OFR 97-492: Charley River Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study
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[See History of NURE HSSR Program for a summary of the entire program.]
During the summer of 1975, the Alaska State Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), conducted a uranium reconnaissance study within 13 Alaska quadrangles. From this study, 644 sediment and 601 water samples collected from 694 locations were sent to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) for analysis. LASL analyzed these samples for uranium and the analytical data were released in the GJBX-79(78) report. This report includes results for 5 sediment samples and 7 water samples collected from 7 locations within the Charley River quadrangle.
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 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 33 rock samples collected from within the Charley River 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 1,253 sediment and 1,322 water samples were collected from 1,339 locations in the Charley River quadrangle as part of the LASL Charley River 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 Charley River 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-178(82) report. This report does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.
LASL sent the 1,322 water samples from the Charley River 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-235(81) report.
The following is a list of NURE sample types collected for these studies in the Charley River quadrangle.
Sediment Sample Type | Number of Samples | Water Sample Type | Number of Samples |
---|---|---|---|
Wet Streams (< 100 mesh) | 892 | Streams | 910 |
Wet Streams (< 80 mesh) | 5 | Lakes | 408 |
Dry Streams (< 100 mesh) | 3 | Springs | 11 |
Wet Lakes (< 100 mesh) | 352 | ||
Dry Lakes (< 100 mesh) | 1 | ||
Wet Springs (< 100 mesh) | 5 | ||
Total Sediments | 1,258 | Total Waters | 1,329 |
These Charley River quadrangle samples were analyzed by one or more of the following methods:
Sediment Samples
Water Samples
Rock Samples
The sediment data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 1,253 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-178(82) LASL sediment data report, and 5 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-79(78) DGGS report. The water data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 1,322 reformatted water records from the GJBX-235(81) ORGDP water data report and 7 reformatted water records from the GJBX-79(78) DGGS report. The rock data consist of 33 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 could only be 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 reformatted 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.
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).
Charley River Quadrangle Sediment Data - 1,258 records
Charley River Quadrangle Water Data - 1,329 records
Charley River Quadrangle Rock Data - chasrv_r.dbf.gz
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.
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.
A summary evaluation report was prepared for the Charley River quadrangle by C.C. Hawley and Associates of Anchorage, Alaska [PGJ/F-106(82)]. Additional samples of 284 stream sediments, 1 soil, 95 rocks, and 3 waters were collected in the quadrangle to "identify geologic environments that exhibit characteristics favorable for uranium deposits." All of these samples were analyzed for uranium oxide by fluorometry. Two of the stream sediments and four of the rocks were analyzed for 29 additional elements by a spectrographic method. These data were released only as microfiche appendices accompanying the summary report.
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.
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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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