OFR 97-492: Salt Lake City 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.]

The responsibility for the Salt Lake City Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study was assigned first to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and later to the Savannah River Laboratory. As far as has been determined, no HSSR samples were collected or analyzed from the Salt Lake City quadrangle.

In October and November of 1979, 988 sediment, 86 water, and 391 rock samples were collected by Oak Ridge in Utah for the Thomas Range-Wasatch detailed geochemical survey. Three project areas were chosen to "characterize the hydrogeochemistry, stream sediment geochemistry, and/or radiometric patterns of known or potential uranium occurrences." These three areas were (1) the Thomas Range-Sheeprock Mountain project area within the Delta 1° x 2° quadrangle; (2) the Farmington project area covering parts of the Brigham City, Ogden, and Salt Lake City quadrangles; and (3) the Cottonwood project area within the Salt Lake City quadrangle. A total of 127 sediment, and 22 water samples were collected and field radiometric data were reported for 121 rock samples within the Salt Lake City quadrangle. The radiometric readings of rock samples were done in the field using scintillometers and a gamma-ray spectrometer. The sediment and water samples were analyzed for multiple elements by Oak Ridge and the data were reported in the 3-volume Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study GJBX-238(80) report.

A list of geologic unit codes and explanations used for the Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study was obtained from Table 4 and Figure 3 in the each of the 3 volumes of the GJBX-238(80) report and reproduced here. These codes are found in the SGEOUNIT and PUNIT fields for each record in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files.

Explanations for Geologic Unit Codes.
Code Geologic Unit
QUD Quaternary Undivided
QAL Quaternary Alluvium
QTL Quaternary Talus, Colluvium and Landslide deposits
QFD Quaternary Fan deposits
QPG Quaternary Glacial deposits
QPGM Quaternary Glacial Moraine
QPLB Quaternary Lake Bonneville deposits
QTS Quaternary-Tertiary Valley Fill Sediments Undivided
TYG Pliocene-Miocene Granitic Rocks
TYA Pliocene-Miocene Acidic Volcanic Rocks
TOG Miocene-Oligocene Granitic Rocks
TOA Miocene-Oligocene Acidic Volcanic Rocks
TOI Miocene-Oligocene Intermediate Volcanic Rocks
TNT Tertiary Norwood Tuff
TAD Cretaceous-Tertiary Argenta Intrusive Complex Diorites
TLD Cretaceous-Tertiary Lamprophyre Dikes
TQM Cretaceous-Tertiary Quartz Monzonite
TKWE Cretaceous-Tertiary Wasatch, Evanston, and Echo Canyon Fms.
MTFU Triassic Undivided
PPC Permian Park City Fm.
PWQ Upper Pennsylvanian Weber Quartzite
PLSU Paleozoic Limestones Undivided
PRV Lower Pennsylvanian Round Valley Limestone
MLSU Mississippian Limestones Undivided
MDS Upper Mississippian Doughnut Fm.
MDL Upper Mississippian Deseret Limestone
MGL Lower Mississippian Gardison Limestone
SMF Middle Silurian Undivided
SOFU Silurian-Ordovician Undivided
OMF Middle Ordovician Undivided
CUF Upper Cambrian Undivided
CLS Upper and Middle Cambrian Limestones Undivided
CMF Middle Cambrian Undivided
COS Middle Ophir Fm.
CLF Lower Cambrian Undivided
CTQ Lower Cambrian Tintic Quartzite
ZCGQ Lower Cambrian and Precambrian Geertsen Canyon Quartzite
ZHS Precambrian Z Undivided
ZMI Precambrian Z Mutual and Inkom Fms.
ZMF Precambrian Z Mutual Fm.
ZIF Precambrian Z Inkom Fm.
ZCC Precambrian Z Cady Canyon Fm.
ZKC Precambrian Z Kelly Canyon Fm.
ZMC Precambrian Z Maple Canyon Fm.
ZPC Precambrian Z Papose Creek and Perry Canyon Fm.
YMFT Precambrian Y or Z Mineral Fork Tillite
YBC Precambrian Y Big Cottonwood Fm.
YSU Precambrian Y Upper Sheeprock Group
YDP Precambrian Y Dutch Peak Tillite
YSL Precambrian Y Lower Sheeprock Group
XLW Precambrian X Little Willow Fm.
XFC Precambrian X Facer Creek Fm.
WFCC Precambrian W Undivided
WFQM Precambrian W Quartz Monzonite Gneiss
WFM Precambrian W Migmatite
WFP Precambrian W Pegmatite
WFMS Precambrian W Mica Schist
WFS Precambrian W Schist and Gneiss
WFSQ Precambrian Schist, Gneiss, and Quartzite
WFA Precambrian W Amphibolite
WFQ Precambrian W Quartzite

The following is a list of sample types collected for all NURE studies in the Salt Lake City quadrangle.

