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Chemistry of Uncontaminated Alluvial Deposits of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers, South Dakota

Project Period: 2009-10
Cooperators: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Project Chief: John Stamm

Executive Summary

The Sioux Indians of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation maintain their culture and traditions with a strong nexus to the Cheyenne River and the resources it provides. This water resource is crucial to their traditional worship practices and ways of life, even today. In 1944, Tribal lands along the Missouri and Cheyenne Rivers were acquired by the U.S. Government under the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program and in 1959 much of that land was flooded to create the reservoir for Oahe Dam. The Water Resource Development Act of 1999 (amended in 2000) returns to the Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps. Section 602 (j) of the Act requires a sedimentation study be conducted not later than 10 years after the date of enactment of P.L. 106-53, prior to transfer of lands. The Secretary of the Army shall: (A) complete a study of sediment contamination in the Cheyenne River, and (B) take appropriate remedial action to eliminate any public health and environmental risk posed by the contaminated sediment.

Objectives

The objective of this project is to document concentrations of metals and metalloids in sediment that existed prior to the impact of mining and other sources of contamination in the Cheyenne River. These data provide estimates of "background" or "uncontaminated" levels in alluvial sediment as transported by the Cheyenne River to the Reservation. Several proposed sites are located on alluvial terraces that pre-date mining activity in the Black Hills. Alluvial terraces with well exposed gravels are commonly several hundred feet above the active channel in the lower part of the Cheyenne River and are estimated to be late-Pleistocene to Holocene deposits. Ages of deposits will be determined using radiocarbon (if organic material is preserved) and/or optically stimulated luminescence (quartz and feldspars in sands).

Publications

Alexander, Jason, Woodward, Brenda, Stamm, J.F., Lamothe, Paul, Maddox, Ashli, Howle, James, and Larson, Darin, 2010, Legacy mine tailings and alluvial deposits along the Belle Fourche River, South Dakota—An integrated, multi-scale investigation of channel dynamics [abs]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, no. 3, p. 39.

Hendricks, R.S., Stamm, J.F., Mahan, S.A., and Sawyer, J.F., 2011, Geochronology of terrace deposits of the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers, western South Dakota, based on optically stimulated luminescence [abs] in 2011 Western South Dakota Hydrology Conference, 9th, Rapid City, S. Dak., April 28, 2011, Program and abstracts .

Hoogestraat, G.K., Stamm, J.F., Neitzert, K.M., Rowe, B.L., and Geibel, N.M., 2011, Concentrations of selected metals in alluvial deposits along the lower Cheyenne and middle Belle Fourche Rivers, western South Dakota [abs] in 2011 Western South Dakota Hydrology Conference, 9th, Rapid City, S. Dak., April 28, 2011, Program and abstracts .

Marini, K.A., Putnam, L.D., and Geibel, N.M., 2011, Characterization of the alluvial sediment along the lower Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers in western South Dakota using direct-current electrical resistivity [abs] in 2011 Western South Dakota Hydrology Conference, 9th, Rapid City, S. Dak., April 28, 2011, Program and abstracts .

Pfeifle, Bryce, Stone, James, Stamm, J.F., and Geibel, N.M., 2011, Arsenic speciation in sediment and pore waters of the historical mining-impacted Belle Fourche and Cheyenne River floodplains [abs] in 2011 Western South Dakota Hydrology Conference, 9th, Rapid City, S. Dak., April 28, 2011, Program and abstracts .

Stamm, J.F., and Geibel, N.M., 2011, Overview of research activites on the geochemistry, geomorphology, and Quaternary history of alluvial sediment along the lower Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers, western South Dakota [abs] in 2011 Western South Dakota Hydrology Conference, 9th, Rapid City, S. Dak., April 28, 2011, Program and abstracts .

Stamm, J.F., Geibel, N.M., Mahan, S.A., and Azzolini, D.C., 2010, Concentration of selected metals in uncontaminated alluvial deposits of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers, South Dakota in 2010 MRNCR Conference and BiOP Forum, A Climate for Change, presentation abstracts: Nebraka City, Nebraska, March 17-19, p. 34.

Stamm, J.F., Geibel, N.M., Mahan, S.A., and Azzolini, D.C., 2010, Concentrations of selected metals in uncontaminated alluvial deposits of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers, South Dakota [abs]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, no. 3, p. 16.

Stamm, J.F., Geibel, N.M., Mahan, S.A., and Zaprowski, B.J., 2010, Ages of alluvial terrace deposits and dynamics of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers, South Dakota [abs]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, no. 3, p. 18.

Stamm, J.F., Hendricks, Robert, Mahan, S.A., Zaprowski, B.J., and Geibel, N.M., 2010, Late Pleistocene to early Holocene terrace deposits of the lower Cheyenne River, South Dakota [abs]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 52, no. 5, p. 181.

Stamm, J.F., and Hoogestraat, G.K., 2012, Concentrations of selected metals in Quaternary-age fluvial deposits along the lower Cheyenne and middle Belle Fourche Rivers, western South Dakota, 2009-10: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 695, 29 p. Online-only.

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View north across the Holocene floodplain of Rapid Creek and gravel-capped Farmingdale terrace (late Pleistocene? age) on the skyline, approximately 180 feet above the valley floor. View is approximately 3 miles upstream from the confluence of Rapid Creek and the Cheyenne River.