Book Description

The Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) has accepted responsibility for a hydrogeochemical and stream-sediment reconnaissance in 25 eastern states as part of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE). SRL has developed a computerized program for recording, processing, updating, retrieving, and analyzing hydrogeochemical data from this reconnaissance. This program will handle an expected 150 million bytes of hydrogeochemical data from 150,000 to 200,000 sample sites over the next four years. The SRL--NURE hydrogeochemical data management system is written in FORTRAN IV for an IBM System 360/195 computer and is designed to easily accommodate changes in types of collected data and input format. As the data become available, they are accepted and combined with relevant data already in the system. SRL also developed a sample inventory and control system and a graphics and analysis system. The sample inventory and control system accounts for the movements of all samples and forms from initial receipt through final storage. Approximately six million sample movements are expected. The graphics and analysis system provides easily usable programs for reporting and interpreting data. Because of the large volume of data to be interpreted, the graphics and analysis system plays a central role in the hydrogeochemical program. Programs developed to provide two- and three-dimensional plots of sampled geographic areas show concentrations and locations of individual variables which are displayed and reproduced photographically. Pattern recognition techniques are also available, and they allow multivariate data to be categorized into ''clusters, '' which may indicate sites favorable for uranium exploration.