Groundwater samples have been collected in California as part of statewide investigations of groundwater quality conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey for the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Priority Basin Project (PBP) since 2004. The GAMA-PBP is being conducted in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board to assess and monitor the quality of groundwater resources used for public and domestic drinking-water supply and to improve public knowledge of groundwater quality in California. Quality-control samples (including but not limited to field, equipment, and source-solution blanks) were collected to evaluate and quantify the quality of the groundwater sample results.
The GAMA-PBP previously determined study reporting levels (SRLs) for trace-element results based primarily on field blanks collected in California from May 2004 through March 2013. SRLs are raised reporting levels used to reduce the likelihood of reporting false detections attributable to contamination bias. The purpose of this report is to identify any changes in the pattern or magnitude of concentrations or detections in field blanks since the last evaluation that would require changing or ending the use of SRLs implemented in October 2009. Constituents analyzed were aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silver, strontium, thallium, uranium, vanadium, and zinc.
For this review, data from 167 field blanks collected from October 2009 through October 2018 by the GAMA-PBP for trace elements were compiled. Based on a consistent pattern of decreasing cobalt and manganese concentrations in field blanks from 2009 to 2013, the GAMA-PBP decided to reevaluate all trace-element SRLs, effectively setting an end date for previously defined SRLs. Beginning October 2013, SRLs would be determined from field-blank data collected through October 2018. The detection frequency and upper limit of potential contamination bias (BD-90/90) were determined from field blanks for each trace element. The BD-90/90, that is, the upper 90-percent confidence limit of the 90th percentile concentration of potential extrinsic contamination, was calculated by assuming the binomial probability distribution. These results were compared to each constituent’s detection limit to determine whether an SRL was necessary to minimize the potential for detections in the groundwater samples, attributed principally to contamination bias. Results of the evaluation were used to set SRLs for trace-element data collected by the GAMA-PBP between October 2013 and October 2018. Trace elements prescribed an SRL based on this review were hexavalent chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, and zinc. This review also resulted in the removal of SRLs from iron, manganese, molybdenum, and nickel. Although an SRL for hexavalent chromium could not be evaluated in the earlier reviews because the data were not collected regularly until 2015, one was established herein as 0.34 micrograms per liter (µg/L). The SRL for cobalt, as previously implemented, had been to reject all results; it was changed to 0.16 µg/L following a reduction in cobalt field-blank detection frequency resulting from mitigation steps, starting in 2014, aimed at reducing contamination bias introduced by high-capacity capsule filters used during sample collection. The SRL for copper did not change, and the SRL for lead changed very little based on this review. Lastly, the SRL for zinc was lowered from 6.2 µg/L to 3.9 µg/L.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20205034","collaboration":"A product of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment ProgramDirector, California Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
6000 J Street, Placer Hall
Sacramento, California 95819
Rhyolite-hosted hydrothermal systems in the continental crust contain valuable energy and mineral resources that make them of special interest across several scientific disciplines. Despite extensive research on these systems, the temperature-dependence of chemical reactions between host rocks and aqueous-rich fluids and the mineralogical transformations resulting from these reactions are not well quantified. To expand our understanding of the controlling processes operating in these systems, we carried out seven laboratory experiments in which rhyolite was reacted with deionized water at 150 °C to 350 °C and 25 MPa. An additional experiment at 200 °C was carried out to examine the effect of dissolved CO2 on the reactions. The overarching goal of this experimental study was to provide new insights on the temperature-dependence of water-rock interaction in continental hydrothermal systems. We applied a wide range of chemical, isotopic and mineralogical methods to analyze the reacted rhyolite and waters, and the major observations are: (1) the rhyolite progressively hydrates with increasing temperature between 150 °C to a maximum of 8.2 wt% H2O at 275 °C; hydration then decreases until 350 °C in conjunction with the destruction of the rhyolite glass and crystallization of secondary mineral phases; (2) the ratio of molecular water (H2Om) to hydroxyl (OH−) of the water that is dissolved in the reacted rhyolite decreases from ∼7 at 150 °C to ∼4 at 250 °C; (3) the main secondary minerals formed are the zeolite ferrierite (T ≥ 275 °C); biotite, albite and cristobalite mainly form at higher experimental temperatures (T ≥ 300 °C); (4) the reacted waters are nearly saturated with respect to amorphous silica; (5) at temperatures ≥ 275 °C nearly all the chlorine is leached into solution; (6) fluorine leaching from the rhyolite gradually increases between 150 °C and 250 °C, but then gradually decreases at higher temperatures and is incorporated into a secondary mineral phase; (7) dissolved CO2 in the water enhances alkali metal cation leaching from the rhyolite; and (8) calculated Na-K and silica geothermometer temperatures differ from the experimental temperatures by varying amounts. In addition, apart from some small lithium isotope fractionation at temperatures ≤ 250 °C, the stable isotopes of boron, lithium and chlorine do not fractionate during rhyolite-water reactions, and the stable isotope compositions of these species in the reacted water are similar to those in the reactant rhyolite. These results provide new insights for a broad range of applications, including quantifying processes involving rhyolite glass hydration (obsidian hydration dating, perlite formation and discriminating secondary from magmatic water in rhyolitic matrix-glass of volcanic pyroclasts), for geothermal energy and mineral deposit exploration and for monitoring volcanoes.
