Bedrock mapping, during the summer of 2013, within the Granite Lake area was completed as part of the first year of a multi-year project to investigate the geological relationships in southwest Yukon. Several different tectonostratigraphic elements were identified including rocks of the Yukon-Tanana terrane, the Kluane schist, and the Bear Creek assemblage. These were tectonically juxtaposed into a northeast dipping structural stack with the Yukon-Tanana terrane occupying the highest structural level, followed by the Kluane schist and the Bear Creek assemblage. Two plutonic phases of probable mid-Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous age were identified to intrude the Kluane schist and the Yukon-Tanana terrane respectively. A large Paleocene aged batholithic intrusive suite, the Ruby Range suite, intrudes across all tectonic boundaries.Tectonic and stratigraphic relationships observed in southwest Yukon are strikingly similar to those found in southeast Alaska, near Juneau. These similarities increase the potential for Juneau gold-belt type mineralizing systems extending into southwest Yukon.
