OFR 97-492: Eagle Pass 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: Texas Wide-Spaced Uranium Geochemical Survey
Early in the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program, personnel from the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) sampled several areas with a wide-spaced sample coverage (Phase I sampling). Phase I samples were generally collected in stream basins averaging 250 square kilometers in area and from wells at about a 16 km spacing. The purpose of the Phase I sampling was to define uranium provinces that warranted additional sampling at a higher density (Phase II sampling). These samples were sent to the ORGDP and analyzed for uranium and other elements. For many 1:250,000-scale 2-degree quadrangles, Phase I samples were included with later Phase II samples and utilized in the individual HSSR basic data quadrangle reports. Some Phase I samples were never utilized in basic data quadrangle reporting. ORGDP issued the Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas GJBX-131(81) report for several of these Phase I samples. This report includes data for 261 stream sediment and 406 water samples collected during 1976-77 in the Abilene, Austin, Brownwood, Corpus Christi, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Houston, Llano, San Angelo, Sonora, and Waco quadrangles. The Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas GJBX-131(81) report only contains data tables for Phase I samples; no explanatory text accompanies this report. Two stream-sediment, one well-water, and two plant samples were collected within the borders of the Eagle Pass quadrangle. ORGDP apparently did not collect any Phase II samples in the Eagle Pass quadrangle by the time that NURE funding ended in the early 1980's. Therefore no specific NURE HSSR study exists for this quadrangle.

Summary Tables
The following is a list of NURE sample types collected in the Eagle Pass quadrangle.

Summary of Eagle Pass quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type No. of Samples Water Sample Type No. of Samples Plant Sample Type No. of Samples
Dry Streams 2 Wells 1 Deciduous Tree (2 types) 2
Total Sediments 2 Total Waters 1 Total Plants 2

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

Sediment Samples

Water Samples

Plant Samples



Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Eagle Pass Quadrangle

The Eagle Pass quadrangle sediment and water data consist of reformatted records from the Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas GJBX-131(81) report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Eagle Pass quadrangle data:

Sediment Records

  1. Four stream-sediment records were found in the Crystal City and Beeville Quadrangles Uranium Geochemical Survey GJBX-19(77) report that were actually collected for the Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas GJBX-131(81) report within the Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Eagle Pass quadrangles. These records were not listed in the Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas GJBX-131(81) report or included in the accompanying digital data file. These records were manually entered from the Crystal City and Beeville Quadrangles Uranium Geochemical Survey GJBX-19(77) report. Two of these sediment records are for Eagle Pass quadrangle samples.

Water Records

  1. No problems were found with the single Eagle Pass quadrangle well-water sample.

Plant Records

  1. The Crystal City and Beeville Quadrangles Uranium Geochemical Survey GJBX-19(77) report includes data for 2 plant samples collected in the Eagle Pass quadrangle.
  2. These two Eagle Pass quadrangle plant samples were not included in the original digital data file for either the Wide-Spaced Sample Basic Data Release for Texas or the Crystal City and Beeville Quadrangles Survey. These records were manually entered from the Crystal City and Beeville Quadrangles Uranium Geochemical Survey GJBX-19(77) report.
  3. At the time of this Open-File release (v. 1.41), the ORGDP plant data have not been completely reformatted and released for downloading. See the ORGDP Plant Data page for a more detailed description of the data format and plant data availability.


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).

Eagle Pass Quadrangle Sediment Data - 2 records
Eagle Pass Quadrangle Water Data - 1 record



Notes for Data Users

The ORGDP 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 +/- 363 feet (111 m) for latitude values and between +/- 343 feet (101 m) to +/- 331 feet (97 m) for longitude values (calculated at latitudes of 25° and 30°N, respectively.)



Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Eagle Pass Quadrangle

None found.



Eagle Pass Quadrangle NURE Bibliography



Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Texas 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 1.20: August 07, 2000
Version 1.30: September 11, 2001
Version 1.41: February 23, 2006

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