","language":"English","publisher":"Elsevier","doi":"10.1016/j.gca.2019.07.012","collaboration":"University of Texas, University of Maryland, University of Bremen","usgsCitation":"Cullen, J.T., Hurwitz, S., Barnes, J.D., John C. Lassiter, Penniston-Dorland, S., Kasemann, S., and Thordsen, J., 2019, Temperature-dependent variations in mineralogy, major element chemistry and the stable isotopes of boron, lithium and chlorine resulting from hydration of rhyolite glass: Constraints from hydrothermal experiments at 150 to 350°C and 25 MPa: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 261, p. 269-287, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.07.012.","productDescription":"19 p.","startPage":"269","endPage":"287","ipdsId":"IP-106122","costCenters":[{"id":438,"text":"National Research Program - Western Branch","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":617,"text":"Volcano Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":37464,"text":"WMA - Laboratory & Analytical Services Division","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":467436,"rank":0,"type":{"id":40,"text":"Open Access Publisher Index Page"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.07.012","text":"Publisher Index Page"},{"id":366658,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"}],"volume":"261","publishingServiceCenter":{"id":14,"text":"Menlo Park PSC"},"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Cullen, Jeffery T.","contributorId":218176,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Cullen","given":"Jeffery","email":"","middleInitial":"T.","affiliations":[{"id":13603,"text":"University of Texas, Austin","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":768629,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Hurwitz, Shaul 0000-0001-5142-6886 shaulh@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5142-6886","contributorId":2169,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Hurwitz","given":"Shaul","email":"shaulh@usgs.gov","affiliations":[{"id":438,"text":"National Research Program - Western Branch","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":617,"text":"Volcano Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":768628,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Barnes, Jaime D.","contributorId":218177,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Barnes","given":"Jaime","email":"","middleInitial":"D.","affiliations":[{"id":13603,"text":"University of Texas, Austin","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":768630,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3},{"text":"John C. Lassiter","contributorId":218178,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"John C. Lassiter","affiliations":[{"id":13603,"text":"University of Texas, Austin","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":768631,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":4},{"text":"Penniston-Dorland, Sarah","contributorId":218179,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Penniston-Dorland","given":"Sarah","email":"","affiliations":[{"id":7083,"text":"University of Maryland","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":768632,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":5},{"text":"Kasemann, Simone","contributorId":218180,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Kasemann","given":"Simone","email":"","affiliations":[{"id":24749,"text":"University of Bremen","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":768633,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":6},{"text":"Thordsen, James 0000-0001-9809-0398 jthordsn@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9809-0398","contributorId":205838,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Thordsen","given":"James","email":"jthordsn@usgs.gov","affiliations":[{"id":438,"text":"National Research Program - Western Branch","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":37464,"text":"WMA - Laboratory & Analytical Services Division","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":768634,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":7}]}} ,{"id":70202389,"text":"sir20185170 - 2019 - Drinking water health standards comparison and chemical analysis of groundwater for 72 domestic wells in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 2016","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2019-06-12T10:00:24","indexId":"sir20185170","displayToPublicDate":"2019-04-19T08:45:00","publicationYear":"2019","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":334,"text":"Scientific Investigations Report","code":"SIR","onlineIssn":"2328-0328","printIssn":"2328-031X","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"2018-5170","displayTitle":"Drinking Water Health Standards Comparison and Chemical Analysis of Groundwater for 72 Domestic Wells in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 2016","title":"Drinking water health standards comparison and chemical analysis of groundwater for 72 domestic wells in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 2016","docAbstract":"Pennsylvania has the second highest number of residential wells of any state in the Nation with approximately 2.4 million residents that depend on groundwater for their domestic water supply. Despite the widespread reliance on groundwater in rural areas of the state, publicly available data to characterize the quality of private well water are limited. In Bradford County, more than half of the residents use groundwater from private domestic-supply wells as their primary drinking source. The quality of private well water is influenced by the regional and local setting, including the surrounding soil, geology, land use, household plumbing, and well construction. The groundwater used for domestic water supply in Bradford County is obtained primarily from shallow bedrock and from unconsolidated (glacial) deposits that overlie the bedrock. Historical land use has been predominately forested, agricultural, and residential, but more recently unconventional oil/gas development has been distributed throughout the landscape. Pennsylvania is one of only two states in the Nation without statewide water-well construction standards.
