Geology

Cuprite

Esmeralda County, NV

Approximate location — plotted from published sources, not a site visit, and not a guarantee of access.

World-famous hydrothermal alteration landscape south of Goldfield where late Miocene acid-sulfate systems painted the hills in bright clays, alunite, and iron oxides. USGS and NASA remote-sensing programs (AVIRIS, ASTER, aircraft scanners) use Cuprite as a calibration field site; visitors see the multicolored waste and country rock from public desert tracks near the historic Cuprite camp on the Ralston quad.

Facts

RegionEsmeralda County, NV
Coordinates (approx.)37.5283, -117.1870
GNISfeature_id 854728 Cuprite (historical)
DistrictCuprite Mining District
SignificanceBenchmark site for imaging-spectroscopy mineral mapping
EraLate Miocene alteration; historic mining camp

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Plan ahead. Leave no trace. Verify current access before traveling.