Chandalar Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Chandalar 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.]

Totals of 1,247 sediment and 1,195 water samples were collected from 1,250 locations in the Chandalar quadrangle as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Chandalar Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. Samples were collected during August of 1978. The sediment samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and up to 43 additional elements. When LASL was unable to complete the Chandalar quadrangle data release report, the data were sent to the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in Grand Junction, Colorado and subsequently published as the microfiche GJBX-254(81) report. This report does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.

LASL sent the 1,195 water samples from the Chandalar 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-172(81) report.

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

*Summary of Chandalar quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	1,129	Streams	1,131
Dry Streams	54	Lakes	64
Wet Lakes	64
Total Sediments	1,247	Total Waters	1,195

These Chandalar 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.
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.
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.)

Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 1,247 reformatted sediment records from the LASL GJBX-254(81) report and 1,195 reformatted water records from the ORGDP GJBX-172(81) report. Any changes in the data or problems found are noted in the REFORMAT comment field. Data for 8 samples listed in the ORGDP GJBX-172(81) report were missing from the accompanying digital file. These records were added to water file and can be identified by a comment in the REFORMAT 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).

Chandalar Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,247 records
Chandalar Quadrangle Water Data - 1,195 records

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.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Chandalar 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.

Chandalar 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., Youngquist, C.A., Hensley, W.K., Thomas, G.J., Martell, C.J., and Maassen, L.W., 1981, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Chandalar NTMS quadrangle, Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-253(81), 101 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-313, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-172(81), 116 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_chanda.htm Questions or Assistance: USGS Web Contact Page Last Modified: Wed Dec 7 16:17 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)