Geochemical Survey of Lower Pennsylvanian Corbin Sandstone Outcrop Belt in Eastern Kentucky

ABSTRACT Geochemical anomalies that may constitute further evidence for the existence of the east-west trending 38th Parallel lineament have been discovered in Wolfe, Powell, and Menifee Counties, Kentucky. Stream-water, stream-sediment, and outcrop samples collected along the northeast-southwest-trending Corbin Sandstone outcrop belt show anomalous concentrations of U, Th, Zn, Cu, and Ni only in parts of the belt that skirt the 38th Parallel lineament. Landsat studies also show that anomalies are closely associated with the intersections of the four major linear trends present in eastern Kentucky. This association, in part, suggests that the anomalies resulted from ascending fluids which utilize these lineaments as conduits. The presence of slightly uraniferous rock at Bell Branch in Menifee County (together with the presence of geochemical anomalies in the stream-water and sediment samples in Powell, Wolfe, and Menifee Counties) is encouraging even though commercial quantities of uranium or base metals have not been discovered. An anomalously uraniferous kimberlite pipe in Elliot County warrants additional study for this part of eastern Kentucky.