ROCK ROOM
Smithers Exploration Group's Collection of Cordilleran Rock Suites
Welcome to Smithers Exploration Group’s Rock Room, home to our classic collection of Cordilleran rock suites. This extensive collection of rock samples is representative of deposits and rock types from across British Columbia, with a focus on the northwest. It’s an important resource for the development of expertise on the geology of northern BC and the discovery of the next mines.
The collection was begun in the 1970s by local geologists and prospectors, as well as the BC Ministry of Mines, and was updated under the direction of former regional geologist Paul Wojdak. It is designed to give hands-on examples of the rocks that make up the regional geological framework of northern British Columbia. We are working hard to complete our collection: if there is a particular suite you are keen to see but we do not yet have, please let us know and we will prioritize the aquisition of those samples. If you have a suite that you would consider donating to help us fill in the gaps, please contact us.
The Rock Room occupies a spacious classroom at the Smithers Exploration Group office at #101 3423 Fulton Avenue in Smithers. We have almost 2000 rock samples catalogued, clearly labelled and stored in trays that can be removed for handling and close examination. The room is heated, well-lit and spacious .It is equipped with regular and zoom stereomicroscopes for detailed investigation.
The rock suites cover:
- Plutonic
- Volcanic
- Sedimentary
- Metamorphic
- Stratigraphy
- Mineral Deposits and Ore Deposit Types
- Rock-forming and Ore Minerals
Call 250-877-7883 or email rockroom@smithersexplorationgroup.com if you have questions about the Rock Room or the donation requirements for samples.
SEG’s Rock Room with its Cordilleran Rock Suites will make Smithers home to a unique tool for explorationists. It will attract industry and government attention to Smithers as a community committed to the growth of the minerals industry in BC.
Browse the Rock Room Collection
Library No. | Suite Name | Location | Collector | Rock Name | Age | Description | Cart |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S2-22 | Stewart suite | Mt Dilworth Fm | D Alldrick | Banded lithic tuff | Jurassic | dark grey; fine grained; weakly banded; 20% pyrite fragments; 10% altered lithic rock fragments; both type of fragments elongated along bands | |
S2-21 | Stewart suite | Dilworth Fm, Monitor Lake | D Alldrick | Lithic lapilli tuff | Jurassic | Drill core; dark grey and apple green; mottled; 20% dark grey aphanitic matrix; 75% subrounded, green lithic fragments 2-20 mm; 5% feldspar, 2 mm; soft due to pervasive chlorite and epidote | |
S2-20 | Stewart suite | Dilworth Fm, Monitor Lake | D Alldrick | Crystal lithic dacite | Jurassic | Drill core; 60% aphanitic dark grey matrix; 30% feldspar 2-3 mm; 10% small lithic fragments to 5 mm; possibly high-level intrusion / dike | |
S2-19 | Stewart suite | Salmon River Fm (base of) | D Alldrick | Fossiliferous gritty limestone | Jurassic | dark grey; 15% angular, elongate rock fragments, varying colour, to 5 mm; 15% fossil bivalves; groundmass is sand grains cemented by calcite | |
S2-18 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm | D Alldrick | Dacite dyke | medium green; 20% aphanitic matrix; 50% sub to euhedral plagioclase phenocrysts to 3 mm and weakly aligned; 5% K-feldspar 5-15 mm; 24% fine mafics (hornblende?) 0.5 to 8 mm; 1% diss pyrite 2 mm cubes; pervasive carbonate alteration | ||
S2-17 | Stewart suite | D Alldrick | Crystal lithic lapilli tuff | Jurassic | dark grey and brown; fine to medium grained; 50% dark fragments to 3 cm which contain 20% small plagioclase phenocrysts; 35% aphanitic dark brown matrix; intensely fractured with quartz and siderite along sub-parallel fractures and pervasive carbonate fractures in matrix | ||
