Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

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National Geochemical Database—Reformatted Data from the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) Program

By Steven M. Smith
Version 1.40 (2006)

Brief History and Description of Data

[See History of NURE HSSR Program for a summary of the entire program.]

LASL: Raton Quadrangle
Totals of 1,340 sediment and 824 water samples were collected from 1,844 locations within the Raton quadrangle between July and October of 1976 as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Raton Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. The samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and the analytical data were released in the LASL Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-138(78) report.

ORGDP: Raton Quadrangle
LASL sent 1,333 sediments and 776 waters to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) for multielement analysis. These data were released in the ORGDP Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-358(81) report.

Summary Tables
The following is a list of NURE sediment and water sample types collected within the Raton quadrangle.

*Summary of Raton quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	256	Streams	259
Dry Streams	936	Wells	460
Wet Springs	62	Springs	86
Dry Springs	28	Artificial Ponds	19
Wet Natural Ponds	5
Dry Natural Ponds	25
Wet Artificial Ponds	12
Dry Artificial Ponds	16
Total Sediments	1,340	Total Waters	824

These Raton quadrangle samples were analyzed by one or more of the following methods:

Sediment Samples

LA1: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of sediments for U.
OR7: Oak Ridge Emission Spectrochemical Analysis of sediments for Ag, Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Ni, P, Pb, Sc, Sr, Th, Ti, V, Y, Zn, and Zr.

Water Samples

LA6-DN: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of waters for U.
LA6-FL: Los Alamos Fluorometry Analysis of waters for U.
OR13: Oak Ridge Emission Spectrochemical Analysis of waters for Ag, Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Sc, Si, Sr, Ti, V, Y, Zn, and Zr. (Note: Nb and Th may be included in this method.)

Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Raton Quadrangle

The Raton quadrangle sediment and water data consist of reformatted records from the LASL Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-138(78) report combined with records from the ORGDP Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-358(81) report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison, combining, and reformatting stages for the Raton quadrangle data:

Sediment Records

During the NURE sample collection phase, LASL sites and samples were initially assigned a 6-digit integer Identification Number (LASLID) starting with 000001. After 1977, most LASL sites were reassigned a new 1-letter+5-digit Identification Number starting with A00001. All LASL samples and the early LASL reports use the 6-digit integer LASLID. Most of the later reports only use the 1-letter+5-digit LASLID. Although both sets of numbers were usually assigned sequentially, they do not correspond one to one with each other: 100001 does not equal C00001, etc. Whenever possible, the 1-letter+5-digit LASL Identification Number was saved in the LASLID field. When the corresponding 6-digit site number could be determined from sample number translation key lists or other sources, this Identification Number was saved in the SITE field.
A LASL Identification Number translation key was found for the Raton quadrangle sediment samples. The 1-letter+5-digit LASL Identification Number was saved in the LASLID field and the corresponding 6-digit site number was manually added to the SITE field. Therefore, the LASLID field contains the Identification Number found in the LASL Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-138(78) and ORGDP Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-358(81) reports. The SITE field contains the corresponding LASL Identification Number used to label the original field maps, field notes, and sample containers.
The LASL and the ORGDP Laboratory each analyzed and reported data records for the same 1,333 sediment samples from the Raton quadrangle. Because there were no overlapping data fields, these corresponding records were compared and combined into a single composite record for each sample.
Nine sediment sample records contained values for the well pump type(WELLPUMP), well use(WELLUSE), well diameter(WELLDIAM), or well depth(WELLDPTH). These parameters were not normally recorded for sediment sample records. The values were removed from each record and added as a comment to the corresponding REFORMAT field.
One sediment sample record contained an invalid value in the stream channel character(STRCHANL) field. This value was likely miscoded or entered incorrectly. The correct value was not found. This value was removed from the field and added as a comment to the REFORMAT field for the record.
Two sample records contained an invalid value for the scintillometer measurement(SCIN). One value was -73 and the other was -9. Although the most likely source of this error is unwanted negative signs, this could not be confirmed in published sources. These values were removed from the SCIN field and added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
Unlikely sample collection dates were found for four samples. These dates were removed from the SAMPDAT field. For each record, the original SAMPDAT value and the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
Two sediment records with a STATE value of 'NM' had coordinates that plotted in Colorado. These STATE values were changed and a comment was added to the REFORMAT field for each record.

