were flow-type failures that rafted portions of the organic mat on top of deforming, non-cohesive sediment. They occurred in areas of deeper thaw but their distribution and the resistivity data suggest that they were associated with supra-permafrost taliks which concentrated groundwater flow. In an unglaciated area like the Klondike region this landsliding process has likely occurred thousands of times during the Pleistocene and may be responsible for elements of the form of the region's slopes. Predicted increases in the frequency and magnitude of forest fire in the boreal forest due to warming climates may increase incidence of these types of failures.

The present piece of research is concerned with 12 Northern stories written by the American writer Jack London. Its goal is to apply discourse analysis as a framework to the study of narrative texts in order to find out the discursive strategies that are specific for these stories. These twelve short stories about the Klondike and the gold rush were considered to be representative in relation to the nature of this research. In the analysis of the twelve stories chosen for the corpus, the theoretical framework used is based on different linguistic trends and theories currently developing in France, Great Britain, Russia, Spain and the United States. They concern discourse linguistics, narratology and poetics. The present research has four main steps: (1) describing the peculiar characteristics of the plots; (2) showing how London creates his very special narrative world; (3) revealing the polyphonic character of these stories by distinguishing different voices through the one of the narrator and the voices of the characters; this aspect of the analysis allows us to see how these voices sound, in order to configure a world of representations; (4) studying how the writer creates certain particular effects by the use of rhetorical sets. The analysis of the linguistic features of the stories provides essential information concerning the discursive strategies and the general configuration of the twelve stories in the corpus. The conclusions demonstrate the main features of the analysed narrative texts, such as their heterogeneity in their different narrative levels; its polyphony at the enunciative level; its expressive laconism at the stylistic level; and, especially, at the level of interpretation, the proposal of an ethics of action.
En este trabajo de investigación exploramos doce cuentos del escritor americano Jack London. Nuestro objetivo es la aplicación del marco teórico del análisis del discurso a estos textos narrativos para poner de manifiesto sus estrategias discursivas. Hemos escogido estos doce cuentos sobre Klondike y la “quimera del oro” por ser especialmente adecuados al tipo de investigación que nos hemos propuesto realizar. Para analizar este corpus hemos recurrido a fundamentos teóricos procedentes de diversas corrientes lingüísticas desarrolladas en España, Estados Unidos, Francia, Gran Bretaña y Rusia. Pertenecen a los ámbitos de la lingüística del discurso, la narratología y la poética. En el análisis hemos desarrollado las siguientes etapas principales: 1) la descripción de las características peculiares de la organización textual de los cuentos; 2) la puesta de manifiesto de la creación de un mundo especial; 3) el desvelamiento del carácter polifónico de estos cuentos mediante la distinción de las diversas voces que se expresan a través del narrador y de los personajes; este aspecto del análisis muestra cómo dichas voces configuran un mundo de representaciones; 4) el estudio de los medios retóricos que permiten al escritor crear efectos particulares en la construcción de ese mundo. El análisis de los rasgos lingüísticos de esos doce cuentos del corpus proporciona decisiva información sobre sus estrategias discursivas y su configuración general. En las conclusiones mostramos los principales rasgos de los textos narrativos analizados, a saber su heterogeneidad en los diferentes planos narrativos; su polifonía en el plano enunciativo; su expresivo laconismo en el plano estilístico; y, muy especialmente, en el plano de la interpretación, su propuesta de una ética de la acción.

