Saint Louis Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Saint Louis 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.]

Missouri
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 2,162 stream-sediment, 1,340 surface-water, and 3,423 ground-water samples within 30 counties from the southeast and southwest corners of Missouri as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The samples were collected during May - August, 1978, October - December, 1978, and May - June, 1979 and included portions of the Dyersburg, Harrison, Joplin, Paducah, Poplar Bluff, Rolla, Saint Louis, Springfield, and Tulsa 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (A total of 96 stream-sediment, 59 surface-water, and 138 ground-water samples were collected within the Saint Louis quadrangle.) These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and additional elements (16 in sediments and 9 in waters). SRL was able to analyze 1,669 sediments and 4,762 waters from Missouri; this includes all Missouri sediment and water samples from the Saint Louis quadrangle. The analytical and site location data for all Missouri samples were released in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas Data Report [GJBX-104(82)].

Illinois
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 716 stream-sediment, 337 surface-water, and 1,046 ground-water samples within 16 counties from southern Illinois as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The samples were collected during November - December, 1978 and included portions of the Paducah, Saint Louis, Belleville, and Vincennes 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (A total of 9 stream-sediment, 3 surface-water, and 17 ground-water samples were collected within the Saint Louis quadrangle.) These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and additional elements (16 in sediments and 9 in waters). SRL was able to analyze all 716 sediments and 1,288 waters from Illinois; this includes all Illinois sediment and water samples from the Saint Louis quadrangle. The analytical and site location data for all Illinois samples were released in the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio Data Report [GJBX-105(82)].

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

Gold Analyses
Data for gold analyses of sediments by SRL neutron activation were released in the GJBX-135(82) summary report. The introduction of that report states:

"This report contains previously unreported neutron-activation analyses of gold in sediment samples determined at SRL. These data were not included in the standard SRL NURE data reports because the gold spectrum was not measured in the original analytical procedure and the report format was designed without the gold analyses being included. Gold analyses became available as the analytical procedure was refined, but the report format was not modified to incorporate these data."

Only those sediment samples that had detectable concentrations of gold by neutron activation analysis were given in the GJBX-135(82) report. Sediment samples with concentrations below detection limits were not reported and can only be ascertained by identifying which samples were actually analyzed by neutron activation at SRL.

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

*Summary of Saint Louis quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	105	Streams	62
		Wells	151
		Springs	4
Total Sediments	105	Total Waters	217

These Saint Louis 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. (Note: Au values were reported later for this method.)

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 Saint Louis Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Saint Louis quadrangle sediment data consist of reformatted records from the Missouri portion of the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas GJBX-104(82) Data Report plus reformatted records from the Illinois portion of the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio GJBX-105(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the Saint Louis quadrangle sediment data:

During reformatting, contamination codes for "residential" and "recreation" were found to be missing from each State's CONTAMC field. The presence of one of these two codes was indicated only by a "." (period). The missing codes were assigned a value of "unknown" in the CONTAMC field within the final sediment data file.
An unlikely sample collection date was found for one sample. This date was removed from the SAMPDAT field and the original SAMPDAT value with the most likely correct value was added as a comment to the REFORMAT field.
Gold concentrations from the GJBX-135(82) report were added to the appropriate sediment records. A value of -0.01 (<0.01 ppm Au) was added to all other sediment samples determined to have been analyzed by SRL neutron activation. This value was chosen because 0.01 is the lowest reported gold concentration in the entire report.

Water Records
The Saint Louis quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the Missouri portion of the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas GJBX-104(82) Data Report plus reformatted records from the Illinois portion of the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio GJBX-105(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the reformatting process of the Saint Louis 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).

Saint Louis Quadrangle Sediment Data - 105 records
Saint Louis Quadrangle Water Data - 217 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 in the Saint Louis quadrangle is limited to the Randolph County in Illinois and Crawford, Phelps, St. Francois, St. Genevieve, and Washington Counties in Missouri. These counties are found only on the southern border of the Saint Louis quadrangle. The laboratory and analytical methods used also may vary by county such that adjacent counties often have very different analytical coverages.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Saint Louis Quadrangle

None found.

Saint Louis Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Fay, W.M., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Gold analyses by neutron activation from SRL NURE samples: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-141-38, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-135(82), 45 p.
Fay, W.M., Sargent, K.A., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Data report: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-146-24, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-104(82), 37 p.
Fay, W.M., Sargent, K.A., and Cook, J.R., 1982, Data report: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., SRL Internal Doc. DPST-81-146-25, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-105(82), 41 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

Back to Missouri NURE data
Back to Illinois NURE data
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning NURE Data
Home Page: USGS National Geochemical Database - NURE HSSR data

Page written by Bryan G. Moravec and Steven M. Smith.
Contact: Steven M. Smith (smsmith@usgs.gov)
Version 1.30: September 11, 2001
Version 1.41: February 23, 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_stlous.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:16 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)