Bettles Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Bettles 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.]

Personnel of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Alaska Field Operations Center, Fairbanks, collected 416 rock and 1,584 sediment samples "in 6 project areas in central and northeastern Alaska." The samples were sent to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) for analysis (uranium and up to 42 other elements) and the results were released by Bendix Field Engineering Corporation of Grand Junction, Colo. in the GJBX-33(80) report. This report includes results for 62 rock samples and 168 sediment samples collected from within the Bettles quadrangle. However, the report does not include any site description data, and sample locations could only be identified on plates accompanying the report.

Totals of 898 sediment and 910 water samples were collected from 918 locations in the Bettles quadrangle as part of the LASL Bettles Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. Samples were collected during June and July of 1978. The sediment samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and up to 43 additional elements, but LASL was unable to complete the Bettles quadrangle data release report. The data were sent to and released by the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in Grand Junction, Colorado only as a microfiche GJBX-14(82) report. This report does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.

LASL sent the 910 water samples from the Bettles quadrangle to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) for analysis. These samples were analyzed for uranium and up to 27 additional elements and the results were released by ORGDP in the GJBX-198(81) report.

The following is a list of NURE sample types collected for these studies in the Bettles quadrangle.

*Summary of Bettles quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	464	Streams	290
Wet Lakes	600	Lakes	618
Wet Springs	2	Springs	2
Total Sediments	1,066	Total Waters	910

These Bettles 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.
LA2: Los Alamos Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of sediments for Ag, Bi, Cd, Cu, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sn, and W. (U.S. Bureau of Mines studies only.)
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. (U.S. Bureau of Mines studies only.)
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

OR9-FL: Oak Ridge Fluorescence Spectroscopy Analysis of waters for U.
OR9-MS: Oak Ridge Mass Spectrometry 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.)

Rock Samples

LA1: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of rocks for U.
LA2: Los Alamos Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of rocks for Ag, Bi, Cd, Cu, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sn, and W.
LA4: Los Alamos Arc-Source Emission Spectrography Analysis of rocks for Be and Li.
LA5: Los Alamos Neutron Activation Analysis of rocks 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.

Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The sediment data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 898 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-14(82) LASL sediment data report and 168 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-33(80) U.S. Bureau of Mines report. The water data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 910 reformatted water records from the GJBX-198(81) ORGDP water data report. The rock data consist of 62 reformatted rock records from the GJBX-33(80) U.S. Bureau of Mines report. Any changes in the data or problems found are noted in the REFORMAT comment field.

The site locations for samples from the U.S. Bureau of Mines studies were only identified on plates that accompanied the U.S. Bureau of Mines GJBX-33(80) report. These locations were digitized from the plates and the coordinates added to the sediment file. Occasionally, a sample site was plotted more than once or not at all. Problems with the coordinates for these samples are noted 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 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).

Bettles Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,065 records
Bettles Quadrangle Water Data - 910 records
Under Construction Bettles Quadrangle Rock Data - bettle_r.dbf.gz

Notes for Data Users

Water samples from this quadrangle are reported to have been acidified with nitric acid but NOT filtered in the field.

The ORGDP fluorometric procedure for uranium required each water sample to be centrifuged before taking an aliquot for analysis. It is not clear whether water samples analyzed by emission spectrometry were also centrifuged prior to analysis.

Values of 99999 are as reported in the GJBX publications and may reflect values above determination limits.

Sediment samples from the U.S. Bureau of Mines GJBX-33(80) report were assigned a SAMPTYP of 12 but no information was available on whether these samples were wet or dry.

Rock samples from the U.S. Bureau of Mines GJBX-33(80) report were crushed to <100 mesh and were assigned a SAMPTYP of 74.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Bettles Quadrangle

Totals of 1,042 rock samples and 287 sediment samples were collected by personnel of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Alaska Field Operations Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, "in conjunction with various projects in central and eastern Alaska" from portions of the Beaver, Bettles, Black River, Chandalar, Charley River, Circle, Eagle, Fairbanks, Fort Yukon, Livengood, Melozitna, Tanacross, Tanana, Teller, and Wiseman quadrangles. These samples were sent to LASL for analysis and the results were released by Bendix Field Engineering Corporation of Grand Junction, Colorado and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in the GJBX-178(81) report. Samples were analyzed for uranium by delayed neutron activation, for 12 elements by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence, for Be and Li by arc-source emission spectrography, and for 30 elements by neutron activation. These data can only be found in tables in the summary report, and the sample locations can only be identified on the plates accompanying the report.

LASL compiled all of the regional HSSR data from Alaskan NURE studies and produced a report [GJBX-32(83] that graphically displays the distribution of selected elements for most of the State. No additional geochemical data were released with this report.

Bettles Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Averett, W.R., and Barker, J., 1981, Report of analyses from mineral resource investigations in central and eastern Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-178(81), 148 p.
D'Andrea, R.F., Jr., Zinkl, R.J., Shettel, D.L., Jr., Langfeldt, S.L., Hardy, L.C., Hensley, W.K., Thomas, G.J., Martell, C.J., and Maassen, L.W., 1982, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Bettles NTMS quadrangle, Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-14(82), 111 p.
Stablein, N.K., 1980, Report on the mineral resource investigations in six areas of central and northeastern Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-33(80), 186 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Bettles quadrangle, Alaska: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-329, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-198(81), 96 p.
Weaver, T.A., Freeman, S.H., Broxton, D.E., Bolivar, S.L., and others, 1983, The geochemical atlas of Alaska: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M., LA-9897-MS, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-32(83), 57 p.

Links Within Open-File Report 97-492

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

Page written by Andrew W. Holt and Steven M. Smith
Contact: Steven M. Smith (smsmith@usgs.gov)
Version 1.20: August 07, 2000
Version 1.30: September 11, 2001
Version 1.40: 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_ak/q_bettle.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:17 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)