Utica Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Utica 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.]

New York
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 5,696 stream-sediment, 5,047 surface-water, and 4,829 ground-water samples from New York as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. Samples were collected on a county-by-county basis from the eastern two-thirds of the state between July 1977 and August 1980. The sampled area included portions of the Albany, Binghamton, Elmira, Glens Falls, Hartford, Kingston, Lake Champlain, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Scranton, and Utica 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 2,899 sediments and 9,863 waters from New York. The analytical and site location data for all New York samples were released in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York Data Report [GJBX-106(82)]. A total of 1,059 stream-sediment, 955 surface-water, and 541 ground-water samples were collected within the New York state portion of the Utica quadrangle; of these samples, SRL analyzed only 71 sediment and 1,496 water samples.

SRL sent the 2,809 sediment samples from New York state to an unnamed contract laboratory for "Supplemental Analyses." Supplemental analytical determinations for up to 23 elements were reported for 2,803 of these samples in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York Data Report [GJBX-106(82)]. The digital data file accompanying this report includes Supplemental Analyses for only 1 New York state sediment sample within the Utica quadrangle.

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

ORGDP: Utica Quadrangle
SRL sent 1,008 sediment samples from the Utica quadrangle to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) for analysis of uranium and 31 additional elements. ORGDP released the analytical data for all 1,008 samples in the Utica Quadrangle GJBX-85(82) Data Report. The site coding information for this data set was summarized in the GJBX-51(82) report.

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 Utica quadrangle samples.

*Combination of laboratories that analyzed samples for the Utica quadrangle.*
Laboratory Analysis	Sediments	Waters
Only SRL	4	1,494
Both SRL and Supplemental Labs	1	0
Only ORGDP Lab	942	0
Both SRL and ORGDP Labs	66	0
None	46	2
Total Samples	1,059	1,496
Total Data Records	1,125	1,496

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

*Summary of Utica quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	1,059	Streams	955
		Wells	432
		Springs	109
Total Sediments	1,059	Total Waters	1,496

These Utica 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)
OR2: Supplemental Analyses by Oak Ridge Neutron Activation Analysis of sediments for U.
OR7: Supplemental Analyses by Oak Ridge Emission Spectrochemical Analysis of sediments for Ag, Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Ni, P, Pb, Sc, Sr, Th, Ti, V, Y, Zn, and Zr.

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 Utica Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Utica quadrangle sediment data consist of reformatted records from the New York portion of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York [GJBX-106(82)] Data Report combined with data from the ORGDP Utica Quadrangle GJBX-85(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Utica quadrangle sediment data:

The SRL Supplemental Laboratory and the ORGDP Laboratory each analyzed the same 66 stream-sediment samples from New York. Because of overlapping data fields, it was necessary to create two data records for each sample to preserve all the data.
The original ORGDP files for the Utica quadrangle did not include all of the 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. In addition, the longitude coordinate reported in the ORGDP file only had 3 decimal places instead of the 4 decimal places found in the corresponding records from SRL State files. The missing site descriptive data and the complete longitude value were added to ORGDP records from the corresponding SRL State file records. Sources of data and any problems found are described in the REFORMAT comment field.
During reformatting, contamination codes for "residential" and "recreation" were found to be missing from each State's CONTAMC field. The presence of one of these two codes was indicated only by a "." (period). The missing codes were assigned a value of "unknown" in the CONTAMC field within the final sediment data file.
Unlikely sample collection dates were found for three samples. These dates were removed from the SAMPDAT field. For each record, the original SAMPDAT value and the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
The latitude and longitude coordinates for 40 stream-sediment samples collected within Essex(2), Fulton(4), Hamilton(8), Herkimer(8), Lewis(10), Madison(3), Oneida(4), and Warren(1) Counties in New York were not found in the data during the reformatting process. The records for these 40 samples cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.
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 Utica quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the New York portion of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York [GJBX-106(82)] Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Utica 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.
Unlikely sample collection dates were found for three samples. These dates were removed from the SAMPDAT field. For each record, the original SAMPDAT value and the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
The latitude and longitude coordinates for 53 water samples collected within Essex(2), Fulton(5), Hamilton(13), Herkimer(10), Jefferson(1), Lewis(14), Oneida(5), Oswego(2), and Warren(1) Counties in New York were not found in the data during the reformatting process. The records for these 53 samples cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.

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).

Utica Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,085 records
Utica Quadrangle Water Data - 1,443 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 in the Utica quadrangle is partially complete and includes samples from Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Saratoga, and Warren Counties in New York. No ground-water samples were apparently collected from the Utica quadrangle portions of Essex and Saratoga Counties. The laboratory and analytical methods used also may vary by county such that adjacent counties often have very different analytical coverage.

Two ground water and 46 sediment samples within the Utica quadrangle were not analyzed by any of the various laboratories. The following table summarizes the locations of those unanalyzed samples.

*General locations of unanalyzed samples.*
State	County	Sample Media	Unanalyzed Samples	Total Samples
New York	Fulton	Sediment	4	97
New York	Hamilton	Sediment	8	226
New York	Herkimer	Sediment	11	170
New York	Herkimer	Ground water	1	82
New York	Lewis	Sediment	14	164
New York	Madison	Sediment	2	30
New York	Oneida	Sediment	4	199
New York	Oswego	Sediment	1	57
New York	Warren	Sediment	2	29
New York	Warren	Ground water	1	2

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Utica Quadrangle

None found.

Utica Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Cook, J.R., Fay, W.M., and Sargent, K.A., 1982, Data report: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-146-26, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-106(82), 44 p.
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.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1982, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Utica quadrangle, New York: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-440, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-85(82), 96 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1982, Supplement to hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data reports K/UR-405 and K/UR-408 through K/UR-443 [GJBX-52(82) through GJBX-88(82)]: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-412, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-51(82), 25 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to New York NURE data
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning NURE 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 1.41: February 23, 2006

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U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/1997/492/quad/q_utica.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:28 EDT 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)