Major-ion, nutrient, and trace-element concentrations in the Steamboat Creek Basin, Oregon, 1996

In September 1996, a water-quality study was done by the U.S. Geological Survey, in coordination with the U.S. Forest Service, in headwater streams of Steamboat Creek, a tributary to the North Umpqua River Basin in southwestern Oregon. Field measurements were made in and surface-water and bottomsediment samples were collected from three tributaries of Steamboat Creek-Singe Creek, City Creek, and Horse Heaven Creek-and at one site in Steamboat Creek upstream from where the three tributaries flow into Steamboat Creek. Water samples collected in Singe Creek had larger concentrations of most major-ion constituents and smaller concentrations of most nutrient constituents than was observed in the other three creeks. City Creek, Horse Heaven Creek, and Steamboat Creek had primarily calcium bicarbonate water, whereas Singe Creek had primarily a calcium sulfate water; the calcium sulfate water detected in Singe Creek, along with the smallest observed alkalinity and pH values, suggests that Sin