The Klondike Gold District (KGD) is located in north-west Yukon and is well known for the extensive placer deposits that were exploited in the Gold Rush of 1896. Intensive exploration in the region led to the discovery of the White Gold District in 2009 and accompanying metallogenic studies identified a regional episode of orogenic mineralisation, which includes that within the KGD (Allan et al., 2013). This period has produced huge amounts of gold from relatively small areas, which lack the large-scale features associated with well-established orogenic gold deposits. This PhD investigates the largest lode occurrence in the KGD that is located in the Lone Star area and includes the richest placer drainages of the Eldorado and Bonanza creeks. This research project develops a paragenetic evolution for gold bearing quartz veins and a, newly discovered, unit of gold bearing schist to establish a genetic relationship to better understand gold distribution in the Lone Star area. Textural and mineralogical analysis of gold bearing quartz veins has revealed that gold is paragentically late and is associated with a volumetrically minor phase of quartz. Detailed petrographic studies have revealed that gold disseminated in a unit of schist along the Lone Star ridge is epigenetic and formed during a period of permeable fluid flow. The gold-bearing quartz veins and gold bearing schist are genetically linked and formed at shallow crustal conditions from a relatively cool hydrothermal fluid. A tectonic setting proposed by Staples et al. (2016) is consistent with a model whereby metamorphic devolatilisation at depth has generated a fluid which was driven upwards into fractures. This model accounts for the widespread nature of gold occurrences (as indicated by placer activities) with the formation of multiple fluid conduits formed in an extensional environment throughout the period of mineralisation. The associated lack of fluid focusing distinguishes the mineralisation in the region from other economically important orogenic gold deposits globally. Historical exploration in the area has focussed on auriferous veins, and the apparent discrepancy between in situ and placer gold. The identification of the schist as a potential gold source resolves this problem whilst providing a template for studies of other areas where similar discrepancies exist.

Orogenic gold mineralisation in schist terranes with few or no contemporaneous igneous intrusions is poorly understood. It is proposed in this thesis that the structural evolution of such terranes controls the generation of hydrothermal fluid pathways and thus the location of orogenic mineral deposits. Gold mineralisation in the Otago Schist, New Zealand and the Klondike Schist, Canada occurred in the latter phases of greenschist facies metamorphism as well as after metamorphism during Paleozoic-Mesozoic exhumation. In Otago, gold mineralisation occurred at a number of different times and structural levels as the schist belt was exhumed and rocks were brought up through the brittle-ductile transition. In Klondike Schist, gold mineralisation occurred in relatively brittle rocks after a period of regional compression and crustal shortening caused by the stacking of thrust sheets. Gold mineralisation in both schist belts is not associated with any coeval igneous activity. The earliest stage of gold mineralisation in the Otago Schist occurred in the Jurassic when mineralising fluids were progressively focussed into late metamorphic ductile shear zones such as the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone (HMSZ), east Otago and Rise and Shine Shear Zone (RSSZ), central Otago. Both of these gold-bearing mineralised zones occur along mappable structural discontinuities or boundaries that separate structurally, metamorphically and lithologically distinct blocks. The HMSZ occurs in the hangingwall of an underlying low angle normal fault that juxtaposes mineralised lower greenschist facies rocks on to unmineralised upper greenschist facies rock. The RSSZ occurs