Geochemical maps of copper, lead, and zinc, upper Arkansas River drainage basin, Colorado

Abstract

uranium resources and to identify favorable areas for detailed uranium exploration throughout the United States (Arendt and others, 1979). Authority was given to four Federal laboratories to conduct geochemical surveys on a 1° x 2° quadrangle basis. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was responsible for the Rocky Mountain states including all of Colorado. Actual sampling within the quadrangles that cover the upper Arkansas River drainage basin was done between March 14, 1976 and October 11, 1979. The NURE stream-sediment samples were analyzed by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory using various techniques. Copper and lead were determined by X-ray fluorescence and zinc was determined by neutron activation analysis.

Source, transport, and partitioning of metals between water, colloids, and bed sediments of the Animas River, Colorado

“…These data were of adequate sample density and analytical quality to characterize the geochemical landscape of the Animas River watershed. Geochemical data from small tributary streams from the USGS National Geochemical Data Base (Hoffman and Buttleman, 1994) were used to prepare regional geochemical maps of the Animas River watershed following the procedure outlined by Smith (1994). The details of the computational methods are in appendix I.…”

Geochemical and isotopic data from streambed sediment, Animas River watershed, Colorado, 1995-1999

“…These data were of adequate sample density and analytical quality to characterize the geochemical landscape of the Animas River watershed. Geochemical data from small tributary streams from the USGS National Geochemical Data Base (Smith, 1999) were used to prepare regional geochemical maps of the Animas River watershed following the procedure outlined by Smith (1994) and are in Church and others (1997). Mineral Creek follow the structural margin of the Silverton caldera.…”

Geochemical and lead-isotopic studies of river sediment from major tributaries, upper Arkansas River watershed, Colorado

“…In phase n of the study, we retrieved geochemical data from numerous geologic studies conducted over the last several decades to prepare geochemical maps showing the distribution of copper, lead, and zinc in the upper Arkansas River basin (Smith, 1994). As a result of this work, we identified ten additional source areas in the Arkansas River basin where the concentration of lead in stream sediments exceeds 400 parts per million (ppm), seven areas where it exceeds 200 ppm, and fourteen areas where it exceeds 100 ppm in addition to the known source of metals in the Leadville mining district.…”

“…Sampling methods and analytical procedures were reported in Church and others (1993;1994). Sample localities are in fig.…”