S2-16 | Stewart suite | Premier / Big Missouri mine | D Alldrick | Dacite crystal lithic tuff | Jurassic | light to medium grey-green; mottled; soft; 50% sub-angular fragments to 1.5 cm; 5% small K-feldspar in matrix; fragments are dark green andesite porphyry or grey-brown siliceous tuff | |
S2-15 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm, upper andesite unit, Premier mine | D Alldrick | Altered andesite | Jurassic | grey-green; fine grained; intense chlorite and weak carbonate alteration; pyrite fine, disseminated | |
S2-14 | Stewart suite | Mt Dilworth Fm, Black tuff member, Big Missouri property | D Alldrick | Pyritic tuff | Jurassic | medium to dark grey; fine grained; fractured; pyrite-quartz on sub-parallel fractures; cross cutting tension fractures filled with quartz; small anhedral feldspar visible locally | |
S2-13 | Stewart suite | Mt Dilworth Fm | D Alldrick | Tuffaceous mudstone | Jurassic | light green; fine grained; dull; waxy; conchoidal fracture; somewhat fractured; dark patches of carbon and calcite | |
S2-12 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm, upper andesite unit | D Alldrick | Andesite plagioclase porphyry (crystal tuff?) | Jurassic | grey-green; 40% sub to euhedral plagioclase to 5 mm; minor entirely chloritized hornblende to 1 cm, faintly visible; sparse disseminated pyrite; some feldspars are pale yellow due to weak clay alteration | |
S2-11 | Stewart suite | Mt Dilworth Fm | D Alldrick | Welded ash flow | Jurassic | light and dark grey; fine grained; mottled and banded; fiamme evident on cut surface; pyrite replacement of some stretched, aligned clasts; minor quartz veinlets perpendicular to banding | |
S2-10 | Stewart suite | Mt Dilworth Fm | D Alldrick | Rhyodacite tuff | Jurassic | light green-grey; very fine grained; cherty; sparse small stretched fragments; 4 mm pale orange weathered rim | |
S2-09 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm | D Alldrick | Andesite porphyritic flow | Jurassic | dark green; medium grained; 30% feldspar (mostly plagioclase) 5 mm; 15% hornblende to 5 mm; sparse K-feldspar >1 cm; one fine grained xenolith | |
S2-08 | Stewart suite | D Alldrick | Dacite dyke | Jurassic | medium green; medium grained; 50% sub to euhedral plagioclase phenocrysts, 2-3 mm; sparse K-feldspar; 20% hornblende; matrix is fine grained, siliceous; calcite disseminated and 3 mm veinlet; 1% disseminated pyrite | ||
S2-07 | Stewart suite | Premier porphyry, 4-level Premier mine | D Alldrick | Dacite dyke | Jurassic | light green; 50% sub to euhedral plagioclase phenocrysts, 2mm; sparse K-feldspar, 1.5 cm; 10% hornblende; quartz vein stockwork with pink selvages and patches of potassic(?) alteration; pyrite disseminated and in quartz veinlets | |
S2-06 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm, upper andesite unit | D Alldrick | Hornblende andesite tuff | Jurassic | dark green; fine grained; foliated; 20% small hornblende phenos roughly aligned; trace feldspar specks; pervasive chlorite; wispy, discontinuous quartz veinlets parallel to foliation; 5% pyrite as blebs to 2 mm | |
S2-05 | Stewart suite | Unuk River Fm, middle andesite unit, north end of Long Lake | D Alldrick | Andesite porphyry | Jurassic | medium green; fine grained; 30% mafic phenocrysts (augite or hornblende?); minor feldspar phenos, poorly visible; | |
S2-04 | Stewart suite | Summit Lake stock | D Alldrick | Hornblende granodiorite | 192.8 Ma | black and white; medium grained; 20% quartz to 5 mm; 10% white K-feldspar phenocrysts to 5 mm; 50% fine grained white plagioclase; 20% mafics, hornblende to 1 cm and minor biotite to 4 mm; trace pyrite | |
S2-03 | Stewart suite | Texas Creek batholith, Riverside prospect, Alaska | D Alldrick | Hornblende granodiorite | Jurassic | medium grained; weakly foliated; 15% quartz; 60% feldspar (white to pale green, epidote altered); 25% aligned hornblende, completely altered to dark green chlorite; disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite | |
