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Texas
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 279 stream-sediment samples within 4 counties along the eastern border of Texas as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The sampling effort was completed between August and October of 1978 and included portions of the Palestine, Alexandria, Beaumont, and Lake Charles 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (None of the stream-sediment samples were collected within the Texarkana quadrangle.) These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and 16 additional elements. SRL was only able to analyze 26 of the 279 stream-sediment samples collected in Texas. The analytical and site location data for all Texas sediment samples were released as a separate file in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas Data Report [GJBX-104(82)].

Arkansas
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 3,292 stream-sediment, 5,121 ground-water, and 1,711 stream-water samples within 43 counties of central Arkansas as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The sampling effort was completed between May and October of 1978 and included portions of the El Dorado, Fort Smith, Greenwood, Harrison, Helena, Little Rock, McAlester, Memphis, Poplar Bluff, Russellville, Texarkana, and Tulsa 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (A total of 80 stream-sediment, 11 surface-water, and 141 ground-water water samples were collected within the Texarkana quadrangle.) These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and 16 additional elements. SRL was able to analyze only 2,416 Arkansas stream-sediment samples and 6,831 Arkansas water samples; this includes 4 stream-sediment and all 152 water samples from the Texarkana quadrangle. The analytical and site location data for all Arkansas sediment and water samples were released as separate files in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas Data Report [GJBX-104(82)].

Oklahoma
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 2,493 stream-sediment, 2,751 ground-water, and 375 stream-water samples within 24 counties of the eastern portion of Oklahoma as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The sampling effort was completed between May and October of 1978 and included portions of the Ardmore, Enid, Fort Smith, McAlester, Oklahoma City, Sherman, Texarkana, and Tulsa 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (A total of 123 stream-sediment, 32 surface-water, and 182 ground-water water samples were collected within the Texarkana quadrangle.) These samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and 16 additional elements. SRL was able to analyze only 879 Oklahoma stream-sediment samples and all 3,126 Oklahoma water samples; this includes 4 stream-sediment and all 214 water samples from the Texarkana quadrangle. The analytical and site location data for all Oklahoma sediment and water samples were released as separate files in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas Data Report [GJBX-104(82)].

Louisiana
Subcontractors for the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) collected at least 1,017 stream-sediment samples within 15 parishes of central Louisiana as part of the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) program. The sampling effort was completed between August and October of 1978 and included portions of the Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Jackson, Lake Charles, Natchez, Palestine, Shreveport, and Tyler 1:250,000-scale quadrangles. (None of these water samples were collected within the Louisiana portion of the Texarkana quadrangle.) These sediment samples were sent to SRL for analysis of uranium and 16 additional elements. SRL was able to analyze only 28 Louisiana stream sediment samples. The analytical and site location data for all Louisiana sediment samples were released as a separate file in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas Data Report [GJBX-104(82)].

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

ORGDP: Sherman, Texarkana, El Dorado, and Greenwood Quadrangles
SRL sent several Oklahoma and Arkansas sediment samples to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) for analysis of uranium and 31 additional elements. ORGDP released the analytical data for 992 samples in the Sherman, Texarkana, El Dorado, and Greenwood Quadrangles GJBX-69(82) Data Report. This report includes data for 115 sediment samples from the Texarkana quadrangle. The site coding information for this data set was summarized in the GJBX-51(82) report.

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
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 Texarkana quadrangle samples.

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

These Texarkana 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.)
• 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.

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 Texarkana Quadrangle

Sediment Records
The Texarkana quadrangle sediment data consist of records from the Oklahoma and Arkansas portions of the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas GJBX-104(82) Data Report combined with records from the ORGDP Sherman, Texarkana, El Dorado, and Greenwood Quadrangles GJBX-69(82) Data Report. When combining sample records, site descriptive information and coordinates were compared for all corresponding records. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the McAlester quadrangle sediment data:

1. The SRL and the ORGDP Laboratory each analyzed the same 3 stream-sediment samples from Arkansas. Because of overlapping data fields, it was necessary to create two data records for each sample to preserve all the data.
2. The original ORGDP file for the Sherman, Texarkana, El Dorado, and Greenwood 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.
3. The latitude and longitude coordinates for 1 stream-sediment sample collected within Choctaw County, Oklahoma were not found in the data during the reformatting process. The record for this sample cannot be retrieved on a geographical basis.
4. 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 Texarkana quadrangle water data consist of reformatted records from the Oklahoma and Arkansas portions of the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas GJBX-104(82) Data Report. The following problems were found and addressed during the comparison and reformatting stages for the McAlester quadrangle water data:

1. 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).

Texarkana Quadrangle Sediment Data - 205 records
Texarkana Quadrangle Water Data - 366 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. The laboratory and analytical methods used also may vary by county such that adjacent counties often have very different analytical coverages. Samples were collected from all of the Oklahoma and Arkansas counties within the Texarkana quadrangle. The sampled Arkansas counties include Howard, Little River, Miller, and Sevier. The sampled Oklahoma counties include Bryan, Choctaw, and McCurtain. Apparently, SRL did not collect any samples from the Texas portion of the Texarkana quadrangle.

Eighty-three sediment samples within the Texarkana quadrangle were not analyzed by any of the various laboratories. The following table summarizes the locations of those unanalyzed samples.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Texarkana Quadrangle

None found.

Texarkana 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.
• Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1982, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Sherman, Texarkana, El Dorado and Greenwood quadrangles, Oklahoma; Texas; Arkansas; Mississippi: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-424, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-69(82), 96 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 Texas NURE data
Back to Arkansas NURE data
Back to Oklahoma NURE data
Back to Louisiana NURE data
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning NURE HSSR 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 1.20: August 07, 2000
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_texark.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:16 EST 2016