To better assess the quality of groundwater used for drinking water supply in Bradford County, data for 72 domestic wells were collected and analyzed for a wide range of constituents that could be evaluated in relation to drinking water health standards, geology, land use, and other environmental factors. Groundwater samples were collected from May through August 2016 and analyzed for physical and chemical properties, including major ions, nutrients, trace elements, volatile organic compounds, ethylene and propylene glycol, alcohols, gross-alpha/beta-particle activity, uranium, radon-222, and dissolved gases. A subset of samples was analyzed for radium isotopes (radium-226 and -228) and for the isotopic composition of methane. This study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission and is part of a regional effort to characterize groundwater in rural areas of Pennsylvania.
Results of the 2016 study show that groundwater quality generally met most drinking-water standards. However, a percentage of samples failed to meet maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for total coliform bacteria (49.3 percent), Escherichia coli (8.5 percent), barium (2.8 percent), and arsenic (2.8 percent); and secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCL) for sodium (48.6 percent), manganese (30.6 percent), gross alpha and beta activity (16.7 percent), iron (11.1 percent), pH (8.3 percent), total dissolved solids (5.6 percent), chloride (1.4 percent), and aluminum (1.4 percent). Radon-222 activities exceeded the proposed drinking-water standard of 300 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in 70.4 percent of the samples. There were no exceedances of drinking water health standards for any volatile organic compounds, and the only detections were for three trihalomethanes in one sample.
The pH of the groundwater had a large influence on chemical characteristics and ranged from 6.18 to 9.31. Generally, the higher pH samples had higher potential for elevated concentrations of several constituents, including total dissolved solids, sodium, lithium, chloride, fluoride, boron, arsenic, and methane. For the Bradford County well-water samples, calcium/bicarbonate type waters were most abundant, with others classified as sodium/bicarbonate or mixed water types including calcium-sodium/bicarbonate, calcium-sodium/bicarbonate-chloride, sodium/bicarbonate-chloride, sodium/bicarbonate-sulfate, or sodium/chloride types. Six principal components (pH, redox, hardness, chloride-bromide, strontium-barium, and molybdenum-arsenic) explained nearly 78.3 percent of the variance in the groundwater dataset.
Groundwater from 12.5 percent of the wells had concentrations of methane greater than the Pennsylvania action level of 7 milligrams per liter (mg/L); detectable methane concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 77 mg/L. In addition, low levels of ethane (as much as 0.13 mg/L) were present in seven samples with the highest methane concentrations. The isotopic composition of methane in five of these groundwater samples was consistent with the isotopic compositions reported for mud-gas logging samples from these geologic units and a thermogenic source. Isotopic composition from a sixth sample suggested the methane in that sample may be of microbial origin. Well-water samples with the higher methane concentrations also had higher pH values and elevated concentrations of sodium, lithium, boron, fluoride, arsenic, and bromide. Relatively elevated concentrations of some other constituents, such as barium and chloride, commonly were present in, but not limited to, those well-water samples with elevated methane.
Four of the six groundwater samples with the highest methane concentrations had chloride/bromide ratios that indicate mixing with a small amount of brine (0.02 percent or less) similar in composition to those reported for gas and oil well brines in Pennsylvania. In several other eastern Pennsylvania counties where gas drilling is absent, groundwater with comparable chloride/bromide ratios and chloride concentrations have been reported, implying a potential natural source of brine. Most of Bradford County well-water samples have chloride concentrations less than 20 mg/L, and those with higher chloride concentrations have chloride/bromide ratios that indicate anthropogenic sources (such as road-deicing salt and septic effluent) or brine. Brines that are naturally present may originate from deeper parts of the aquifer system, whereas anthropogenic sources are more likely to affect shallow groundwater because they occur on or near the land surface.