in the footwall of an overlying low angle normal fault that juxtaposes unmineralised lower greenschist facies rocks on to mineralised upper greenschist facies rock. The two shear zones did not form as part of a single homogeneous structure. There are several other prospective late metamorphic boundaries that are different from later brittle faults that disrupt the schist. Late metamorphic gold mineralisation is characterised by both ductile and brittle structures, foliation-parallel shears, disseminated gold with sulphides in deformed schist and minor steeply dipping extensional veins. This style of mineralisation is the most prospective but can be subtle in areas without quartz veins. Hydrothermally altered rocks are enriched in gold, arsenic, tungsten and sulphur with minor enrichment of bismuth, antimony, mercury and molybdenum. Disseminated mineralisation in the HMSZ is associated with hydrothermal graphite however there is no hydrothermal graphite in the RSSZ. The next stage of gold mineralisation occurred in the Cretaceous during post-metamorphic exhumation of the schist belt and is characterised by steeply dipping, fault-controlled quartz veins, silicified breccias and negligible wall rock alteration. Most post-metamorphic veins strike northwest such as the ~25 km long Taieri river gold vein swarm, but there are other stibnite and gold mineralised structures that strike northeast (e.g., Manuherikia Fault system) and east-west (e.g., Old Man Range vein systems). The latest recognised stage of gold mineralisation is controlled by structures related to the initiation of the Alpine Fault in the Miocene and is characterised by steeply dipping quartz veins with abundant ankeritic carbonate in veins and ankeritic carbonate with gold in altered rocks. Hydrothermally altered rocks are enriched in arsenic, carbon dioxide and sulphur with minor enrichment of antimony. Gold-bearing veins at Bullendale, central Otago are of this type and are associated with a broad alteration zone. Gold-silver and gold-silver-mercury alloys occur in both Caples and Torlesse Terranes of the Otago Schist. Almost all mercury-bearing gold occurs in east Otago vein systems and mercury-free gold occurs in central and northwest Otago veins, irrespective of host terrane. There is no relationship between depth of vein emplacement and mercury content of gold. The Klondike Schist was emplaced as a series of stacked thrust slices in the Jurassic and thrust-related fabrics are preserved in all thrust slices. Strongly deformed carbonaceous schist horizons are spatially associated with thrust faults and graphite within these units is concentrated along spaced cleavage surfaces. Kink folding is best developed in the uppermost slices of Klondike Schist and overprints thrust-related fabrics. Gold-bearing veins formed in extension fractures controlled principally by pre-existing weaknesses such as kink fold axial surfaces. Normal faults correlated with a period of Late Cretaceous regional extension crosscut kink folds and offset gold mineralised veins. The main stage of mineralisation occurred after major regional compression and thrust stacking and before Cretaceous normal faulting. Gold-bearing veins are widely dispersed throughout the uppermost slices of Klondike Schist and are considered to be a sufficient source for Klondike gold placer deposits. Disseminated gold with pyrite is associated with gold-bearing veins in some Klondike Schist and this disseminated mineralisation expands the exploration target for these veins. Disseminated gold with pyrite, without quartz veins, occurs in some schist lithologies and is associated with chlorite alteration and weak silicification. The arsenic content of gold-mineralised Klondike Schist is much lower than mineralised Otago Schist and background concentrations of arsenic are much lower in Klondike Schist as well. No shear-related mineralisation has been discovered in Klondike Schist but due to its relatively poor exposure, this belt remains prospective for this style of mineralisation.

