Coleen Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Coleen 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 617 sediment and 601 water samples were collected from 636 locations in the Coleen quadrangle as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Coleen Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. Samples were collected during September of 1978. The sediment samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium and up to 43 additional elements. When LASL was unable to complete the Coleen 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-12(82) report. This report does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.

LASL sent the 601 water samples from the Coleen 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-345(81) report.

Totals of 416 rock samples and 1,584 sediment samples were collected "in 6 project areas in central and northeastern Alaska," by personnel of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Alaska Field Operations Center, Fairbanks, Alaska. The samples were sent to LASL for analysis of uranium and up to 42 other elements. The results were released by Bendix Field Engineering Corporation of Grand Junction, Colo. in the GJBX-33(80) report. This report includes results for 193 rock samples and 236 sediment samples collected from within the Coleen quadrangle. However, the report does not include any site description data, and sample locations were only identified on plates accompanying the report.

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

*Summary of Coleen quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	554	Streams	326
Dry Streams	30	Lakes	275
Wet Lakes	269
Total Sediments	853	Total Waters	601

These Coleen 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.
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.
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 sediment data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 617 reformatted sediment records from the LASL GJBX-12(82) data report and 236 reformatted sediment records from the U.S. Bureau of Mines GJBX-33(80) report.

The water data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 601 reformatted water records from the ORGDP GJBX-345(81) report. Data for 2 samples listed in the ORGDP GJBX-345(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.

The rock data contain 193 reformatted rock records from the U.S. Bureau of Mines GJBX-33(80) 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 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).

Coleen Quadrangle Sediment Data - 844 records
Coleen Quadrangle Water Data - 601 records
Under Construction Coleen Quadrangle Rock Data - coleen_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 Coleen Quadrangle

A summary evaluation report was prepared for the Coleen quadrangle by C.C. Hawley and Associates of Anchorage, Alaska [PGJ/F-040(82)]. Additional samples of 563 stream sediments, 170 soils, 315 rocks, 15 waters, and 18 panned concentrates were collected in the quadrangle to "identify geologic environments and delineate areas that exhibit characteristics favorable for the occurrence of uranium deposits." All of the samples were analyzed for uranium oxide by fluorometry. In addition, 30 stream sediments, 91 rocks, 8 soils, and 10 panned concentrate were analyzed for 29 elements by a spectrographic method. These data were released only as microfiche appendices accompanying the summary 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.

Coleen Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Friedman, G.R., 1982, National Uranium Resource Evaluation, Coleen quadrangle, Alaska: C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., PGJ/F-040(82)F, 20 p.
Langfeldt, S.L., Hardy, L.C., D'Andrea, R.F., Jr., Zinkl, R.J., Shettel, D.L., Jr., Garcia, S.R., Hanks, D., George, W.E., and Bolivar, S.L., 1982, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Coleen NTMS quadrangle, Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-12(82), 92 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 Coleen quadrangle, Alaska: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-379, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-345(81), 73 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_coleen.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)