The available data for this study indicate that no one physical factor, such as the topographic setting, well depth, or altitude at the bottom of the well, was particularly useful for predicting those well locations with an elevated dissolved concentration of methane. The 2016 assessment of groundwater quality in Bradford County shows groundwater is generally of good quality, but methane and some constituents that occur in high concentration in naturally occurring brine and also in produced waters may be present at low to moderate concentrations in groundwater in various parts of the aquifer.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20185170","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission","usgsCitation":"Clune, J.W., and Cravotta, C.A., III, 2019, Drinking water health standards comparison and chemical analysis of groundwater for 72 domestic wells in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 2016 (ver 1.2, May 30, 2019): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018–5170, 66 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185170.","productDescription":"Report: vi, 66 p.; Data Release","numberOfPages":"76","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-098593","costCenters":[{"id":532,"text":"Pennsylvania Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":363039,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5170/coverthb4.jpg"},{"id":363132,"rank":4,"type":{"id":25,"text":"Version History"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5170/versionHist.txt","text":"Version History","size":"1.24 KB","linkFileType":{"id":2,"text":"txt"}},{"id":363047,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/P9VRV6US","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Compilation of Data Not Available in the National Water Information System for Domestic Wells Sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, May-August 2016"},{"id":363040,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5170/sir20185170.pdf","text":"Report","size":"8.01 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2018-5170"}],"country":"United States","state":"Pennsylvania","county":"Bradford County ","geographicExtents":"{\"type\":\"FeatureCollection\",\"features\":[{\"type\":\"Feature\",\"geometry\":{\"type\":\"Polygon\",\"coordinates\":[[[-76.9291,42.0024],[-76.9095,42.0025],[-76.8966,42.0026],[-76.6476,42.0019],[-76.6334,42.0017],[-76.5964,42.0013],[-76.5618,42.0009],[-76.5531,42.0008],[-76.5229,42.0005],[-76.466,41.9999],[-76.3826,41.9989],[-76.1467,41.9991],[-76.1382,41.898],[-76.1336,41.8467],[-76.1285,41.7935],[-76.1258,41.773],[-76.1219,41.7217],[-76.1171,41.6531],[-76.1959,41.648],[-76.1996,41.6467],[-76.2015,41.6435],[-76.2015,41.6426],[-76.2015,41.6408],[-76.2016,41.6353],[-76.2016,41.6344],[-76.2023,41.6335],[-76.2029,41.6322],[-76.2063,41.6145],[-76.209,41.6004],[-76.2091,41.5982],[-76.2184,41.5579],[-76.2217,41.5447],[-76.2383,41.5458],[-76.2432,41.5463],[-76.2487,41.5468],[-76.3277,41.5526],[-76.4454,41.5608],[-76.5,41.5649],[-76.5975,41.5715],[-76.6367,41.5745],[-76.6478,41.5755],[-76.6619,41.5765],[-76.679,41.578],[-76.6938,41.579],[-76.6993,41.5795],[-76.7496,41.5834],[-76.7569,41.5839],[-76.787,41.5872],[-76.7949,41.5882],[-76.8005,41.5887],[-76.8103,41.5896],[-76.8133,41.5901],[-76.8219,41.5911],[-76.8379,41.593],[-76.8747,41.5968],[-76.8747,41.599],[-76.8805,41.6363],[-76.8833,41.6681],[-76.8838,41.6717],[-76.885,41.6781],[-76.8873,41.6999],[-76.8907,41.7267],[-76.8936,41.7503],[-76.8976,41.783],[-76.8987,41.8007],[-76.8993,41.808],[-76.9022,41.8248],[-76.9022,41.8257],[-76.9051,41.8466],[-76.9162,41.918],[-76.9209,41.9507],[-76.9238,41.9711],[-76.9291,42.0024]]]},\"properties\":{\"name\":\"Bradford\",\"state\":\"PA\"}}]}","edition":"Version 1.2: May 30, 2019; Version 1.1: April 23, 2019; Version 1.0: April 19, 2019","contact":"Director, Pennsylvania Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
215 Limekiln Road
New Cumberland, PA 17070
Herein we summarize the results of an investigation dealing with the concentrations and inventories of strategic, critical and valuable materials (SCVM) in produced fluids from geothermal and hydrocarbon reservoirs (50-250° C) in Nevada and Utah. Water samples were collected from thirty-four production wells across eight geothermal fields, the Uinta Basin oil/gas province in northeast Utah, and the Covenant oil field in southwestern Utah; additional water samples were collected from six hot springs in the Sevier Thermal Belt in southwestern Utah. Most SCVM concentrations in produced waters range from <0.1 to 100 µg/kg; the main exception is lithium, which has concentrations that range from <1000 to 25,000 ug/kg. Relatively high concentrations of gallium, germanium, scandium, selenium, and tellurium are measured too. Geothermal waters contain very low concentrations of REEs, below analytical detections limits (0.01 µg/kg), but the concentrations of lanthanum, cerium, and europium range from 0.05 to 5 µg/kg in Uinta basin waters. Among the geothermal fields, the Roosevelt Hot Spring reservoir appears to have the largest inventories of germanium and lithium, and Patua appears to have the largest inventories of gallium, scandium, selenium, and tellurium. By comparison, the Uinta basin has larger inventories of gallium. The concentrations of gallium, germanium, lithium, scandium, selenium, and tellurium in produced waters appear to be partly related to reservoir temperature and concentrations of total dissolved salts. The relatively high concentration and large inventory of lithium occurring at Roosevelt Hot Springs may be related to granitic-gneissic crystalline rocks, which host the reservoir. Analyses of calcite scales from Dixie Valley indicate enrichments in cobalt, gallium, gold, palladium, selenium and tellurium, and these metals appear to be depositing at deep levels in production wells due to boiling. Comparisons with SCVM mineral deposits suggest that brines in sedimentary basins, or derived from lacustrine evaporites, enable aqueous transport of gallium, germanium, and lithium.
