Geochemical Analysis of Soils and Sediments, Coeur d'Alene Drainage Basin, Idaho: Sampling, Analytical Methods, and Results, USGS OFR 00-139

This report was prepared to document the chemical composition of sediments and
soils in the Coeur d'Alene (CdA) drainage basin in northern Idaho. These
compositions are of interest because of the potential for human and wildlife
health impacts from high metal contents of some sediments and soils from over
100 years of mining activity.

This report presents the results of over 1100 geochemical analyses of samples
of soil and sediment from the Coeur d'Alene (CdA) drainage basin in northern
Idaho. The location (in 3 dimensions) and a lithological description of each
sample is included with the laboratory analytical data. Methods of sample
location, collection, preparation, digestion and geochemical analysis are
described. Five different laboratories contributed geochemical data for this
report and the quality control procedures used by each laboratory are
described. Comparison of the analytical accuracy and precision of each
laboratory is given by comparing analyses of standard reference materials and
of splits of CdA samples.

These geochemical data are presented in seven MS Excel tables and seven dBase4
tables. The seven dBase4 files allow users to more easily import these
geochemical data into a GIS. Only one of these seven tables includes geospatial
data AppendixB. However, in AppendixB there is a Site ID column that will allow
users to link or join the matching Site Id columns in the six associated
lithologic and geochemical tables.

Due to format constraints of dBase4, the column names (headers) had to be
modified to a maximum of only ten ASCII characters. As a result, some of the
dBase4 column header names can be rather cryptic. To assist dBase files users,
this ten digit dBase4 column name is also found directly under the more
descriptive column names found in the MS Excel tables packaged with this
report. Additional formatting requirements such as changing the below detection
limit symbol (<) to a negative symbol (-) were used to accurately display the
data the dBase4 format.

This dataset consists of the following MS Excel 2000 spreadsheets and
equivalent dBase4 files:
AppendixB.xls, AppendixB.dbf: sample location and site description
AppendixC.xls, AppendixC.dbf: lithologic descriptions of samples
AppendixD.xls, AppendixD.dbf: USGS EDXRF Data
AppendixE.xls, AppendixE.dbf: EWU 4-acid ICP-MS, ICP-AES, and FAA Data
AppendixF.xls, AppendixF.dbf: CHEMEX nitric/aqua regia ICP-AES Data
AppendixG.xls, AppendixG.dbf: XRAL 4-acid ICP-AES Data
AppendixH.xls, AppendixH.dbf: ACZ microwave assisted nitric acid ICP-AES Data