This application is a web-based tool to discover and download Alaska geochemical data from multiple published sources. While the majority of the dataset has been harvested from DGGS publications and project files, many U.S. Bureau Mines and Bureau of Land Management publications and a small percentage of U.S. Geological Survey publications are also included. The database is continually updated as more data is collected and formatted for loading.
This application provides you with raw data, so that you can perform any additional data quality checking, manipulation and secondary analysis on your own.
Geochemistry may be queried by geographic area, specific text, or a combination of area and text. The Search Bar at the top of the application allows for queries of single and multiple terms, where multiple terms without other query specifications are always searched with an implied Boolean "AND." Advanced search parameters include logical operators AND, OR, NOT (also "-" for NOT). Text within all the "non-dynamic" fields listed below may be queried through the Search Bar using the format of the examples searches below.
Note that a search on one element will also return data for other elements. Data in the application are organized by the original laboratory order for a given sample, where known. Original laboratory orders may link together multiple analytical suites, and all of these elements will be returned in the query results.
basaltPlease note that descriptive fields may not be available for all samples. A search for "basalt" will not return all analyzed basalts.
Salcha* AND 01MBW*
analysis:oxide
sampletype:"stream sediment"List of all sample types
citation:"RDF 2015-16"
analysis:XRFList of all analysis method categories
analysis:PartialList of sample preparation categories
sample:00MBW111
documentation:basalt
project:"Tok"
The species search uses a dynamic field for searching for specific elements and oxides, (species_*) where the asterisk is replaced with the abbreviated species name. IMPORTANT! Species abbreviation must be lower case. For example, SiO2 MUST be sio2 in order for the search to work.
species_cu:*
species_au:[0.5 TO 1]
species_sio2:[48 TO 55]
species_cu:[5000 TO *]
sampletype:rock AND species_cu:[5000 TO *] AND species_co:[500 TO *]
PLEASE NOTE: While typical whole rock analyses can be queried as a subset of the database fairly easily, in order to query a typical exploration geochemical suite of elements, we recommend narrowing your search geographically using the Area of Interest tool and then downloading all of the analyses for that area to ensure you receive all the trace element data.
After narrowing your search criteria, click on "Download All Results". You will be prompted to download a zip file containing comma delimited files (.csv) in two different views of the data; one is optimized for GIS (columnar format) and the other is better for analytical software (row format). The reference .csv file provides the supporting documentation available for both formats. The latitude and longitude coordinates in the download files are provided in the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) datum. We recommend keeping your search criteria as restrictive as possible. Broad search parameters may result in an enormous amount of columns. Definitions of the fields are available in the application metadata.
The entire dataset may be selected and subsequently downloaded by searching on "*" or running an empty search.
By their nature, geochemical analysis values are positive numbers with a fixed precision. Most geochemical data tables use some text or symbol to indicate special conditions of a geochemical analysis value. These symbols have been replaced with negative values in order for the data to be used in GIS and analytical software that requires the values to be numeric. The negative values are coded to indicate the following situations.
Definitions of fields available in the public interface. The application metadata contains a complete list of fields and definitions.
Field name | Search name | Definition |
---|---|---|
Analysis ID | id | The unique identifier of the analysis |
Analysis | analysis | Any terms inside the analysis record itself, e.g. the species (element or oxide names and abbreviations), the method, prep, the values, method categories, etc. |
Citation | citation | Publication number or citation reference in which the analyses were originally published (e.g. RDF 2011-4) |
Analysis Description | description | A description of the sample preparation and analytical methods used in the analysis |
Sample Documentation | documentation | A text description of the rock or other material represented by the sample, if provided |
Field Station Number | fieldstation | The field station number that identifies the field locality from which the sample was collected. For DGGS samples, it is usually in the format YYIINNN, where YY=two digit year of the field season the locality was established, II = Initials, or other text identifying the collector, and NNN a three digit sequential number for the field station. |
Laboratory | laboratory | The name of the laboratory that performed the chemical analyses, if available. |