","largerWorkType":{"id":4,"text":"Book"},"largerWorkTitle":"Proceedings 43rd Stanford Geothermal Workshop","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":12,"text":"Conference publication"},"conferenceTitle":"43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering","conferenceDate":"February 12-14, 2018","conferenceLocation":"Stanford, CA","language":"English","publisher":"OSTI","usgsCitation":"Simmons, S.F., Kirby, S.H., Verplanck, P., and Kelley, K.D., 2018, Strategic and critical metals in produced geothermal fluids from Nevada and Utah, in Proceedings 43rd Stanford Geothermal Workshop, Stanford, CA, February 12-14, 2018, 12 p.","productDescription":"12 p.","ipdsId":"IP-093498","costCenters":[{"id":171,"text":"Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":362374,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"},{"id":362373,"rank":1,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1433889"}],"publishingServiceCenter":{"id":2,"text":"Denver PSC"},"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Simmons, Stuart F.","contributorId":127612,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Simmons","given":"Stuart","email":"","middleInitial":"F.","affiliations":[{"id":7079,"text":"Energy and Geoscience Institute, University of Utah","active":true,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":727847,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Kirby, Stephe H.","contributorId":140745,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Kirby","given":"Stephe","email":"","middleInitial":"H.","affiliations":[{"id":590,"text":"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers","active":false,"usgs":false}],"preferred":false,"id":727848,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Verplanck, Philip L. 0000-0002-3653-6419","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3653-6419","contributorId":202205,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Verplanck","given":"Philip L.","affiliations":[{"id":387,"text":"Mineral Resources Program","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":171,"text":"Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":727849,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3},{"text":"Kelley, Karen Duttweiler 0000-0002-3232-5809 kdkelley@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3232-5809","contributorId":192758,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Kelley","given":"Karen","email":"kdkelley@usgs.gov","middleInitial":"Duttweiler","affiliations":[{"id":387,"text":"Mineral Resources Program","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":171,"text":"Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":727846,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":4}]}} ,{"id":70198850,"text":"sir20185113 - 2018 - Baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015–16","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2018-11-28T11:43:21","indexId":"sir20185113","displayToPublicDate":"2018-11-27T12:00:00","publicationYear":"2018","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":334,"text":"Scientific Investigations Report","code":"SIR","onlineIssn":"2328-0328","printIssn":"2328-031X","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"2018-5113","displayTitle":"Baseline Water Quality of an Area Undergoing Shale-Gas Development in the Muskingum River Watershed, Ohio, 2015–16","title":"Baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015–16","docAbstract":"In 2015–16, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, led a study to assess baseline (2015–16) surface-water quality in six lake drainage basins within the Muskingum River watershed that are in the early years of shale-gas development. In 2015, 9 of the 10 most active counties in Ohio for oil and gas development were wholly or partially within the Muskingum River watershed. In addition to shale gas development, the area has a history of conventional oil and gas development and coal mining.
In all, 30 surface-water sites were sampled: 20 in tributaries flowing to the lakes, 4 in lakes themselves, and 6 downstream of the lakes. At each of the 30 sites, 6 samples were collected to characterize surface-water chemistry throughout a range of hydrologic conditions. The sampling generally occurred during low flows (periods of greater groundwater contribution) rather than during runoff events (periods of high stream stage).
Trilinear diagrams of major ion chemistry revealed three main types of water in the study area―sulfate-dominated waters, bicarbonate-dominated waters, and waters with mixed bicarbonate and chloride anions. Most sites produced samples of bicarbonate-dominated water, and 11 sites produced samples with sulfate-type waters. Mixed bicarbonate and chloride waters were found in samples from two of the six lake drainage basins studied.
The baseline (2015–16) assessment of surface-water quality in the study area indicated that few water-chemistry constituents and properties occurred at concentrations or levels that would adversely affect aquatic organisms. Chemical-specific, aquatic life use criteria were not met in only three instances: two were for total dissolved solids at sites likely impacted by coal mining in their drainage basins (hereafter referred to as “mine-impacted sites”), and one was for dissolved oxygen.
Mine drainage from historical coal mining in the region likely affected the quality of about one-third of the streams sampled. To simplify interpretation of water-chemistry results, 11 sites with sulfate-type water were identified as mine-impacted sites based on water-quality criteria established by Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management, and separated out for subsequent statistical analysis. Concentrations or levels of bicarbonate, boron, calcium, carbonate, total dissolved solids, fluoride, magnesium, lithium, pH, potassium, sodium, specific conductance, strontium, sulfate, and suspended sediment in water were higher (significance level of 0.05) at mine-impacted stream sites than at non-mine-impacted stream sites.
An accidental release of oil- and gas-related brines could increase salinity (sodium and chloride), the concentration of total dissolved solids in shallow groundwater and streams, and specific conductance. For this study, chloride concentrations in the study area ranged from 2.12 to 76.1 milligrams per liter. Sources of chloride in water samples were evaluated using binary mixing curves and ratios of chloride to bromide. These ratios indicated that 13 samples from 3 sites in the drainage basin that contained the highest density of conventional oil and gas wells in the study, as well as 4 samples collected from other drainage basins, likely contained a component of brine. Concentrations or levels of barium, bromide, chloride, iron, lithium, manganese, and sodium were significantly higher (alpha = 0.05) in samples with a component of brine than in samples without a component of brine.
