Any ideas of what this is a possible indication of?

[M.E.G.]

While walking a remote creek the other day (deep in a canyon, very steep and rugged land scape) I took these photos. This area not known for any hard rock activity, at least what I can find. Now, from the creek I could not find an easy access to inspect for an origination point of the brown staining, what I would associate with tunnel seepage. This particular area has quartz veins with a blueish color.





Worth further exploration?

 

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[et1955]

A test pan or 2 from the debris at the base of the cliff should answer your question.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Maybe check to see if there is any mineralized zone between the red and quarts areas. Test pan this as well.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Brown to reddish could be iron or manganese. Iron and quartz usually mean gold is possible, so like et1955 said, do some panning.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Is the staining wet? Could be algae.