Kingston Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Kingston Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

About USGS / Science Topics / Maps, Products & Publications / Education / Publication: FAQ

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 42 stream-sediment, 8 surface-water, and 32 ground-water samples were collected within the New York state portion of the Kingston quadrangle; of these samples, SRL analyzed none of the sediment and all 40 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 does not include any Supplemental Analyses for New York state sediment samples within the Kingston quadrangle.

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

ORGDP: Kingston and Rochester Quadrangles
SRL sent 318 sediment samples from New York state to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) for analysis of uranium and 31 additional elements. ORGDP released the analytical data for 318 samples in the Kingston and Rochester Quadrangles GJBX-84(82) Data Report (a total of 41 samples were from the Kingston quadrangle). The site coding information for this data set was summarized in the GJBX-51(82) report.

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 Kingston quadrangle samples.

*Combination of laboratories that analyzed samples for the Kingston quadrangle.*
Laboratory Analysis	Sediments	Waters
Only SRL	0	40
Only ORGDP Lab	41	0
Both SRL and ORGDP Labs	0	0
None	1	0
Total Samples	42	40
Total Data Records	42	40

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

*Summary of Kingston quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	42	Streams	8
		Wells	32
Total Sediments	42	Total Waters	40

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

Sediment Samples

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 Kingston Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Kingston quadrangle sediment data consist of reformatted records from the New York portions of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York [GJBX-106(82)] Data Report combined with data from the ORGDP Kingston and Rochester Quadrangles [GJBX-84(82)] Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Kingston quadrangle sediment data:

The original ORGDP file for the Kingston and Rochester quadrangles 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. When combining corresponding SRL and ORGDP records, all of the site descriptive data and the longitude values to 4 decimal places from the SRL data files were preserved in the final database.

Water Records
The Kingston quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the New York portions 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 Kingston 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.

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).

Kingston Quadrangle Sediment Data - 42 records
Kingston Quadrangle Water Data - 40 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 of the U.S. lands in the Kingston quadrangle is complete and includes samples from Jefferson County in New York. No samples were collected from the parts of the Kingston quadrangle that include Canadian lands or Lake Ontario.

One sediment sample within the Kingston quadrangle from Jefferson County, New York, was not analyzed by any of the various laboratories.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Kingston Quadrangle

None found.

Kingston 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.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1982, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Rochester and Kingston quadrangles, New York: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-439, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-84(82), 31 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 Steven M. Smith.
Contact: Steven M. Smith (smsmith@usgs.gov)
Version 1.41: February 23, 2006

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices
U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/1997/ofr-97-0492/quad/q_kingtn.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:13 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)