Sioux City Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Sioux City 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.]

ORGDP: Sioux City Quadrangle
A total of 544 stream-sediment and 119 well-water samples was collected from the Sioux City quadrangle by contractors for the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP). Sediment and water samples were collected from the South Dakota portion of the quadrangle by the South Dakota Geological Survey during October and November of 1979. Sediment samples only were collected in the Nebraska and Iowa portions of the Sioux City quadrangle by BCI Geonetics Inc. during August and September of 1979. These samples were analyzed by the ORGDP for uranium and other elements. The analytical data were released as the Sioux City Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) studyGJBX-393(81) report.

Summary Tables
The following is a list of sample types collected for the Sioux City quadrangle study.

*Summary of Sioux City quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	356	Wells	119
Dry Streams	188
Total Sediments	544	Total Waters	119

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

Sediment Samples

OR1: Oak Ridge Fluorescence Spectroscopy Analysis of sediments for U.
OR2: Oak Ridge Neutron Activation Analysis of sediments for U.
OR7: 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.
OR8: Oak Ridge Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Analysis of sediments for As and Se.

Water Samples

OR9-FL: Oak Ridge Fluorescence Spectroscopy Analysis of waters for U.
OR13: Oak Ridge Emission Spectrochemical Analysis of waters for Ag, Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Sc, Si, Sr, Ti, V, Y, Zn, and Zr. (Note: Nb and Th may be included in this method.)
OR16: Oak Ridge Anion Optical Absorption (Technicon AutoAnalyzer) Analysis of waters for Cl and Sulfate.
OR17: Oak Ridge Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Analysis of waters for As and Se.
OR-NO3: Oak Ridge Analysis of waters for Nitrate (ORGDP Lab Procedure 11).
OR-PO4: Oak Ridge Analysis of waters for Phosphate (ORGDP Lab Procedure 10).

Discussion of the Reformatting Process for Sioux City Quadrangle

The Sioux City quadrangle sediment and water data consist of reformatted records from the Sioux City Quadrangle NURE HSSR studyGJBX-393(81) report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for these data:

Sediment Records

Unlikely sample collection dates were found for four samples. These dates were removed from the SAMPDAT field. For each record, the original SAMPDAT value and the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
The latitude and longitude coordinates for 2 stream-sediment samples collected within the Sioux City quadrangle were obviously incorrect. No corrected coordinates for these samples were found in the field notes on microfiche accompanying the report. These coordinates were removed and the original coordinates were added as a comment to the COORDPRB field. The records for these 2 samples cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.
The latitude and longitude coordinates for 2 stream-sediment samples collected within the Sioux City quadrangle were not found in the data during the reformatting process. The records for these 2 samples cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.

Water Records

None.

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).

Sioux City Quadrangle Sediment Data - 540 records
Sioux City Quadrangle Water Data - 119 records

Notes for Data Users

Few if any sediment samples appear to have been collected from the Missouri River flood plain.

The 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 +/- 365 feet (111 m) for latitude values and between +/- 280 feet (85 m) to +/- 259 feet (79 m) for longitude values (calculated at latitudes of 40° and 45°N, respectively.)

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Sioux City Quadrangle

None found.

Sioux City Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Sioux City NTMS quadrangle, Nebraska; Iowa; South Dakota: Union Carbide Corporation, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-160, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-393(81), 93 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Iowa NURE data
Back to Nebraska NURE data
Back to South Dakota 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 1.10: July 29, 1999
Version 1.20: August 07, 2000
Version 1.30: September 11, 2001
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_siouxc.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:15 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)