S2-02 | Stewart suite | Texas Creek batholith, Riverside prospect, Alaska | D Alldrick | Hornblende granodiorite | Jurassic | medium grained; 10% quartz; 50% feldspar (plagioclase and K-feldspar), altered to sericite or epidote near fractures; 40% hornblende to 7 mm; chlorite fractures; trace disseminated pyrite | |
S2-01 | Stewart suite | Texas Creek batholith, Six Mile prospect | D Alldrick | Hornblende granodiorite | Jurassic | medium grained; weakly foliated; 20% quartz to 4 mm; 20% feldspar (plagioclase?), pale grey-green, sericite altered; 30% aligned hornblende, chloritic | |
S1-18 | Telkwa Volcanics | Crystal Lithic Ash Flow Tuff | Pink overall color with broken and fine rock fragments from mm scale to 2cm from white, red and black in color. Small wisps are probably flattened pummace, rock has ~5% small crystals; matrix dense and glassy. X-cut by quartz-calcite veining w/ tr py. | ||||
S1-17 | Telkwa Volcanics | Accretionary Lapilli Tuff | Beige in color, fine grained, with a spherical grey rimmed texture (lapilli?), black rims sometimes fractured & angular. Round balls from air fall in "Thunder Cloud" above major eruption centers. | ||||
S1-16 | Telkwa Volcanics | Ryodacite Ash Flow Tuff | Medium grey with mm scale fg pale grey rounded to dark grey elongated fragments (fiamme wisps) with weak alignment | ||||
S1-15 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Feldspar porphyry dacite | Jurassic | 80% feldspar to 5 mm (pink-orange, K-spar?, anhedral) are roughly aligned, flow-banded; dark grey, fine grained matrix; rare augite(?) as small dark grey-green, squarish crystals altered to sericite/chlorite; carbonate in cross cutting veinlets; minor limonite on weathered surface | ||
S1-14 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Amygdaoidal basalt | Jurassic | grey-brown; fine grained; 20% amygdules (rounded, dull green, chlorite?); minor small, red-brown, anhedral phenocrysts may be iddingsite (altered olivine); one fracture surface coated with bright red-brown zeolite (heulandite or stilbite) accompanied by minor calcite | ||
S1-13 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Hematitic basalt porphyry | Jurassic | light grey-brown; fine grained; soft; 20% subhedral augite to 5 mm, altered to epidote; cavities (amygdules?) filled with white radiating zeolite (natrolite), minor orange K-feldspar and minor grey to translucent chalcedony | ||
S1-12 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Dacite crystal lithic air-fall(?) tuff | Jurassic | 60% red (hematite), fine-grained siliceous matrix; 20% feldspar crystals to 3 mm (pale pink-white, anhedral); 5% grey lithic fragments (rounded, siliceous); 15% pumic fragments (flattened, warpy, pink-white, altered to laumontite). Possibly air-fall material | ||
S1-11 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Volcanic pebble wacke | Jurassic | orangish-grey pebbly greywacke to conglomerate; moderately sorted; polymictic; crystal clasts of glassy quartz, minor feldspar and trace magnetite; laumontite cement, slightly crumbly, pink-orange | ||
S1-10 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Lapilli tuff | Jurassic | 15% feldspar crystals 1-3 mm, anhedral; 10% light grey-brown lithic fragments (rounded, 1-5 mm, siliceous to clay-altered); red, fine grained matrix (hematitic); a few vugs to 1 cm of light brown clay and black carbonaceous material | ||
S1-09 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Volcanic siltstone to sandstone | Jurassic | grey; finely laminated; moderate to well-sorted; normal and reverse graded bedding; single 1 cm thick cross bed; a few large, aligned, epidote altered fragments indicate lamellar flow. Fluvial facies | ||
