Name: Historic water chemistry samples

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Description: Yellowstone National Park (YNP; Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, USA) contains more than 10,000 hydrothermal features, several lakes, and four major watersheds. For more than 140 years, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and other scientific institutions have investigated the chemical compositions of hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, mud pots, streams, rivers, and lakes in YNP and surrounding areas. Water chemistry studies have revealed a range of compositions including waters with pH values ranging from about 1 to 10, surface temperatures from ambient to superheated values of 95°C, and elevated concentrations of silica, lithium, boron, fluoride, mercury, and arsenic. Hydrogeochemical data from YNP research have led to insights on subsurface conditions of temperature and chemistry, water-rock-gas interactions and processes of high-temperature mineral alteration with dissolution and precipitation, redox processes, thermophilic microbial metabolism under extreme conditions and effects of thermal water chemistry on river systems.In this Data Release, water chemistry data for 4,918 water samples are reported for numerous thermal features, rivers, streams, lakes, drillholes, and precipitation in and around YNP. The data for these samples were originally located in 38 reports published between 1888 and 2022 and in multiple unpublished documents. Spanning more than 600 unique sampling sites throughout the YNP region, this dataset includes samples collected as early as 1883 (Gooch & Whitfield, 1888) and as recently as 2021 (McCleskey, et al, 2022). The thermal features sampled most frequently include Cistern Spring (180 samples) and Echinus Geyser (73 samples) in Norris Geyser Basin and Ojo Caliente Spring (143 samples) in the Lower Geyser Basin, while more than 500 sites have 5 samples or fewer. Water chemistry data from thermal features, rivers, and streams are most represented, comprising 75% (thermal) and 17% (rivers/streams) of the dataset. Across all major areas of the park, Norris Geyser Basin has been sampled more than any other basin, with more than 1,100 samples reported in this dataset.Data were downloaded and minimally modified by the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) in April, 2025 for simplified display on the interactive Geology of Yellowstone Map. Not every field in the “Yellowstone Water Chemistry 1883-2021.csv” file is displayed, and fields were given new headers for display purposes. 884 records were excluded due to missing location data. The WSGS has not formally reviewed or quality-controlled these data; users are encouraged to consult the original data source.

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Copyright Text: This work would not have been possible without support and funding from the NAGT (National Association of Geoscience Teachers) Cooperative Summer Field Training Program and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO). Although the compilation of such an abundance of data required significant effort and time, the true credit for this data belongs with the hundreds of field researchers, lab technicians, park employees, office staff, and other countless figures who worked to publish the data in the first place. The Yellowstone Research Coordination Network (RCN) and the book "Wonderland Nomenclature" by Lee Hale Whittlesey (1988) have been invaluable throughout this process. Much gratitude is owed to those who reviewed and offered feedback on this project: Sara Peek, Michael Poland, and William Inskeep. Price, M.B., McCleskey, R.B., Oaks, A., Hurwitz, S., and Nordstrom, D.K., 2024, Historic Water Chemistry Data for Thermal Features, Streams, and Rivers in the Yellowstone National Park Area, 1883-2021: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9KSEVI1.

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Fields:

• OBJECTID ( type: esriFieldTypeOID, alias: ObjectID )
• Sample_number ( type: esriFieldTypeString, alias: Sample number, length: 255 )
• Location ( type: esriFieldTypeString, alias: Location, length: 255 )
• Region ( type: esriFieldTypeString, alias: Region, length: 255 )
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• Calcium__mg_L_ ( type: esriFieldTypeDouble, alias: Calcium (mg/L) )
• Magnesium__mg_L_ ( type: esriFieldTypeDouble, alias: Magnesium (mg/L) )
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