OFR 97-492: Livengood 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.]

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 the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (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 41 sediment samples collected from within the Livengood 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 693 sediment and 715 water samples were collected from 731 locations during July and August of 1977 within the Livengood quadrangle as part of the LASL Livengood Quadrangle NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) study. All samples were analyzed by LASL for uranium. The sediment samples were additionally analyzed for up to 43 more elements. LASL was unable to complete the Livengood quadrangle data release report. The data were sent to the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in Grand Junction, Colorado and subsequently published on the microfiche GJBX-2(82) report. This report includes results for water samples only and does not give any details on the sample collection or analytical methods used for these samples.

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

Summary of Livengood quadrangle sample types.
Sediment Sample Type Number of Samples Water Sample Type Number of Samples
Wet Streams 347 Streams 308
Dry Streams 11 Lakes 407
Wet Lakes 376
Total Sediments 734 Total Waters 715

These Livengood Quadrangle samples were analyzed by one or more of the following methods:

Sediment Samples

Water Samples



Composition of the NEW-FORMAT NURE Data Files

The sediment data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 693 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-2(82) LASL data report and 41 reformatted sediment records from the GJBX-33(80) U.S. Bureau of Mines report. The water data in the NEW-FORMAT NURE data files consist of 715 reformatted water records from the GJBX-2(82) LASL data 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.



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).

Livengood Quadrangle Sediment Data - 734 records
Livengood Quadrangle Water Data - 715 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.

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.



Other NURE Geochemical Data for the Livengood 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.



Livengood Quadrangle NURE Bibliography



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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