OFR 97-492: Grand Island 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: Grand Island Quadrangle
A total of 532 stream-sediment and 563 well-water samples was collected from the Grand Island quadrangle by contractors for the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) Grand Island Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. Sediment samples were collected in the quadrangle by BCI Geonetics Inc. between October and November of 1979. Ground-water samples were collected by the Nebraska Geologic Survey between May and July of 1978 and May and July of 1979. These samples were analyzed by the ORGDP for uranium and other elements. The analytical data were released as the Grand Island Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-185(80) report.

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

Summary of Grand Island quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type Number of Samples Water Sample Type Number of Samples
Wet Streams 250 Wells 563
Dry Streams 282    
Total Sediments 532 Total Waters 563

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

Sediment Samples

Water Samples


Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Grand Island Quadrangle

The Grand Island quadrangle sediment and water data consist of reformatted records from the Grand Island Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-185(80) report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for these data:

Sediment Records

  1. 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.
  2. One stream-sediment sample originally had a longitude of exactly 98°W, the dividing line between the Grand Island quadrangle and the Lincoln quadrangle. The coordinates for this sample were changed slightly to values found in tables on microfiche within the Grand Island Quadrangle NURE HSSR study GJBX-185(80) report. This slight change places the sample clearly in the Grand Island quadrangle.

Water Records

  1. 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.
  2. One well-water sample originally had a latitude of exactly 41°N, the dividing line between the Broken Bow quadrangle and the Grand Island quadrangle. Similar records for this one sample were reported in published reports for both quadrangles. The coordinates were changed slightly to values found in tables on microfiche within the Broken Bow Quadrangle NURE HSSR study report. This slight change places the sample slightly into the Broken Bow quadrangle.

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).

Grand Island Quadrangle Sediment Data - 532 records
Grand Island Quadrangle Water Data - 563 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.

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 +/- 280 feet (85 m) to +/- 259 feet (79 m) for longitude values (calculated at latitudes of 40° and 45°N, respectively.)


Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Grand Island Quadrangle

None found.


Grand Island Quadrangle NURE Bibliography


Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Nebraska NURE data
Back to Kansas 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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