S1-08 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Plagioclase augite porphyritic andesite | Jurassic | sub to euhedral augite phenos altered to epidote; plagioclase as small acicular laths; round amygdules filled with chlorite; moderate carbonate content; one large vug filled with chalcedonic quartz rimmed by calcite | ||
S1-07 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Porphyritic andesite-basalt | Jurassic | dark grey-green; bladed feldspar phenocrysts, some in groups nearly forming a flower porphyry; sparse black augite phenocrysts; minor amygdules (clasts?) consists of clay, chlorite and minor sericite; minor pink laumontite; moderately magnetic | ||
S1-06 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Amygdaloidal andesite/basalt flow breccia | Jurassic | large amygdules filled pale pink, crumbly zeolite (laumontite); weakly chloritic and weak pervasive carbonate; possibly a flow-top breccia cemented by zeolite | ||
S1-05 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Spheroidal dacite-andesite lithic tuff | Jurassic | greyish, fine grained matrix which may be vitric or glassy as evidenced by spherulitic growth and subconchoidal fracture; clasts are minor, rounded or elongate and weakly aligned; clasts are composed of quartz, chlorite or light green siliceous material represent either lithic fragments or anhedral crystals; green wispy fragments are likely flattened pumice. Spherules are dark grey with a medium grey matrix, possibly feldspar(?) | ||
S1-04 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Rhyolite with lithophasae | Jurassic | pink-orange; fine grained. Lithophasae are hollow, bubble-like structures composed of concentric shells of finely crystalline quartz, alkali feldspar and other minerals. They form during eruption as vapour phase separates from the magma and are preserved when it solidifies, and subsequently filled by silica precipitates. | ||
S1-03 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Amygdaloidal lithic andesite-basalt tuff | Jurassic | green-grey to purplish; fine grained; weakly chloritic; small red, rounded lithic clasts of fine hematitic tuff; weakly magnetic; cavities lined with small pink feldspar crystals | ||
S1-02 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Tuffaceous mudstone | Jurassic | dark brown-green; fine grained; greasy texture due to chlorite on fracture surfaces | ||
S1-01 | Telkwa Volcanics | T Richards | Accretionary lapilli tuff | Jurassic | grey-brown; prominent rounded, dark, concentric spherules of accretionary lapilli; matrix contains small, anhedral mafic crystals; spherules are weakly magnetic; calcite on fractures; concentric lapilli are thought to form in a turbulent ash-cloud by accretion of fine dust particles | ||
P2-05 | Calcalkaline Granites | T Richards | Quartz gabbro xenolith in quartz monzonite | medium to coarse quartz monzonite with 25% quartz, 50% white euhedral K-feldspar, 10% plagioclase and 15% slightly chloritic hornblende, trace fine py. Xenolith is 15% quartz, 15% plag, 70% hornblende and minor biotite; strongly magnetic whereas qtz monz is moderately magnetic | |||
P2-03 | Calcalkaline Granites | T Richards | Hornblende quartz monzonite | medium grained; 30% quartz; 15% plagioclase; 40% pink and white K-feldspar; 15% mafics, slightly chloritic hornblende and minor biotite; local epidote alteration | |||
P2-04 | Calcalkaline Granites | T Richards | Biotite granite | pink-white; medium grained; weakly foliated; 15% quartz; 75% light pink K-feldspar; 10% biotite, moderately magnetic | |||
P2-02 | Calcalkaline Granites | T Richards | Biotite granodiorite | light grey-white and black; medium grained; 30% quartz; 30% plagioclase; 20% K-feldspar; 20% biotite; weak potassic alteration and some feldspar altered to epidote; py as small blebs; some mafics are weakly magnetic; one fracture vein of quartz-epidote-py-moly | |||
P2-01 | Calcalkaline Granites | T Richards | Pink granite | pink; medium to coarse grained; 15% quartz; 70% pink-orange K-feldspar; 15% grey-green chloritic hornblende and black tourmaline as knots to 2 cm; very minor muscovite with tourmaline | |||