The objectives of this thesis were: (1) to quantify seasonal groundwater contribution to total stream discharge and (2) further our understanding of sub-arctic carbon sources and pathways within a sub-arctic discontinuous permafrost river catchment. Twenty-two samples were taken from the North Klondike River, 14 samples from 5 of its tributaries, and 46 rain and snowmelt samples from the Dawson City Airport, Yukon, Canada,. During the winter months, groundwater is responsible for greater than 95% of total river discharge. Spring freshet and summer flow bring snowmelt and precipitation, contributing anywhere from 30% to greater than 60% of total river discharge. Groundwater is characterised by high concentrations of geogenic solutes from weathering during recharge, dissolved inorganic carbon, and carbon-14 activities of 0.61 pMC. Tritium activities indicate a fast moving system, with groundwater ages measuring less than 10 years. The most significant discharge of organic carbon from the system is during spring freshet (434,192 kg carbon). Primary productivity within the system is estimated to be 10.2 grams of carbon per metre squared, with approximately 96% of carbon being sequestered or emitted as carbon dioxide.

Phytostabilization is an emerging technology for the remediation of mine tailings sites. In arid and semiarid environments, mine tailings disposal sites are a major source of environmental pollution as they are subject to eolian dispersion and water erosion. Mine tailings are acidic to neutral, high in metal content, and nutrient poor. Furthermore, these sites remain unvegetated even after decades of no additional mining activity. In arid and semiarid regions, climatic variables such as high winds, salinity, and drought exacerbate the problem. The Klondyke mine tailings site is a model site for studying plant establishment in mine tailings within semiarid regions. It was a lead and zinc ore- processing operation from 1948 to 1958 and is similar in physicochemical characteristics to other acidic pyritic mine tailings.In a greenhouse study, a native drought tolerant halophyte, Atriplex lentiformis (Torr.) S. Wats., was evaluated for its potential as a phytostabilization candidate in compost-amended tailings from the Klondyke site. Germination, plant growth, and metal uptake of A. lentiformis were examined, and the microbial community was monitored by enumeration of autotrophic iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria as well as heterotrophic bacteria. Results demonstrated that with 10 to 15% compost addition, growth of A. lentiformis was not affected and shoot metal concentrations were generally not a concern for foraging animals. Furthermore, the heterotrophic bacterial community is severely stressed but recovers with compost addition and successful plant growth. Therefore, A. lentiformis is a good candidate for phytostabilization of mine tailings with compost amendments.Poor revegetation of mine tailings has been attributed to the microbial community involved in acidifying tailings; however, no thorough microbial studies have been conducted. The second study characterizes the bacterial community of the Klondyke site and compares it to an offsite control sample. Results demonstrate that the heterotrophic community is indicative of soil health as it has a positive relationship with pH, phylotype richness, and diversity. Also, the mine tailings contain an unexplored diversity of acidophiles that are important in maintaining acidity and thus, metal bioavailability. Therefore, the bacterial community in mine tailings should be monitored in phytostabilization studies to evaluate restoration.

Historic mine tailings pose a significant health risk to surrounding ecosystems and communities because of high residual concentrations of contaminant metals. The initial tailings mineral assemblage, metal sulfides, silicates, and carbonates are unstable at earth surface conditions and undergo oxidative and proton-promoted weathering. The weathering of metal sulfides generally produces acid that, if not balanced by protonconsuming dissolution of silicates and carbonates, leads to progressive acidification. The Klondyke State Superfund Site in Graham County, Arizona contains high concentrations of Pb (up to 13 g kg⁻¹) and Zn (up to 6 g kg⁻¹), and remains unvegetated 50 years after mining cessation. Field-scale investigation revealed a wide range of pH (2.5-8.0) and plant-available (DTPA-extractable) metals in the near surface of the tailings pile. Four samples were chosen for in-depth characterization ranging in pH, as denoted by subscript, from 2.6 to 5.4. The mineral transformations occurring in these four samples were investigated using a variety of techniques and the data indicated an increase in tailings weathering extent with increasing acidification (decreasing pH). Lead speciation, studied by a combination of chemical sequential extraction and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, was found to vary with tailings depth. The principle lead-bearing mineral was plumbojarosite (PbFe₆(SO₄)₄(OH)₁₂), with smaller amounts of anglesite (PbSO₄) and lead-sorbed iron-oxide. Anglesite, the most bioavailable mineral form of Pb in the tailings, was found to accumulate at the tailings surface, which has important implications for health risks. Total Zn content decreased by an order of magnitude (from 6 to 0.4 g kg⁻¹) and showed a change in molecular speciation with decreasing pH. Zinc-rich phyllosilicates and Zn-containing manganese oxides predominate at high pH, whereas low pH samples contained principally Zn-sorbed iron oxides. One of the overarching goals of the project is to remediate the Klondyke site using phytostabilization to keep contaminant metals from eroding offsite either by wind or water transport mechanisms. However, the impacts of plant growth on metal bonding environment are unknown. To address that gap in knowledge, we have developed a technique for the study of root-microbe-mineral-metal interactions that occur in the rhizosphere, the volume of soil surrounding, and affected by, plant roots. This technique involves the conjunctive use of fluorescence in-situ hybridization, X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping, XAFS and Raman micro-spectroscopies, and electron microscopy on single roots. Manganese and iron root plaques collocalized with elevated Pb, Zn, and Cr demonstrate that the rhizosphere can affect metal speciation. Metal speciation is an important factor in determining metal bioavailability, and thus is critical for understanding the health risk associated with mine tailings. The results of this research provides site-specific information about Pb and Zn speciation, which will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of site remediation within the context of metal toxicity.

