U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DIGITAL DATA SERIES DDS-18-A

                     National Geochemical Data Base: 
                National Uranium Resource Evaluation Data
                   for the Conterminous United States


                                1ST_READ.ME

       This CD-ROM contains NURE data for the conterminous United States.
       It has been produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 standard for
       CD-ROMs and is therefore capable of being read on any computing
       platform that has appropriate CD-ROM driver software installed.
       However, the data has been compressed and requires GSSEARCH
       software for access.  GSSEARCH, supplied on the CD-ROM, runs only
       under DOS.

       The root directory contains the information file 1ST_READ.ME and
       INSTALL.EXE.  The CD-ROM must be installed on your computer prior 
       to use.  To do so, switch to your CD-ROM drive, and run INSTALL.  
       The process will create a NURE48 directory on a chosen hard disk 
       and will copy a menu system to that directory.  You may invoke this 
       menu system by entering the command NURE48 from the NURE48 directory 
       on your chosen hard disk drive.

       Several DOS subdirectories are on this CD-ROM.  Their names and 
       the information they contain are listed below.

       \NURE48     Contains the NURE conterminous U.S. data, index files, 
                   and configuration file required by the GSSEARCH software.

       \DOCFILES   Contains the ASCII document files for this CD-ROM.  
                   These files have the following purposes:

          AUTHORS.DOC    Gives typical title page informantion for this
                         CD-ROM.
          
          ACKNOWL.DOC    Acknowledges the producers of this CD-ROM and 
                         the sources of the data contained it.

          CONTACTS.DOC   Lists contacts for additional information about
                         this CD-ROM and the data and software contained 
                         on it.

          CONTENTS.DOC   Describes the contents of this CD-ROM.

          DISCLAIM.DOC   Contains the United States Government's disclaimer 
                         for this CD-ROM.

          GETSTART.DOC   Contains a step-by-step explanation of the use of 
                         the GSSEARCH access software and the MAPPER mapping
                         software.  Once this brief tutorial exercise has 
                         been completed, you should have a good working 
                         knowledge of how to select, display, and output 
                         data from this CD-ROM.

          OVERVIEW.DOC   Provides a brief overview of the data and software 
                         on this CD-ROM, including the type and extent of 
                         data coverage. 

          PROBLEMS.DOC   Provides information on problems that may be 
                         encountered with running the software and
                         measures you can take to remedy them.

          REFERENC.DOC   Cites the references used in the production of 
                         this CD-ROM.

          REGISTER.DOC   Contains a registration form by which you 
                         can elect to receive announcements of new
                         CD-ROM releases pertaining to the National 
                         Geochemical Data Base, updates to previous 
                         releases, and other topics in the Digital 
                         Data Series.  This form also provides a vehicle 
                         for suggestions and feedback to the U.S. Geological
                         Survey on this CD-ROM.

          SYS_REQS.DOC   Provides information on PC system requirements 
                         and on ways you can speed the operation of the 
                         software.

          TECHINFO.DOC   Provides in-depth technical information on the 
                         data contained on this CD-ROM.  Defines data
                         elements and explains coded values.  Also lists
                         the number of records for each sample type in each
                         1 degree by 2 degree NTMS quadrangle, arranged
                         alphabetically by quadrangle name.

       \DOSMENU    Contains all of the software for the menu system used
                   used when running MS-DOS or PC-DOS.  

                   NOTE:  The .MNX and .BAX files in this directory are 
                          prototype .MNU and .BAT files and will not run.  
                          In the installation process they are copied to 
                          your hard disk and edited to contain the correct 
                          CD-ROM drive letter and hard disk drive letter.

       \SOFTWARE   Contains the executable version of GSSEARCH and related 
                   software.

       \MAPPER     Contains the MAPPER software and data files for the map 
                   of the conterminous United States.

       \MAPPER\TUTORIAL     Software and documentation for a tutorial on the
                            use of MAPPER.
          
       \MAPPER\SOFTWARE     Additional Geographic Information Visualization
                            (GIV) system software.



                     What to do if you don't use DOS

       The GSSEARCH software currently only runs in a DOS environment. If
       you are interested in obtaining the C source code for GSSEARCH,
       please contact the CD-ROM Support Center, U.S. Geological Survey,
       904 National Center, Reston, VA 22092-9998.