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), compounds that occur naturally in crude oil, made up 24 of the 45 detections (53 percent) of volatile organic compounds in the study area. The BTEX detections were not associated with sites containing a component of brine. The only volatile organic compound detected in any of the 17 samples that contained a component of brine was acetone, detected in 3 (18 percent) of these samples and in 11 percent of samples not containing a component of brine. Considering that BTEX are gasoline hydrocarbons and that most of the detections occurred during warmer months in and around the lakes, the BTEX detections likely are associated with increases in outdoor activities such as automobile and boating traffic.
Radium-226 and radium-228 were included in the list of analytes for this study because production water from shale-gas drilling can contain these naturally occurring radioactive materials. Concentrations of radium-226 exceeded background levels in only two surface-water samples. Concentrations of radium-228 exceeded background levels in one surface-water sample.
A brine signature potentially indicative of oil and gas contamination was detected in samples collected at two sites that contained active or plugged waste injection wells, or both. Results from the study indicated significant differences in the median concentrations of bromide, chloride, lithium, manganese, sodium, and total dissolved nitrogen between sites with and without injection wells in their drainage areas. Median concentrations of bromide, chloride, lithium, and sodium, which are common oil- and gas-related contaminants, were higher at sites with injection wells in their drainage areas compared to sites without injection wells.
Historical (1960s, 1970s, and 1980s) chloride concentrations and streamflow data at or near five of the six sampling sites downstream from each lake dam were compared to current (2015–16) values. An analysis of covariance was done to test the effects of streamflow, time (decade), and the combined effects (cross product) of streamflow and time on chloride concentrations. Those analyses indicated that streamflow was not significant in explaining the variation in chloride concentration, likely because streamflow in those locations is controlled by dam operations; therefore, association between runoff-generating events and streamflow is less direct than in unregulated streams. From the 1980s to the study period (2015–16), data for three of the five lakes indicated an increase in chloride concentrations. The comparison of historical and current (2015–16) study data from samples collected at another lake indicated that chloride concentrations increased from the 1960s to the 1970s, but concentrations in the 1970s and 2015–16 were similar even though 13 samples from this lake drainage basin were classified as having a component of brine. Median chloride concentrations for the fifth lake, however, seemed to decrease from the 1980s to 2015–16.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20185113","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District","usgsCitation":"Covert, S.A., Jagucki, M.L., and Huitger, C., 2018, Baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015–16: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018–5113, 129 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185113.","productDescription":"Report: ix, 129 p.; Data Release","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-091174","costCenters":[{"id":35860,"text":"Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":359613,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7GF0SRT","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Data from quality-control equipment blanks, field blanks, and field replicates for baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015-16 "},{"id":359612,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5113/sir20185113.pdf","text":"Report","size":"14.2 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2018-5113"},{"id":359611,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5113/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Ohio","otherGeospatial":"Muskingum River Watershed","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -81.75,\n 39.75\n ],\n [\n -80.75,\n 39.75\n ],\n [\n -80.75,\n 40.6667\n ],\n [\n -81.75,\n 40.6667\n ],\n [\n -81.75,\n 39.75\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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The U.S. Geological Survey and Natural Resources Canada conducted a study on the net import reliance of each North American country, and the impact of North American trade on the net import reliance of 12 nonfuel mineral commodities that are associated with advanced technology products: cadmium, cobalt, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, selenium, silver and tellurium. The combined results for North America, using 2014 data, showed greatly reduced net import reliance for nearly all of the commodities evaluated, which is largely the result of pooling the resources of production and recovery in Canada and Mexico of materials that are consumed in the United States. This study highlights the mitigation of potential supply risk for critical materials that results from trade within the North American trade bloc.
Pursuant to the Presidential Executive Order (EO) No. 13817, “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals,” the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, and in consultation with the heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies, was tasked with developing and submitting a draft list of minerals defined as “critical minerals” to the Federal Register within 60 days of the issue of the EO (December 20, 2017).
