OFR 97-492: Bakersfield 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)
Under Construction This page is currently being rewritten to the Version 1.41 format.

Brief History and Description of Data

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

Totals of 1,803 sediment and 456 water samples were collected in the Bakersfield quadrangle from March to May of 1980 as part of the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) Bakersfield Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. Sediment samples were sent to Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP)for multi-element analysis and also sent to unidentified laboratories for "supplemental analyses." The water samples were analyzed by SRL for uranium and 9 other elements and then sent on to ORGDP for "supplemental analyses" (29 elements in waters). SRL apparently did not analyze the sediment samples and subsequently did not release an individual quadrangle report for Bakersfield.

A total of 1,761 sediment samples from SRL were sent to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant and analyzed for uranium and up to 31 additional elements. These data were released by ORGDP in the GJBX-419(81) report. (Note: The "Explanation of Codes Used" appendix to this report gives the SRL eastern U.S. site description coding scheme but all other indications suggest that the samples were actually collected and described using the SRL western U.S. site description coding scheme.)

In 1982, SRL released a summary report and data files for 50 quadrangles in the Western United States. For the Bakersfield quadrangle, this report (GJBX-132(82)) contains the SRL analytical data and "supplemental" analytical data for the water samples. The sediment sample records only contain the "supplemental" analytical data - no data from SRL analyses or ORGDP analyses.

SRL analyses of light hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane, and butane) in ground waters were released in the GJBX-131(82) summary report for 44 western quadrangles and 3 eastern quadrangles within the United States. This report includes data for 434 of the Bakersfield quadrangle ground water samples.

The following is a general listing of all sample types collected and reported for NURE studies in the Bakersfield quadrangle. The actual number of records in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files may be greater because of the multiple records needed to preserve all the data.

Summary of Bakersfield quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type Number of Samples Water Sample Type Number of Samples
Wet Streams 19 Streams 19
Dry Streams 294 Wells 357
Soils 1,485 Springs 79
Talus 3 Other 1
Other (may include mine tailings) 2
Total Sediments 1,803 Total Waters 456

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

Sediment Samples

Water Samples



Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of records from all of the above reports. The site information for every record in the ORGDP GJBX-419(81) quadrangle report was checked against the "equivalent" record in the SRL GJBX-132(82) western U.S. summary report and any major differences were noted in the REFORMAT comment field.

In the sediment data file, the ORGDP analyses and supplemental analyses could NOT be combined into a single record for each sample because of overlapping determinations for 17 elements. In the water data file, the SRL analyses and supplemental analyses could NOT be combined because of overlapping determinations for 5 elements. Therefore each sample that has two sets of analyses has two separate records - one for the ORGDP or SRL analysis and one for the supplemental analysis. Occasionally, an additional supplemental analysis record may also exist for some samples.

Hydrocarbon data from the GJBX-131(82) report were added to fields in the appropriate ground water records and this addition was noted for each record 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 websites, 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).

Bakersfield Quadrangle Sediment Data - 2,622 records
Bakersfield Quadrangle Water Data - 474 records



Notes for Data Users

Many records contain analytical values with insignificant digits. Most data should only have 2 or 3 significant digits. Differences after the second or third digit should be ignored.



Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Bakersfield Quadrangle

None found.



Bakersfield Quadrangle NURE Bibliography



Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

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



Page written by Andrew W. Holt and Steven M. Smith
Contact: 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 1.40: January 13, 2006

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