The USGS released a new report today on the concealed Sunnyside porphyry copper system in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona.
Abstract: The Sunnyside porphyry copper system is part of the concealed San Rafael Valley porphyry system located in the Patagonia Mountains of Arizona. To help characterize the size, resistivity, and skin depth of the polarizable mineral deposit concealed beneath thick overburden, a regional east-west audio-magnetotelluric sounding profile was acquired. Further studies will attempt to determine if induced polarization parameters extracted from the magnetotelluric data can also be used to determine the size and resistivity of the mineralized area. The purpose of this report is to release the audio-magnetotelluric sounding data collected along that east-west profile. No interpretation of the data is included.
[right, except from Figure 1, Audio-magnetotelluric profile across the Sunnyside porphyry system in the Patagonia Mountains, Arizona. Audio-magnetotelluric stations acquired in May 2008 are numbered yellow squares (station 2 not acquired)]
Ref: Sampson, J.A., and Rodriguez, B.D., 2010, Audio-magnetotelluric survey to characterize the Sunnyside porphyry copper system in the Patagonia Mountains, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010–1311, 57 p.