Sherbrooke Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Sherbrooke Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

About USGS / Science Topics / Maps, Products & Publications / Education / Publication: FAQ

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.]

Maine
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 2,924 stream-sediment, 2,039 surface-water, and 1,938 ground-water samples from the southern half of Maine as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. Two different sampling protocols were used in Maine. Using the SRL Eastern protocol (SRL-E), 1,218 stream-sediment, 1,218 surface-water, and 636 ground-water samples were collected from Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford, Somerset Counties in October and November of 1977. This area included portions of the Bangor, Bath, Lewiston, Millinocket, Portland, and Sherbrooke 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. Another 1,706 stream-sediment, 821 surface-water, and 1302 ground-water samples were collected by subcontractors using SRL Western protocols (SRL-W) between May and August of 1980 within the Bangor, Bath, and Eastport 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. These samples were sent to SRL for determinations of uranium and additional elements (16 in sediments and 9 in waters) by Neutron Activation Analysis. SRL was able to analyze 1,230 sediments and 3,977 waters from Maine. The analytical and site location data for all Maine samples were released in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. Within the Maine portion of the Sherbrooke quadrangle, only 1 ground-water sample was collected (SRL-E protocol) and analyzed.

SRL sent the 1,218 SRL-E sediment samples from Maine to an unnamed contract laboratory for "Supplemental Analyses." Supplemental analytical determinations for up to 23 elements were reported for 1,214 of these samples in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. The digital data file accompanying this report includes Supplemental Analyses for no sediment samples from Maine within the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

New Hampshire
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 1,699 stream-sediment, 1,694 surface-water, and 884 ground-water samples from New Hampshire as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. Samples were collected on a county-by-county basis from the entire state between July 1977 and January 1978. This area included portions of the Albany, Boston, Glens Falls, Lake Champlain, Lewiston, Portland, and Sherbrooke 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. The samples were sent to SRL for determinations of uranium and additional elements (16 in sediments and 9 in waters) by Neutron Activation Analysis. SRL was able to analyze 1,696 sediments and 2,576 waters from New Hampshire. The analytical and site location data for all New Hampshire samples were released in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. A total of 68 stream-sediment, 68 surface-water, and no ground-water samples were collected within the New Hampshire portion of the Sherbrooke quadrangle. SRL was able to analyze all of the sediment and water samples from the New Hampshire portion of the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

SRL sent the 1,699 sediment samples from New Hampshire to an unnamed contract laboratory for "Supplemental Analyses." Supplemental analytical determinations for up to 23 elements were reported for 1,690 of these samples in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. The digital data file accompanying this report includes Supplemental Analyses for 66 of the 68 sediment New Hampshire samples within the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

Vermont
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 1,677 stream-sediment, 1,663 surface-water, and 972 ground-water samples from Vermont as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. Samples were collected on a county-by-county basis from the entire state between August 1977 and March 1978. This area included portions of the Albany, Glens Falls, Lake Champlain, Lewiston, and Sherbrooke 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. The samples were sent to SRL for determinations of uranium and additional elements (16 in sediments and 9 in waters) by Neutron Activation Analysis. SRL was able to analyze 1,674 sediments and 2,633 waters from Vermont. The analytical and site location data for all Vermont samples were released in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. A total of 3 stream-sediment, 3 surface-water, and no ground-water samples were collected within the Vermont portion of the Sherbrooke quadrangle. SRL was able to analyze all of the sediment and water samples from the Vermont portion of the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

SRL sent 1,632 sediment samples from Vermont to an unnamed contract laboratory for "Supplemental Analyses." Supplemental analytical determinations for up to 23 elements were reported for 1,631 of these samples in the New England Data Report [GJBX-107(82)]. The digital data file accompanying this report did not include any Supplemental Analyses for sediment samples from Vermont within the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

SRL: Sherbrooke Quadrangle
SRL did not release a separate report for the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

Gold Analyses
Data for gold analyses of sediments by SRL neutron activation were released in the GJBX-135(82) summary report. The introduction of that report states:

"This report contains previously unreported neutron-activation analyses of gold in sediment samples determined at SRL. These data were not included in the standard SRL NURE data reports because the gold spectrum was not measured in the original analytical procedure and the report format was designed without the gold analyses being included. Gold analyses became available as the analytical procedure was refined, but the report format was not modified to incorporate these data."

Only those sediment samples that had detectable concentrations of gold by neutron activation analysis were given in the GJBX-135(82) report. Sediment samples with concentrations below detection limits were not reported and can only be ascertained by identifying which samples were actually analyzed by neutron activation at SRL.

Summary Tables
Because of the various laboratories and analytical methods used, some SRL samples may have been analyzed once, twice, or not at all. The following table summarizes the analysis of Sherbrooke quadrangle samples.

*Combination of laboratories that analyzed samples for the Sherbrooke quadrangle.*
Laboratory Analysis	Sediments	Waters
Only SRL	5	72
Both SRL and Supplemental Labs	66	0
None	0	0
Total Samples	71	72
Total Data Records	71	72

The following is a list of all sample types collected and reported for NURE studies in the Sherbrooke quadrangle.