This thesis represents the first anthropological perspective to be offered on the nature of the Klondike Gold Rush population. In order to better understand the experience of the average gold rusher, morbidity and mortality patterns are examined for the residents of the Yukon Territory following the discovery of gold in the region (1898-1904). Infectious diseases such as measles, pneumonia, smallpox and typhoid fever are the primary focus of this study, however local factors such as the severe climate and the seclusion of the gold fields from the outside world also offers an interesting opportunity to examine the consequences of leading a particularly harsh and physically demanding lifestyle in an inhospitable environment.
October 2008

The A.J. Goddard, a steamboat built for the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898, wrecked in 1901 on Lake Laberge, Yukon Territory, where it lay undisturbed until its rediscovery in 2008 by the Yukon River Survey Project, directed by John Pollack. The complete and undisturbed nature of the wreck site, which is the only known site from this period to show such remarkable preservation, provides an unparalleled opportunity for studying the construction features of one of the Klondike steamboats and its associated material culture. The wreck of the A.J. Goddard is the only known surviving example of a small, prefabricated sternwheeler from the Yukon River's sternwheeler days. Due to the nature of its construction and building material, the A.J. Goddard represents a period of vast change in shipbuilding techniques, and is part of the fascinating juxtaposition between traditional wooden boats and a new, prefabricated industrial solution to boatbuilding. Work thus far has revealed that the A.J. Goddard possessed a simple design and construction, likely not one developed specifically for the Yukon River. It appears that the need to carry it over a mountain influenced its design more than the qualities of the Yukon River. Modifications were made over the course of its short career to make it more suitable, but its tragic end indicates that it was not a good choice for open-water navigation, though it admirably and successfully fulfilled its mission of serving throughout the gold rush. Though it was not ideally suited for the river and lakes environment where it was built, the quickness and ingenuity with which the vessel was constructed made it one of the few vessels, out of the thousands that set out for the Yukon in the summer of 1898, to actually make it to Dawson in time for the gold rush without being delayed by ice in the north, as so many were. Field seasons were conducted in 2009 and 2010 that focused on recording the boat's construction features and artifacts. Select artifacts were recovered for study and display in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory with the intention of creating an exhibit for the Yukon public.

In September 1901 the North-West Mounted Police learned that a group of American miners, calling themselves the Order of the Midnight Sun, were planning to take over the Yukon. The Conspiracy, as the plot to overthrow the Mounted Police and establish an independent republic in the Alaska boundary region was known, appealed to Americans in the region. The location of the Alaska boundary was not set when the Klondike Gold Rush (1897-1899) brought thousands of miners and traders into the Yukon, northern British Columbia, and Alaska. The Canadian government’s efforts to maintain order and protect its interests in the Alaska boundary dispute angered American miners and businessmen and led them to support the Order. After the Conspiracy was discovered, the Mounted Police and the Canadian government launched a full scale investigation and response. To fully investigate the Conspiracy during the Alaska boundary dispute, the Mounted Police, a domestic force, had to operate in Canada and the United States and cooperate with American authorities in Skagway. The Dominion Police were also involved in the investigation and they too had to work with American authorities in Seattle and San Francisco. But the Mounted Police did not view the Conspiracy as a serious threat. Their experience in the north had shown that such threats rarely amounted to anything. The Canadian government, however, responded differently. Canadian officials in Ottawa feared that the Conspiracy would cost Canada in the Alaska boundary negotiations and they took steps to ensure that the Mounted Police could defend the region and prevent further unrest. This thesis examines the Mounted Police and Canadian government responses to the Conspiracy and the reasons for these different responses, within the context of the Alaska boundary dispute.