Environmental evaluation of New Mexico stream sediment chemistry using the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program data

TL;DRAbstract

Lognormality of geochemical data is a fundamental principal in geochemistry. Recent studies challenge details of this concept, and data sets need to be reevaluated with these new ideas in mind. The present study is a part of such testing of traditional ideas; however it is also a stand alone study of the surface chemistry of a large region, the state of New Mexico. The environmental evaluation presented in this study is based on chemical analyses of stream sediments from the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) data set. The statewide database consists of 27,798 stream sediment sites. Twenty-four elements are selected which are Al, Ba, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sc, Sr, Th, Ti, U, V, and Zn. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics and GIS techniques are applied to classify the elements and to identify geochemical signatures, either natural or anthropogenic, with the purpose of finding their sources. The elements are spatially analyzed b

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