OFR 97-492: Escanaba 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.]

ORGDP: Escanaba Quadrangle
A total of 171 stream-sediment and 383 ground-water samples were collected from the Escanaba quadrangle as part of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) Escanaba Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. The stream-sediment and water sampling was conducted by ORGDP personnel between August and October of 1979. These samples were analyzed by the ORGDP for uranium and other elements. The analytical data were released as the Escanaba Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-218(81) report.

Summary Tables
The following is a listing of the sample types collected for the Escanaba quadrangle study.

Summary of Escanaba quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type Number of Samples Water Sample Type Number of Samples
Wet Streams 168 Wells 382
Dry Streams 3 Springs 1
Total Sediments 171 Total Waters 383

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

Sediment Samples

Water Samples


Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Escanaba Quadrangle

The Escanaba quadrangle sediment and water data consist of reformatted records from the Escanaba Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-218(81) report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for these data:

Sediment Records

  1. The Escanaba Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-218(81) abstract reports 171 sediment samples but only lists 136 sediments in the appendix.
  2. Thirty-five sediment records were found in the digital data file that were not listed in the GJBX-218(81) report. These records have been noted by a comment in the REFORMAT field.

Water Records

  1. One water record was found in the digital data file that was not listed in the GJBX-218(81) report. This sample had erroneous latitude-longitude coordinates and plots in Lake Michigan. Based on a review of the sample field notes, locations of adjacent samples, and examination of the relevant topographic maps, it became evident that the latitude and longitude values were most likely off by exactly 1°. These coordinate values were corrected based on this probable error. The correction and original coordinates are noted in the COORDPRB field for this sample.
  2. An unlikely sample collection date was found for one sample. This date was removed from the SAMPDAT field and the original SAMPDAT value with the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT 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).

Escanaba Quadrangle Sediment Data - 171 records
Escanaba Quadrangle Water Data - 383 records


Notes for Data Users

The water samples were reportedly collected in the field without any filtering or acidification. (See the SAMPTYP coding explanation in the On-Line Manual for USGS-Reformatted NURE HSSR Data Files for descriptions of different Sample Types). However, the samples were filtered later in the laboratory through a 0.45 micron membrane filter before analysis. Therefore, the samples were not true "untreated water" samples and the analytical data may not be directly comparable for other quadrangle water samples of the same SAMPTYP when collected by a different laboratory. Since this was the standard procedure for Oak Ridge, water data from other Oak Ridge quadrangles should be comparable.

For all ORGDP samples, latitude-longitude coordinates were reported in the original data files, as decimal degrees, to only 3 decimal places. Therefore, the precision of these coordinates is limited to +/- 0.001 degrees or +/- 3.6 seconds. This translates to a minimum precision of +/- 365 feet (111 m) for latitude values and between +/- 259 feet (79 m) to +/- 235 feet (72 m) for longitude values (calculated at latitudes of 45° and 50°N, respectively.)

One wet stream-sediment sample and one well water sample collected in the Escanaba quadrangle were not analyzed by any method.


Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Escanaba Quadrangle

None found.


Escanaba Quadrangle NURE Bibliography


Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

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


Page written by Bryan G. Moravec 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 1.41: February 23, 2006

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