Fort Pierce Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Fort Pierce 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.]

Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey
In September of 1978, the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) conducted an orientation survey for the NURE program within Hillsborough and Polk Counties of west-central Florida. These counties occupy parts of the Fort Pierce, Orlando, Saint Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. SRL collected 60 stream-sediment, 60 stream-water, and 296 ground-water samples from the study area. This includes 6 stream-sediment, 6 stream-water, and 34 ground-water samples from the Fort Pierce quadrangle. These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and up to 16 additional elements. The analytical data and site descriptive data for these samples were released only as tables in the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey report [GJBX-146(82)]. This report did not include any discussion of the goals of the orientation survey, the methods used, or the physical characteristics of the study area.

Florida
The NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program was never completed. Several quadrangles were not sampled and apparently most of Florida, including the Fort Pierce quadrangle, was an area for which no reconnaissance samples were collected or analyzed.

Summary Tables
The following is a list of all sample types collected and reported for NURE studies in the Fort Pierce quadrangle.

*Summary of Fort Pierce quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	6	Streams	6
		Wells	34
Total Sediments	6	Total Waters	40

These Fort Pierce 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.

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.)
SR-HE: Savannah River Helium Analysis of waters.
SR-X: Savannah River Laboratory Analysis (unspecified method) of water for nitrate, ammonia, phosphate, and sulfate.

Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Fort Pierce Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Fort Pierce quadrangle sediment data consist of reformatted records from the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey [GJBX-146(82)] report. No digital data files accompanied this report. All of the data were scanned and edited from published tables found in the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey [GJBX-146(82)] report. These data were then reformatted and added to the final NURE data files. The following problems were found and addressed during the reformatting stages for the Fort Pierce quadrangle sediment data:

The latitude and longitude coordinates for one stream-sediment sample collected during the orientation study were not found in the data tables during the reformatting process. This sample was assigned to the Fort Pierce quadrangle based on the sample number sequence. However, it may have been collected within any one of the four 1:250,000-scale quadrangles (Fort Pierce, Orlando, Saint Petersburg, or Tarpon Springs) that comprise the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey area. The record for this sample cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.

Water Records
The Fort Pierce quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey [GJBX-146(82)] report. No digital data files accompanied this report. All of the data were scanned and edited from published tables found in the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey [GJBX-146(82)] report. These data were then reformatted and added to the final NURE data files. The following problems were found and addressed during the reformatting stages for the Fort Pierce quadrangle water data:

The data tables in the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey [GJBX-146(82)] report also included analyses of water for nitrate, ammonia, phosphate, and sulfate. The nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate values were added to appropriate fields in the reformatted water data files but the ammonia data could not be accommodated. The values for the ammonia analyses were recorded in the REFORMAT comment field.
The water data records did not include values for sample type (SAMPTYP). For each of the Hillsborough and Polk Counties Orientation Survey water records a SAMPTYP value was assigned based on the accompanying site descriptive data. It was assumed that all ground-water samples were collected from wells.
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.
The latitude and longitude coordinates for one stream-water and four ground-water samples collected during the orientation study were not found in the data tables during the reformatting process. These samples were assigned to one of the four 1:250,000-scale quadrangles (Fort Pierce, Orlando, Saint Petersburg, or Tarpon Springs) based only on the sample number sequence. One stream-water sample was assigned to the Fort Pierce quadrangle. The record for this sample 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).

Fort Pierce Quadrangle Sediment Data - 5 records
Fort Pierce Quadrangle Water Data - 39 records

Notes for Data Users

None at this time.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Fort Pierce Quadrangle

None found.

Fort Pierce Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Karfunkel, B.S., 1982, Orientation study in Hillsborough and Polk Counties, west-central Florida: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-141-21, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-146(82), 21 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Florida 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 1.30: September 11, 2001
Version 1.41: February 23, 2006

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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)