*Summary of Sherbrooke quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	71	Streams	71
		Springs	1
Total Sediments	71	Total Waters	72

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

Sediment Samples

SR1: Savannah River Neutron Activation Analysis - Neutron Counting of sediments for U.
SR2: Savannah River Neutron Activation Analysis of sediments for Al, Ce, Dy, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Mn, Na, Sc, Sm, Th, Ti, V, and Yb. (Note: Au values were reported later for this method.)
SR3-AA: Savannah River (Supplemental Analysis by contract Laboratory) Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Analysis of sediments for Ag, Ba, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn, Sr, Y, and Zn.
SR3-CA: Savannah River (Supplemental Analysis by contract Laboratory) Colorimetric Analysis of sediments for Nb, P, and W.
SR3-FE: Savannah River (Supplemental Analysis by contract Laboratory) Flame Emission Analysis of sediments for K and Li.
SR3-XU: Savannah River (Supplemental Analysis by contract Laboratory) Analysis of sediments for hot acid extractable U. (Exact method undetermined)
SR3-XX: Savannah River (Supplemental Analysis by contract Laboratory) Analysis of sediments for As, Se, and Ca. (Exact method undetermined)

Water Samples

SR4: Savannah River Neutron Activation Analysis - Neutron Counting of waters for U.
SR5: Savannah River Neutron Activation Analysis of waters for Al, Br, Cl, Dy, F, Mn, Na, and V. (Note: Mg may also be reported by this method.)

Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Sherbrooke Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Lewiston quadrangle sediment data consist of reformatted records from the Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont portions of the New England GJBX-107(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Sherbrooke quadrangle sediment data:

During reformatting, contamination codes for "residential" and "recreation" were found to be missing from the CONTAMC field. These codes were not present in the published tables of the New England GJBX-107(82) Data Report. Records with missing CONTAMC codes are identified in the REFORMAT comment field.
An analysis of latitude-longitude site coordinates identified several stream-sediment samples that were missing coordinates, did not plot within expected state, county, or map boundaries, or had differing coordinates in corresponding records. To correct or confirm sample coordinates, the original field collection maps for Franklin County, Maine were obtained and re-digitized. The newly re-digitized coordinates were added to the database and the coordinates from the original file(s) were recorded in the COORDPRB comment field. When the newly re-digitized coordinates were not significantly different, that confirmation of the site location was also noted in the COORDPRB comment field.
After re-digitizing, all 26 stream-sediment samples from Franklin County, Maine originally located in the Sherbrooke quadrangle now plot in the adjacent Lewiston quadrangle.
Gold concentrations from the GJBX-135(82) report were added to the appropriate sediment records. A value of -0.01 (<0.01 ppm Au) was added to all other sediment samples determined to have been analyzed by SRL neutron activation. This value was chosen because 0.01 is the lowest reported gold concentration in the entire report.

Water Records
The Sherbrooke quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont portions of the New England GJBX-107(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Sherbrooke quadrangle water data:

The original NURE format for surface-water files did not include much information about the character of the sample location. This missing information includes observations taken at each site on the stream width, depth, and flow, water color, surrounding vegetation, local relief, weather, and possible contaminants. This information is given in records for stream-sediment samples that were collected at the same locations. The available site descriptive information for stream-water sites were compared with the corresponding stream-sediment site records. The missing site descriptive data were then added to stream-water records from the corresponding stream-sediment sample records. Sources of data and any problems found are described in the REFORMAT comment field.
An analysis of latitude-longitude site coordinates identified several stream-water samples that were missing coordinates, did not plot within expected state, county, or map boundaries, or had differing coordinates in corresponding records. To correct or confirm sample coordinates, the original field collection maps for Franklin County, Maine were obtained and re-digitized. The newly re-digitized coordinates were added to the database and the coordinates from the original file(s) were recorded in the COORDPRB comment field. When the newly re-digitized coordinates were not significantly different, that confirmation of the site location was also noted in the COORDPRB comment field.
After re-digitizing, all 26 stream-water samples from Franklin County, Maine originally located in the Sherbrooke quadrangle now plot in the adjacent Lewiston 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).

Sherbrooke Quadrangle Sediment Data - 71 records
Sherbrooke Quadrangle Water Data - 72 records

Notes for Data Users

In the eastern United States, SRL collected samples primarily by county. Often, not all counties within a quadrangle were completely sampled. Sample coverage of the U.S. lands in the Sherbrooke quadrangle is not complete and only includes samples from Franklin County, Maine; Coos County, New Hampshire; and Essex County, Vermont. The laboratory and analytical methods used also may vary by county such that adjacent counties often have very different analytical coverage.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Sherbrooke Quadrangle

None found.

Sherbrooke Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Fay, W.M., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Gold analyses by neutron activation from SRL NURE samples: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-141-38, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-135(82), 45 p.
Fay, W.M., Sargent, K.A., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Data report: New England: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-146-27, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-107(82), 35 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Maine NURE data
Back to New Hampshire NURE data
Back to Vermont NURE data
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning NURE Data
Home Page: USGS National Geochemical Database - NURE HSSR data

Page written by Steven M. Smith.
Contact: Steven M. Smith (smsmith@usgs.gov)
Version 1.41: February 23, 2006

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices
U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/1997/492/quad/q_sherbk.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:28 EST 2016

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)