Hydrothermal Ore Deposits in the Western United States: A NewConcept of Structural Control of Distribution.

Empirical plotting of four sets of equidistantly spaced shear stress trajectories, based on regularities in distribution of actual faults and ore veins in the continental area and on the landward prolongation of the big fracture zones of the northeastern Pacific, givesrise to a prospecting net for the western United States. Preferential accumulation of big ore deposits (including such deposits as Bingham and Tintic) along landward prolongation of the main fracture zones of northeastern Pacific, in the vicinity of intersections of four systems of trajectories, and along boundaries of crustal blocks suggests several possibilities for prospecting for unknown hydrothermal deposits in the Cordilleran part of the United States.