Laboratory Number | laboratory_number | Sample number assigned by the lab |
Project | project | A short descriptive name of the DGGS field project that was responsible for publication of geochemical sample analyses |
Reference Number | reference | Usually a job batch number assigned by the laboratory. If not available, a unique text string is assigned by DGGS. |
Reference Date | reference_date | The date or year that the analysis was completed or reported by the laboratory |
Sample Number | sample | The sample number string assigned by the geologist or lab to identify the sample, it typically consists of the locality identifier, and other information that should assure a unique value. The sample number is a link to the Sample Detail page. |
Sample Type | sampletype | The general class of material that describes the sample (e.g. "rock", "stream sediment") |
Field name | Search name | Values |
---|---|---|
Sample Type | sampletype | beach sediment drill core glacial debris/deposit other pan concentrate placer con placer sample pulp rock sediment slab soil standard stream sediment |
Analysis Method Category | Associated Analysis Methods |
---|---|
AA | AA-LL (Atomic Absorption - low level) AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) HGAAS (Hydride Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) |
Calc | Calculation |
CIPW Norms | CIPW Normative Calculation |
Fire Assay | FA (Fire Assay) FA-AAS (Fire Assay - Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) FA-AES (Fire Assay - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) FA-AFS (Fire Assay - Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy) FA-DCP (Fire Assay - Direct Couple Plasma) FA-DCP (Fire Assay - Direct Couple Plasma Emission) FA-DCP-AAS (Fire Assay - Direct Couple Plasma - Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) FA-DCP-DI (Fire Assay - Direct Couple Plasma - Direct Irradiation) FA-GRAV (Fire Assay - Gravimetric) FA-ICP (Fire Assay - Inductively Coupled Plasma ) FA-ICP-AES (Fire Assay - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) FA-ICP-AES-MS (Fire Assay - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy - Mass Spectrometry) FA-ICP-AFS (Fire Assay - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy) FA-ICP-MS (Fire Assay - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry) FA-INAA (Fire Assay - Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis) FA-OES (Fire Assay - Optical Emission Spectrography) M-FA (Metallic-Fire Assay) |
ICP | AES (Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) ICP-AAS (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) ICP-AES (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) ICP-AES-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy - Mass Spectrometry) ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectroscopy) ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometry) OES (Optical Emission Spectrography) PES (Plasma Emission Spectrography) |
NAA | DNC-INAA (Delayed Neutron Counting Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis) NAA (Neutron Activation Analysis) PGAMMA (Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis) |
Other | AFS (Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy) ASES (Arc source emission spectrography) COLOR (Colorimetry) DCP (Direct Couple Plasma Emission) EVOL (Evolution) Fluor (Fluorometric) GRAV (Gravimetric) GRS (Gamma Ray Spectrometry) IS (Infrared Spectroscopy) RAD (Radiometric) RECOV (Recovery) SEM-ED-Xray (Scanning Electron Microscope - Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy) SOES (Semiquantitative Optical Emission spectrometry) SPEC (Spectrophotographic) SPIon (Specific Ion) SS (Semiquantitative Spectrographic) TITR (Titrimetric) UNK (Unknown) WC (Wet Chemistry) |
Volatiles | CF (Combustion Furnace) CVAA (Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) Heat (Heating) LECO (LECO Sulfur analysis) LECO-C (LECO Induction Furnace Pyrolysis) |
XRF | SLAB-XRF (Slab X-Ray Fluorescence) XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) |
Sample Preparation Category | Associated Sample Preparations |
---|---|
Full | Borate fusion Carbonate fusion Fire assay Fire assay - aqua regia Fused pellet Fusion, dissolution, chloride precipitation HNO3-HClO4-HF-HCl Digestion, HCl Leach Lithium borate fusion Lithium metaborate Lithium metaborate fusion Lithium metaborate fusion - HNO3-HCl dissolution Lithium Metaborate/Lithium Tetraborate Fusion Multi-Acid Na2CO3-KNO3 fusion NaOH fusion Nickle Sulfide Fire Assay NiS fusion Peroxide fusion Potassium hydroxide fusion Potassium Pyrosulfate fusion Pressed pellet Pyrosulfate fusion Sodium peroxide sinter Sulfate fusion, dissolution, filtration Thermal decomposition furnace XRF |
Near-total | HF-H2SO4 HF-H2SO4-HCl HF-H2SO4-HNO3 HF-HCl-HNO3 HF-HNO3 HF-HNO3-HClO4 HF-HNO3-HClO4 Acid Digestion, HCl Leach HF-HNO3-HClO4-HCl HNO3-HCl hot extraction HNO3-HClO4 HNO3-HClO4-HF-HCl HNO3-HClO4-HF+HCl HNO3-HF Hot HNO3-HF-H3BO4 Hot HSO4-H3BO4-H2SO4-H3PO4 |
Partial | Acid Ammonium Iodide Aqua regia Aqua regia - cold vapor Aqua regia - Hydride Carbonate sinter Dilute acid HCl-KClO3 HNO3-HCl-SnSO4 Hot acid leach Hot HF+H2SO4+H3PO4+H3BO4 Multi-Acid Digestion and Hydride Generation Multi-Acid MIBK Multi-Acid Total Digestion |