Summary of Salt Lake City quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type Number of Samples Water Sample Type Number of Samples
Wet Streams 84 Wells 1
Dry Streams 43 Springs 21
Total Sediments 127 Total Waters 22

These Salt Lake City quadrangle samples were analyzed by one or more of the following methods:

Sediment Samples

Water Samples

Rock Samples (Detailed Study only)



Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of records from the Salt Lake City quadrangle portion of the Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study GJBX-238(80) report. Any problems found during the reformatting process are noted in the REFORMAT comment field.

Data from the rock samples were placed in a separate data file. A partial description of fields unique to this file is given below in the Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study rock data format. Analyses for phosphate in water were also found in the Detailed Study data. This information can be found in another separate file and a partial description of fields unique to this file is given below in the Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study extra water data format.



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).

Salt Lake City Quadrangle Sediment Data - 248 records
Salt Lake City Quadrangle Water Data - 22 records
Under Construction Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study Rock Data - saltlc_r.dbf.gz
Under Construction Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study Extra Water Data - thomaswx.dbf.gz



Notes for Data Users

The ORGDP Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study water samples were reportedly collected without any filtering or acidification. (See the SAMPTYP coding explanation in the On-Line Manual for New-Format NURE HSSR Data Files for descriptions of different Sample Types). However, these ORGDP 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 and may not be comparable to the LASL water samples which have a different SAMPTYP. Since this was the standard procedure for Oak Ridge, water data from other Oak Ridge studies should be comparable.

Latitude-longitude coordinates were reported in the original Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study 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 Salt Lake City Quadrangle

Research Associates of Wyoming conducted the Uinta Arch Project to "assess the favorability of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks in northern Utah for deposits of uranium in Precambrian quartz-pebble conglomerates" [GJBX-170(80)]. During this study, 380 rock samples were collected and analyzed from 5 project areas: (1) Red Creek area, Vernal quadrangle (192 rocks); (2) Farmington area, Salt Lake City quadrangle (76 rocks); (3) Little Willow area, Salt Lake City quadrangle (28 rocks); (4) Antelope Island area, Tooele quadrangle (31 rocks); and (5) Facer Creek area, Ogden quadrangle (53 rocks). Field and analytical data were released only as appendices to this report.



Salt Lake City Quadrangle NURE Bibliography



Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study Rock Data Format

Explanations are only included for fields unique to this study. For the explanation of common fields consult the On-Line Manual for New-Format NURE HSSR Data Files. After each field name is a format code. A format code of (N) means that the field is formated as a numeric field.

EQ_K_PCT (N)

Equivalent Potassium, reported in percent. Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

K_CPM (N)

Counts per Minute Potassium. Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

EQ_TH_PPM (N)

Equivalent Thorium, reported in parts per million (ppm). Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

TH_CPM (N)

Counts per Minute Thorium. Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

EQ_U_PPM (N)

Equivalent Uranium, reported in parts per million (ppm). Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

U_CPM (N)

Counts per Minute Uranium. Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

TOT_CPM (N)

Total Counts per Minute. Determined in the field with a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer.

SO4_PPM (N)

Sulfate, reported in parts per million (ppm). Determined in the field with an unidentified method.



Thomas Range-Wasatch Detailed Study Extra Water Data Format

Explanations are only included for fields unique to this study. For the explanation of common fields consult the On-Line Manual for New-Format NURE HSSR Data Files. After each field name is a format code. A format code of (N) means that the field is formated as a numeric field.

PO4BATCH (A5)

ORGDP analytical batch number for phosphate analyses.

PO4_PPB (N)

Phosphate, reported in parts per billion (ppm). Determined by ORGDP with an unidentified method.



Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Utah NURE data
Back to Wyoming 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 1.40: January 13, 2006

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