Kateel River Quadrangle NURE HSSR Study

OFR 97-492: Kateel River 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.]

Geochemical samples were collected during July and August of 1976 as part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study of the Seward Peninsula and vicinity. Totals of 2,084 sediment and 2,025 water samples were collected from 2,188 locations within the Teller, Bendeleben, Candle, and Kateel River quadrangles. All of the samples were analyzed for uranium and the results were published in the Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) report. This report includes results for 223 sediment and 211 water samples collected from 228 locations within the western third of the Kateel River quadrangle.

During July and August of 1978, LASL collected an additional 430 sediments and 455 waters from 459 locations within the remainder of the Kateel River quadrangle. LASL analyzed the sediment samples for uranium and up to 43 additional elements. LASL also reanalyzed the 223 sediment samples from the earlier Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) report for up to 43 additional elements. LASL was unable to complete the Kateel River quadrangle data release report. The data were sent to the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in Grand Junction, Colorado and subsequently published as the microfiche Kateel River Quadrangle HSSR GJBX-182(82) sediment report. This report includes results for stream sediment samples only and does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used on these samples.

LASL sent 614 water samples from the Kateel River quadrangle, including 161 samples from the Seward Peninsula study, 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 ORGDP Kateel River HSSR GJBX-360(81) water report.

The following is a list of NURE sample types collected in the Kateel River quadrangle.

*Summary of Kateel River quadrangle sample types.*
Sediment Sample Type	Number of Samples	Water Sample Type	Number of Samples
Wet Streams	235	Streams	237
Wet Lakes	399	Lakes	429
Dry Streams	19
Total Sediments	653	Total Waters	666

These Kateel River 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-DN: Los Alamos Delayed-Neutron Counting Analysis of waters for U.
LA6-FL: Los Alamos Fluorometry Analysis of waters for U.
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 sediment file consist of 653 reformatted sediment records from the LASL Kateel River Quadrangle GJBX-182(82) sediment report. The data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data water file consist of 616 reformatted water records from the ORGDP Kateel River Quadrangle GJBX-360(81) water report and 52 reformatted water records from the Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) report. Any changes in the data or problems found are noted in the REFORMAT comment field.

With the exception of the uranium data, the 223 sediment records from the earlier Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) study were the same as corresponding records from the later LASL Kateel River Quadrangle GJBX-182(82) sediment report. Only the LASL Kateel River Quadrangle GJBX-182(82) sediment report records were retained in the NEW-FORMAT NURE sediment data file and the minor differences between corresponding records were recorded in the REFORMAT comment field.

The 159 water samples from the earlier Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) study were reanalyzed for uranium by ORGDP. To reduce the total number of records, the uranium values from the Seward Peninsula and vicinity GJBX-85(78) report were added to the records from the ORGDP Kateel River Quadrangle GJBX-360(81) water report. These Seward Peninsula study uranium values can be found in the U_XX_PPB field with the analytical method noted in the U_XX_MTHD field. A comment in the REFORMAT field also identifies these records.

Values for dissolved oxygen at 17 sample sites from the Seward Peninsula study were added from the GJBX-85(78) report and can be found in the O_DISS field. A comment in the REFORMAT field identifies these records.

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).

Kateel River Quadrangle Sediment Data - 653 records
Kateel River 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.

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

Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Kateel River 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.

Kateel River Quadrangle NURE Bibliography

Hardy, L.C., D'Andrea, R.F., Jr., Zinkl, R.J., Minor, M.M., McInteer, C., Hansel, J.N., and Broxton, D.E., 1982, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Kateel NTMS quadrangle, Alaska: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-182(82), 94 p.
Sharp, R.R., Jr., and Hill, D.W., 1978, Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance data from the area of the Teller, Bendeleben, Candle and Kateel River quadrangles Seward Peninsula and vicinity, Alaska: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory informal report LA-6844-MS, Los Alamos, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-85(78), 161 p.
Uranium Resource Evaluation Project, 1981, Hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance basic data for Kateel River quadrangle, Alaska: Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Oak Ridge, Tenn., K/UR-373, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colo., GJBX-360(81), 77 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_kateel.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)