Gold-bearing quartz veins occur in shear zones, faults, and joints within the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group flysch in the Kenai and Chugach Mountains of south-central Alaska. The veins are regionally restricted to areas of medium greenschist-grade metamorphic rocks and are notably absent in lower and higher grade metamorphic rocks.

Fluid inclusion studies were conducted on samples of gold-bearing quartz from the Moose Pass, Hope-Sunrise, Port Wells, and Port Valdez districts. Ice and clathrate melting temperatures indicate that the ore-forming fluids had low salinities, ranging from 0 to 5-equivalent wt. % NaCl. These fluids contain appreciable amounts of dissolved gases, as shown by the nearly ubiquitous formation of clathrates during inclusion freezing and by the common presence of three-phase inclusions consisting of aqueous fluid, liquid CO₂, and vapor. Total gas content varies from essentially nondetectable to as much as 10 vol. %. Freezing measurements on the inclusion fluids show the gas composition to vary from nearly pure CO₂ to mixtures dominated by CH₄ and N₂

We believe that the gold-bearing veins represent pathways for the escape of metamorphic fluids during rapid uplift of the Chugach and Kenai Mountains. The veins are believed to have formed along hydraulic fractures or along dilated preexisting fractures, created when fluid pressure exceeded load pressure.

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