Elk City Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Elk 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)

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.]

Totals of 1,933 sediment and 1,240 water samples were collected from the Montana portions of Dillon, Dubois, and Elk City quadrangles between August and October, 1976 as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Southwestern Montana NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. In the Elk City quadrangle, 117 sediment and 122 water samples were collected as part of this study. These samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and the analytical data were released in the GJBX-28(78) report.

Because of the NURE programmatic change in 1977 from states and study areas to quadrangle studies, LASL was given responsibility for the remainder of the Dillon, Dubois, and Elk City quadrangles. In July and August of 1979, an additional 1,603 sediment and 1,458 water samples were collected from the Idaho portion of the Elk City quadrangle to complete the (LASL) Elk City Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. These Idaho samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and up to 45 additional elements. Apparently at this time, all of the Elk City quadrangle sediment samples collected earlier from the SW Montana study were also reanalyzed by the same multielement methods. These data were released in the GJBX-176(80) Elk City quadrangle report.

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

*Summary of Elk City quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	1,328	Streams	1,350
Dry Streams	169	Wells	3
Wet Springs	218	Springs	227
Dry Springs	5
Total Sediments	1,720	Total Waters	1,580

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

Sediment Samples

LA1: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of sediments for U.
LA3: Los Alamos Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of sediments for Ag, As, Bi, Cd, Cu, Nb, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, W, and Zr.
LA4: Los Alamos Arc-Source Emission Spectrography Analysis of sediments for Be and Li.
LA5: Los Alamos Neutron Activation Analysis of sediments for Al, Au, Ba, Ca, Ce, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Dy, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, Ti, V, Yb, and Zn.

Water Samples

LA6-FL: Los Alamos Fluorometry Analysis of waters for U.

Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of records from the GJBX-28(78) report of the southwest Montana study combined with records from the GJBX-176(80) Elk City quadrangle report.

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).

Elk City Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,719 records
Elk City Quadrangle Water Data - 1,579 records

Notes for Data Users

Previous users of the Elk City quadrangle water database have noted that the pH values are distinctly different between the samples collected in 1976 from Montana and those collected in 1979 from Idaho.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Elk City Quadrangle

TSL Laboratories Limited of Opportunity, Washington collected and analyzed an additional 385 rock samples to accompany a summary report for the Elk City quadrangle produced by Salisbury & Dietz, Inc. of Spokane, Washington [PGJ/F-065(82)]. Also included in the report is the analytical data from 40 rock samples taken in an earlier USGS survey of the area. The specific report is referenced in the text of the summary report. The multielement analytical data from all of the additional samples accompany the summary report only in microfiche appendices.

Elk City Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Broxton, D.E., 1978, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance in southwestern Montana: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-6981, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-28(78), 95 p.
Broxton, D.E., Byeth, M., George, W.E., Montoya, J.V., Martell, C.J., Garcia, S.R., McInteer, C., and Minor, M.M., 1980, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance data release for the Elk City NTMS quadrangle, Idaho/Montana, including concentrations of forty-five additional elements: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-8012-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-176(80), 212 p.
Leinart, P.M., and Salisbury, W.G., 1982, National Uranium Resource Evaluation, Elk City quadrangle, Idaho and Montana: Salisbury & Dietz, Inc., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., PGJ/F-065(82), 21 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Idaho NURE data
Back to Montana 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 1.00: September 11, 1998
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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U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/1997/ofr-97-0492/quad/q_elkcty.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:12 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)