Hughes Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Hughes 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.]

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 34 sediment samples and 32 water samples collected from 37 locations within the Hughes quadrangle.

Totals of 636 sediment and 637 water samples were collected from 640 locations in the Hughes Quadrangle as part of the LASL Hughes 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 Hughes 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-258(81) report. This report does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.

LASL sent the 637 water samples from the Hughes 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-158(81) report.

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

*Summary of Hughes quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams (< 100 mesh)	441	Streams	472
Wet Streams (< 80 mesh)	30	Lakes	195
Dry Streams (< 80 mesh)	4	Springs	2
Wet Lakes (< 100 mesh)	193
Wet Springs (< 100 mesh)	2
Total Sediments	670	Total Waters	669

These Hughes 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

LA6-FL: Los Alamos Fluorometry Analysis of waters for U. (DGGS study only.)
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 636 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-258(81) LASL sediment data report and 34 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-79(78) DGGS report. The water data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 637 reformatted water records from the GJBX-158(81) ORGDP water data report and 32 reformatted water records from the GJBX-79(78) DGGS report. Any changes in the data or problems found 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).

Hughes Quadrangle Sediment Data - 669 records
Hughes Quadrangle Water Data - 668 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.

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Hughes Quadrangle

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.

Hughes Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

D'Andrea, R.F., Jr., Zinkl, R.J., Shettel, D.L., Jr., Langfeldt, S.L., Youngquist, C.A., Minor, M.M., McInteer, C., Hansel, J.N., and Broxton, D.E., 1981, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Hughes NTMS quadrangle, Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-258(81), 75 p.
Sharp, R.R., Jr., and Hill, D.W., 1978, Uranium concentrations in stream waters and sediments from selected sites in the eastern Seward Peninsula, Koyukuk, and Eagle Areas, and across south-central Alaska: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-6649-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-79(78), 39 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Hughes quadrangle, Alaska: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-308, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-158(81), 75 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_hughes.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)