D36-11 | Brucejack Gold Mine | 1140-ACC | S3-VSF | The VSF S3 conglomerate is commonly interbedded with sandstone and siltstone sedimentary horizons within the volcanic sedimentary facies (VSF). This unit is typically clast supported, well sorted, and contains dominant monomictic−oligolmictic, cobble-sized clasts, which are oblate shapped and aligned to a dominant foliation. The matrix is typically composed of well sorted, fine−medium grained siltstone, which is weakly-moderately sericite altered. Clasts range from pebble−boulder size, where they are most commonly stretched and elongated along the foliation axis. Clasts are altered to pyrite-sericite-chlorite and minor silica, from the inside out. This unit is often misinterpreted for the polymictic conglomerate, which is in part from the alteration products of the individual clasts, which appear as heterogeneous clast types. | |||
D36-10 | Brucejack Gold Mine | 1320-27 | Domain 20 - ANDX | Domain 20 is a stockwork of epithermal veining. Stockwork veins are macroscopically observed as deformed silica-flooded, quartz-calcite ± dolomite veins, and are typically several meters in width. Stockwork veins commonly show good vertical continuity and along strike, with one of the veins traceable over a strike length of more than 100 m in a combination of underground workings and diamond drill hole intersections. Interpretation is still on-going and theres potential that D20 represents late stage relaxation and consequent normal movement along the long lived, reactivated structure. | |||
D36-09 | Brucejack Gold Mine | 1170-East | S4 VSF | Volcanic sandstones are generally well-sorted, homogeneous, and typically range from very coarse sand to very fine sand. These sandstones are massive, although contain preserved bedding and cross-bedding textures, which are often highlighted by pyrite alteration along bedding planes. Sandstone units are commonly interbedded with siltstone and oligomictic conglomerate (S3 VSF) major lithologies on small scales and over several tens of meters. This unit is most commonly a pale green-grey colour, speaking to the weak−moderate sericite matrix replacement. This unit is commonly misinterpreted with fine-grained porphyry (P1), where feldspar and amphibole phenocrysts are either sparsely disseminated throughout the groundmass, or small and go unnoticed or unrecognized. Another unit that causes confusion with the VSF sandstone is the V12 ANDX, specifically the coarse grained ash tuff, where chlorite-pyrite altered fragments are not present. | |||
D36-08 | Brucejack Gold Mine | 1230-16 | S3-poly Conglomerate | S3-Poly CONG: comprised of 5% sub-rounded pebble-sized polymictic clasts supported by a sandy matrix. Moderately well sorted. Notably lower clast % than typically observed in S3-Poly. Moderate-strong sericitic, pyritic alteration; moderate silicic alteration; weak-moderate chloritic alteration | |||
D36-07 | Brucejack Gold Mine | 1200-East | Sericite | Sericite alteration is found in all host rock lithologies except argillaceous mudstones. Sericite alteration also occurs on a spectrum similar to quartz alteration, where rocks range from weakly sericite altered host rock replacement to complete monomineralic sericite replacement. Generally sericite occurs as matrix replacement of volcanic sedimentary units, and volcanic fragmental units, and to lesser extent porphyry host rocks. Phenocrysts and sedminatary clasts are commonly moderately pervasively altered. Intense, texturally destructive sericite alteration is observed on the margins of intensely silicified host rocks (most commonly the polymictic conglomerate unit), where the sericite is monomineralic, apple green in colour, and texturally destructive (this sample is an excellent example of this). |
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