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V. J. Suits

Publications and source records attributed to V. J. Suits.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1982

Multielement chemical and statistical analyses from a uranium hydrogeochemical and stream-sediment survey in and near the Elkhorn Mountains, Jefferson County, Montana. Part I: Surface water

Fifty-two surface-water samples, collected from an area south of Helena, Jefferson County, were analyzed for 51 chemical species. Of these variables, 35 showed detectable variation over the area, and 29 were utilized in a correlation analysis. Two populations are distinguished in the collected samples and are especially evident in the plot of Ca versus U. Samples separated on the basis of U versus Ca proved to represent drainage areas of two differing lithologies. One group was from waters that drain the Boulder batholith, the other from those that drain the Elkhorn Mountains volcanic rocks. These two groups of samples, in general, proved to have parallel but different linear trends between U and other elements. Therefore, the two groups of samples were treated separately in the statistical analyses. Over the area that drains the Boulder batholith, U concentrations in water ranged from 0.37 to 13.0 μ g/l , with a mean of 1.9 μ g/l. The samples from streams draining volcanic areas ranged from 0.04 to 1.5 μ g/l, with a mean of 0.42 μ g/l. The highest U values (12 and 13 μ g/l) occur along Badger Creek, Rawhide Creek, Little Buffalo Gulch, and an unnamed tributary to Clancy Creek. Conductivity, hardness, Ba, Ca, CI, K, Mg, Na and Sr are significantly correlated with U at or better than the 95 percent confidence limit in both populations. For water draining the Boulder batholith, uranium correlates significantly with akalinity, pH, bicarbonate, Li, Mo, NO2+NO3, P04, SiO2, SO4, F, and inorganic carbon. These correlations are similar to those found in a previous study of water samples in north-central New Mexico (Wenrich-Verbeek, 1977b). Uranium in water from the volcanic terrane does not show correlations with any of the above constituents, but does correlate well with V. This relationship with V is absent within the Boulder batholith samples.

Montana↗
USGS1982

Multielement chemical and statistical analyses from a uranium hydrogeochemical and stream-sediment survey in and near the Elkhorn Mountains, Jefferson County, Montana: Part II, Stream sediments

Fifty-two stream-sediment samples, collected from an area south of Helena, Jefferson County, Montana, were sieved into two size fractions (<88 ?m, and between 88 and 149 ?m) and analyzed for 80 different chemical species. Of these species, 43 showed detectable variation over the area, 31 were subjected to correlation analysis for the fine size fraction, and 30 for the coarse-size fraction. Two populations distinguished in the surface water samples of this study (Suits and Wenrich, 1981) are not as clearly evident in the stream sediments. However, stream-sediment samples from streams draining the Boulder batholith and from streams draining volcanics and volcanogenic sediments (referred to only as volcanics) do show differences in their geochemical relationships, especially between SiO2, Al203 and Na2O versus U. Thus, the sediments were also treated statistically as two lithologic populations as well as two populations based on size fraction. In the fine fraction samples, U ranged from 1.3 to 78 ppm, averaging 25 ppm for the Boulder batholith samples and 8 ppm for the volcanics samples. The range for the coarse fraction was 1.9 to 55 ppm with an average of 17 for the Boulder batholith group and 7 for the volcanics group. High U values (>50 ppm for the fine fraction) were encountered in samples from the Warm Springs Creek drainage area, along Prickly Pear Creek near Welmer and Golconda Creeks and along Muskrat Creek. All groups showed a significant correlation at the 99 percent confidence level (r between 0.73 and 0.77) between U and Th. Uranium was found to correlate significantly only with Th (as mentioned above) and with -Ni in the fine fraction of the volcanics group. U correlates significantly with -Al2O3, Ba, organic C, -K2O, -Sr and Y in both size fractions for the Boulder batholith. Correlations between U and each of several elements differ for the fine and coarse fractions of the Boulder batholith group, suggesting that the U distribution in these stream sediments is in large part controlled by grain size. Correlations were found between U and CaO, Cr, Fe203, -Na2O, Sc, -SiO2, TiO2, Yb and Zr in the coarse fraction but not in the fine fraction. U correlates weakly (to the 90% confidence level, crc<.37) with -Co and -Cu in the fine but not the coarse fraction. These results are compared to a previous study in the northern Absaroka mountains. Correlation coefficients between all other elements determined from these samples are also shown in Tables 12 to 15.

Montana↗