Based on an analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey and other U.S. Government agencies, using multiple criteria, 35 minerals or mineral material groups have been identified that are currently (February 2018) considered critical. These include the following: aluminum (bauxite), antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cesium, chromium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite (natural), hafnium, helium, indium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, niobium, platinum group metals, potash, rare earth elements group, rhenium, rubidium, scandium, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, and zirconium. The categorization of minerals as critical may change during the course of the review process and is thus provisional.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181021","usgsCitation":"Fortier, S.M., Nassar, N.T., Lederer, G.W., Brainard, Jamie, Gambogi, Joseph, and McCullough, E.A., 2018, Draft critical mineral list—Summary of methodology and background information—U.S. Geological Survey technical input document in response to Secretarial Order No. 3359: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1021, 15 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181021.","productDescription":"v, 15 p.","numberOfPages":"26","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-094985","costCenters":[{"id":432,"text":"National Minerals Information Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":351641,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1021/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":351642,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1021/ofr20181021.pdf","text":"Report","size":"309 kB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018–1021"}],"contact":"National Minerals Information Center
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Reston, Virginia 20192
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, which have the potential for natural gas development, underlie Pike County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pike County Conservation District, conducted a study that expanded on a previous more limited 2012 study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in bedrock aquifers in Pike County prior to possible extensive shale-gas development. Seventy-nine water wells ranging in depths from 80 to 610 feet were sampled during June through September 2015 to provide data on the presence of methane and other aspects of existing groundwater quality in the various bedrock geologic units throughout the county, including concentrations of inorganic constituents commonly present at low values in shallow, fresh groundwater but elevated in brines associated with fluids extracted from geologic formations during shale-gas development. All groundwater samples collected in 2015 were analyzed for bacteria, dissolved and total major ions, nutrients, selected dissolved and total inorganic trace constituents (including metals and other elements), radon-222, gross alpha- and gross beta-particle activity, dissolved gases (methane, ethane, and propane), and, if sufficient methane was present, the isotopic composition of methane. Additionally, samples from 20 wells distributed throughout the county were analyzed for selected man-made volatile organic compounds, and samples from 13 wells where waters had detectable gross alpha activity were analyzed for radium-226 on the basis of relatively elevated gross alpha-particle activity.
Results of the 2015 study show that groundwater quality generally met most drinking-water standards for constituents and properties included in analyses, but groundwater samples from some wells had one or more constituents or properties, including arsenic, iron, manganese, pH, bacteria, sodium, chloride, sulfate, total dissolved solids, and radon-222, that did not meet (commonly termed failed or exceeded) primary or secondary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) or Health Advisories (HA) for drinking water. Except for iron, dissolved and total concentrations of major ions and most trace constituents generally were similar. Only 1 of 79 well-water samples had any constituent that exceeded a MCL, with an arsenic concentration of about 30 micrograms per liter (µg/L) that was higher than the MCL of 10 µg/L. However, total arsenic concentrations were higher than the HA of 2 µg/L in samples from another 12 of 79 wells (about 15 percent). Secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs) were exceeded most frequently by pH and concentrations of iron and manganese. The pH was outside of the SMCL range of 6.5–8.5 in samples from 24 of 79 wells (30 percent), ranging from 5.5 to 9.2; more samples had pH values less than 6.5 than had pH values greater than 8.5. Total iron concentrations typically were much greater than dissolved iron concentrations, indicating substantial presence of iron in particulate phase, and exceeded the SMCL of 300 µg/L more often [35 of 79 samples (44 percent)] than dissolved iron concentrations [samples from 8 of 79 wells (10 percent)]. Total manganese concentrations exceeded the SMCL of 50 µg/L in samples from 31 of 79 wells (39 percent) and the HA of 300 µg/L in samples from 13 of 79 wells (about 16 percent). A few (1–2) samples had concentrations of sodium, chloride, sulfate, or TDS higher than the SMCLs of 60, 250, 250, and 500 mg/L, respectively. However, dissolved sodium concentrations were higher than the HA of 20 mg/L in samples from 15 of 79 wells (nearly 20 percent). Total coliform bacteria were detected in samples from 25 of 79 wells (32 percent) but Escherichia coli were not detected in any sample. Radon-222 activities ranged from 11 to 5,100 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), with a median of 1,440 pCi/L, and exceeded the proposed and the alternate proposed drinking-water standards of 300 and 4,000 pCi/L, respectively, in samples from 60 of 79 wells (75 percent) and in samples from 2 of 79 wells (3 percent), respectively.
Groundwater samples from all wells were analyzed for dissolved methane by one contract laboratory that determined water from 19 of the 79 wells (24 percent) had concentrations of methane greater than the reporting level of 0.010 milligrams per liter (mg/L) with a maximum methane concentration of 2.5 mg/L. Methane concentrations in 18 replicate samples submitted to a second laboratory for dissolved gas and isotopic analysis generally were higher by as much as a factor of 2.7 from those determined by the first laboratory, indicating potential bias related to combined sampling and analytical methods, and therefore, caution needs to be used when comparing methane results determined by different methods. The isotopic composition of methane in 9 of 10 samples with sufficient dissolved methane (about 0.3 mg/L) for isotopic analysis is consistent with values reported for methane of microbial origin produced through carbon dioxide reduction; an isotopic shift in 1 or 2 samples may indicate subsequent methane oxidation. The low concentrations of ethane relative to methane in these samples further indicate that the methane may be of microbial origin. Groundwater samples with relatively elevated methane concentrations (near or greater than 0.3 mg/L) also had chemical compositions that differed in some respects from groundwater with relatively low methane concentrations (less than 0.3 mg/L) by having higher pH (greater than 8) and higher concentrations of sodium, lithium, boron, fluoride, arsenic, and bromide and chloride/bromide ratios indicative of mixing with a small amount of brine of probable natural occurrence.