Water Records

A LASL Identification Number translation key was found for the Raton quadrangle water samples. The 1-letter+5-digit LASL Identification Number was saved in the LASLID field and the corresponding 6-digit site number was manually added to the SITE field. Therefore, the LASLID field contains the Identification Number found in the LASL Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-138(78) and ORGDP Raton Quadrangle NURE HSSR GJBX-358(81) reports. The SITE field contains the corresponding LASL Identification Number used to label the original field maps, field notes, and sample containers.
The LASL and the ORGDP Laboratory each analyzed and reported data records for the same 776 water samples from the Raton quadrangle. Because there were no overlapping data fields, these corresponding records were compared and combined into a single composite record for each sample.
Two water records with a STATE value of 'NM' had coordinates that plotted in Colorado. These STATE values were changed and a comment was added to the REFORMAT field for each record.
One analytical result in the digital data files had a value of 99999. This value was confirmed in the published quadrangle report. It is not clear if this value is a valid value, a null value, or a value indicating that the analytical result was greater than the upper limit of determination. This value was left in the data record and noted in the REFORMAT comment field.

Download The Data

The NURE HSSR data are now available online in two databases: The sediment database (also includes data for soils and some rocks) at http://tin.er.usgs.gov/nure/sediment/ and the water database at http://tin.er.usgs.gov/nure/water/. From these two web sites, NURE HSSR data can be selected, examined, summarized, and downloaded by political boundaries (State and County), by quadrangle (1:250,000-scale, 1:100,000-scale, and 1:63,360-scale for Alaska or 1:24,000-scale for the Lower 48 States), and by hydrologic unit (drainage region, subregion, river basin, or sub-basin). Selected data can be downloaded as a dBase file, a shapefile, an HTML table, or ASCII text (tab- or comma-delimited).

Raton Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,340 records
Raton Quadrangle Water Data - 824 records

Notes for Data Users

None at this time.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Raton Quadrangle

Raton Quadrangle NURE Summary
A summary evaluation report was prepared for the Raton quadrangle by the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources [GJQ-005(80)]. An additional 239 rock, 335 stream-sediment or soil, and 205 water samples were collected and analyzed as a part of this evaluation process. These multielement analytical data were released only as appendices on microfiche accompanying the summary report.

Uranium Anomalies in the Costilla Massif
In the fall of 1981, personnel from the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation collected 11 rock samples while evaluating uranium anomalies in the Vanado Creek area of the Costilla Massif. Analytical data for these rocks are tabulated in the Bendix GJBX-1(84) report.

North America and Africa Plutonic Rocks Special Study
The SRL in contract with the Department of Geology of the University of North Carolina conducted a special study to investigate the association of uranium deposits with granitic source or host rocks. The analytical results from 441 samples of 92 plutons were released in the North America and Africa Plutonic Rocks Special Study GJBX-221(82) report. See the North America and Africa Plutonic Rocks Special Study for the data and a more detailed description of this study. Plutons that were apparently sampled in the Raton quadrangle include the Embudo (6 samples).

Raton Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Goodknight, C.S., and Dexter, J.J., 1984, Evaluation of uranium anomalies in the southwest part of the Costilla Massif, Taos County, New Mexico, in Goodknight, C.S., compiler, Reports on field investigations of uranium anomalies: U.S. Department of Energy, Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-1(84), p. IV1-IV28.
Morgan, T.L., and Broxton, D.E., 1978, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Raton NTMS quadrangle, New Mexico: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-7344-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-138(78), 84 p.
Price, Van, Fay, W.M., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Neutron activation and other analytical data for plutonic rocks from North America and Africa: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-221(82), 47 p.
Reid, B.E., Griswold, G.B., Jacobsen, L.C., and Lessard, R.H., 1980, National Uranium Resource Evaluation, Raton quadrangle, New Mexico and Colorado: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJQ-005(80), 83 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Raton quadrangle, New Mexico: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-343, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-358(81), 185 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to New Mexico NURE data
Back to Colorado NURE data
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning NURE HSSR Data
Home Page: USGS National Geochemical Database - NURE HSSR data

Page written by Steven M. Smith (smsmith@usgs.gov)
Version 1.10: July 29, 1999
Version 1.20: August 07, 2000
Version 1.30: September 11, 2001
Version 1.41: February 23, 2006

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U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/1997/ofr-97-0492/quad/q_raton.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:14 EDT 2016

National Geochemical Database—Reformatted Data from the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) Program By Steven M. Smith Version 1.40 (2006)