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  4. Geochemical data for water, sediment, and biota in areas affected by historical mining, northwestern Sierra Nevada and Trinity Mountains, California

Geochemical data for water, sediment, and biota in areas affected by historical mining, northwestern Sierra Nevada and Trinity Mountains, California

Dates

Publication Date
Start Date
1999-03-31
End Date
2012-11-15

Citation

Alpers, C.N., Orlando, J.L., Miller, S.L., Hothem, R.L., Stumpner, E.B., Brussee, B.E., Hunerlach, M.P., May, J.T., Dileanis, P.D., Taylor, H.E., Antweiler, R.C., DeWild, J.F., and Marvin-DiPasquale, M.C., 2024, Geochemical data for water, sediment, and biota in areas affected by historical mining, northwestern Sierra Nevada and Trinity Mountains, California: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9EL0UN9.

Summary

This dataset includes data for water, sediment, and biota samples collected at 250 locations in the northwestern Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains during 1999–2012. The locations were chosen to assess potential effects from historical mining, with a focus primarily on mercury contamination associated with placer gold mines in the Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains, and a hard-rock mercury mine in the Trinity Mountains. Trace elements and major elements were analyzed in selected samples. All analyses of mercury, methylmercury, and (or) trace and major elements in water and sediment were performed by U.S. Geological Survey laboratories. Biota samples (invertebrates, fish, and frogs) were analyzed for mercury, methylmercury [...]

Contacts

Point of Contact :
James L Orlando, U.S. Geological Survey, SOUTHWEST REGION
Process Contact :
Charles N Alpers, Charles N Alpers, James L Orlando, U.S. Geological Survey, SOUTHWEST REGION
Originator :
Charles N Alpers, James L Orlando, Shanna L Miller, Rodger L. Hothem, Elizabeth B Stumpner, Brianne E Brussee, Michael P. Hunerlach, Jason T. May, Peter D. Dileanis, Howard E. Taylor, Ronald C. Antweiler, John F DeWild, Mark C Marvin-DiPasquale
Metadata Contact :
James L Orlando, U.S. Geological Survey, SOUTHWEST REGION
Publisher :
U.S. Geological Survey
Distributor :
U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
SDC Data Owner :
California Water Science Center
USGS Mission Area :
Water Resources

Attached Files

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Geochem_Data_Historic_Mining.xml
Original FGDC Metadata
View 		25.57 KB application/fgdc+xml
T1_Data_Dictionary.csv 53.54 KB text/csv
T2_Study_Sites.csv 20.79 KB text/csv
T3_Water_Mercury.csv 36.22 KB text/csv
T4_Sediment_Mercury.csv 24.72 KB text/csv
T5_Invertebrates_Mercury.csv 105.45 KB text/csv
T6_Frogs_Mercury.csv 40 KB text/csv
T7_Fish_Mercury.csv 14.39 KB text/csv
T8_Water_FieldParameters.csv 22.99 KB text/csv
T9_Water_Isotopes_Nutrients_MajorIons.csv 37.75 KB text/csv
T10_Water_TraceElements_Filtered.csv 79.28 KB text/csv
T11_Water_TraceElements_Unfiltered.csv 88.09 KB text/csv
T12_Sediment_TraceElements.csv 8.51 KB text/csv
T13_Invertebrates_TraceElements.csv 3.64 KB text/csv
T14_Fish_TraceElements.csv 2.38 KB text/csv
T15_GeometricMean_MercuryConcentrations.csv 31.08 KB text/csv
T16_Normalized_Mercury_Values.csv 22.55 KB text/csv
Relief Hill_2014.jpg thumbnail 3.5 MB image/jpeg

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide information to other agencies, primarily the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), so that potential mine remediation sites can be identified and prioritized for mine-site remediation. In addition to investigating federal lands managed by the BLM and USFS, the USGS performed work during 1999–2012 to assess mercury and metal contamination in other mining-affected areas in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources (American River watershed), the California State Water Resources Control Board (Bear River watershed), the Nevada County Resource Conservation District (Bear River watershed), and the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (Yuba River watershed). Non-federal funding sources were augmented with contributions from the USGS Cooperative Water Program.
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  • USGS California Water Science Center
  • USGS Data Release Products

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Type Scheme Key
DOI https://www.sciencebase.gov/vocab/category/item/identifier doi:10.5066/P9EL0UN9

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