Hamilton Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Hamilton 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 759 sediment and 463 water samples were collected from 765 locations in the Montana portion of the Hamilton quadrangle from October - December, 1976 and April - May, 1977 as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Montana-Hamilton Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. These samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and the analytical data were released in the GJBX-57(78) report. Note: The GJBX-57(78) report actually lists 760 sediment samples but 1 sample was apparently collected in the adjacent Wallace quadrangle. This sample was later included in a report for the Wallace Quadrangle HSSR Study.

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 Hamilton quadrangle. From July - September of 1979, an additional 1,074 sediment and 1,025 water samples were collected from the Idaho portion of the Hamilton quadrangle to complete the (LASL) Hamilton 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, 747 sediment samples collected earlier from the Montana portion of the quadrangle were also reanalyzed by the same multielement methods. In addition, the uranium data from 450 Montana water samples were included in this study. These data were released in the GJBX-236(80) Hamilton quadrangle report.

The following is a general listing of all sample types collected and reported for NURE studies in the Hamilton quadrangle.

*Summary of Hamilton quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	1,341	Streams	1,347
Dry Streams	352	Springs	132
Wet Springs	132	Natural Ponds	2
Wet Natural Ponds	2	Artificial Ponds	7
Wet Artificial Ponds	6
Total Sediments	1,833	Total Waters	1,488

These Hamilton 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-DN: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of waters for U.
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-57(78) report of the Montana portion of the Hamilton quadrangle study combined with records from the GJBX-236(80) Hamilton quadrangle report. Unfortunately, the data file from the Montana study was missing 463 sediment records and instead had 463 duplicated water records. In order to complete the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files, it was necessary to compare and sometimes add data from records in the hardcopy GJBX-57(78) 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).

Hamilton Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,833 records
Hamilton Quadrangle Water Data - 1,488 records

Notes for Data Users

Previous users of the Hamilton quadrangle water database have noted that the pH values are distinctly different between the samples collected in 1976-77 from Montana and those collected in 1979 from Idaho.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Hamilton Quadrangle

A summary report of the Hamilton quadrangle was released by Salisbury & Dietz, Inc. of Spokane, Washington [PGJ/F-087(82)]. An additional 356 rock, 53 well-water, and 14 stream-sediment samples were collected and analyzed for the summary report. Included in the report are 141 rock samples from previous USGS reports on the Hamilton quadrangle and 8 rock samples from the Missoula/Bitterroot Drilling Program. The multielement analytical data for all of the additional samples were released only as microfiche appendices to the summary report.

Hamilton Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Aamodt, P.L., 1978, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance data release for the Montana portion of the Hamilton, Montana/Idaho, NTMS quadrangle: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-7178-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-57(78), 45 p.
Goff, S.J., George, W.E., Apel, C.T., Talcott, C.L., Hensley, W.K., Minor, M.M., and Thomas, G.J., 1980, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance data release for the Hamilton NTMS quadrangle, Montana/Idaho, including concentrations of forty-five additional elements: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-8010-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-236(80), 195 p.
McKee, C.J., Gilmour, E.H., and Salisbury, W., 1982, National Uranium Resource Evaluation, Hamilton quadrangle, Idaho and Montana: Salisbury & Dietz, Inc., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., PGJ/F-087(82), 19 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Montana NURE data
Back to Idaho 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_hamltn.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:12 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)