The spatial distribution of groundwater compositions differs by topographic setting and lithology and generally shows that (1) relatively dilute, slightly acidic, oxygenated, calcium-carbonate type waters tend to occur in the uplands underlain by the undivided Poplar Gap and Packerton members of the Catskill Formation in southwestern Pike County; (2) waters of near neutral pH with the highest amounts of hardness (calcium and magnesium) generally occur in areas of intermediate altitudes underlain by other members of the Catskill Formation; and (3) waters with pH values greater than 8, low oxygen concentrations, and the highest arsenic, sodium, lithium, bromide, and methane concentrations can be present in deep wells in uplands but most frequently occur in stream valleys, especially at low altitudes (less than about 1,200 feet above North American Vertical Datum of 1988) where groundwater may be discharging regionally, such as to the Delaware River in northern and eastern Pike County. Thus, the baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Pike County prior to gas-well development shows that shallow (less than about 1,000 feet deep) groundwater generally meets primary drinking-water standards for inorganic constituents but varies spatially, with methane and some constituents present in high concentrations in brine (and connate waters from gas and oil reservoirs) present at low to moderate concentrations in some parts of Pike County.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20175110","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Pike County Conservation District","usgsCitation":"Senior, L.A., and Cravotta, C.A., III, 2017: Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Pike County, Pennsylvania, 2015: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017–5110, 181 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175110.","productDescription":"Report: xii, 181 p.; Data Release","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-088156","costCenters":[{"id":532,"text":"Pennsylvania Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":350196,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5980c3c0e4b0a38ca278a8c9","text":"USGS Data Release","linkHelpText":"Field properties and results of laboratory analysis of groundwater samples collected from 79 wells in Pike County, Pennsylvania, 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Pennsylvania Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
215 Limekiln Road
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http://pa.water.usgs.gov
Mineral Resources Program Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey
913 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Email: minerals@usgs.gov
https://minerals.usgs.gov
Niobium and tantalum are transition metals that are almost always found together in nature because they have very similar physical and chemical properties. Their properties of hardness, conductivity, and resistance to corrosion largely determine their primary uses today. The leading use of niobium (about 75 percent) is in the production of high-strength steel alloys used in pipelines, transportation infrastructure, and structural applications. Electronic capacitors are the leading use of tantalum for high-end applications, including cell phones, computer hard drives, and such implantable medical devices as pacemakers. Niobium and tantalum are considered critical and strategic metals based on the potential risks to their supply (because current production is restricted to only a few countries) and the significant effects that a restriction in supply would have on the defense, energy, high-tech industrial, and medical sectors.
The average abundance of niobium and tantalum in bulk continental crust is relatively low—8.0 parts per million (ppm) niobium and 0.7 ppm tantalum. Their chemical characteristics, such as small ionic size and high electronic field strength, significantly reduce the potential for these elements to substitute for more common elements in rock-forming minerals and make niobium and tantalum essentially immobile in most aqueous solutions. Niobium and tantalum do not occur naturally as pure metals but are concentrated in a variety of relatively rare oxide and hydroxide minerals, as well as in a few rare silicate minerals. Niobium is primarily derived from the complex oxide minerals of the pyrochlore group ((Na,Ca,Ce)2(Nb,Ti,Ta)2(O,OH,F)7), which are found in some alkaline granite-syenite complexes (that is, igneous rocks containing sodium- or potassium-rich minerals and little or no quartz) and carbonatites (that is, igneous rocks that are more than 50 percent composed of primary carbonate minerals, by volume). Tantalum is derived mostly from the mineral tantalite ((Fe,Mn)(Ta,Nb)2O6), which is found as an accessory mineral in rare-metal granites and pegmatites that are also enriched in lithium and cesium (termed lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT)-type pegmatites).
Brazil and Canada are the leading nations that produce niobium mineral concentrates, but Brazil is by far the leading producer, accounting for about 90 percent of production, which comes mostly from weathered material derived from carbonatites. Brazil and Canada also have the largest identified niobium resources; additional resources, although they are less well reported, occur in Angola, Australia, China, Greenland, Malawi, Russia, and South Africa. Australia and Brazil have been the leading producers of tantalum mineral concentrates, although recently Ethiopia and Mozambique have also been significant suppliers of tantalum. Artisanal mining of columbite-tantalite (also called coltan) is practiced in many countries, particularly Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo [Kinshasa]), Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda. Brazil has about 40 percent of the identified tantalum resources; other countries and regions with identified tantalum resources include, in decreasing order of resources, Australia, Asia, Russia and the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Europe. Identified niobium and tantalum resources in the United States are small, low grade, and difficult to recover and process, and are thus not commercially recoverable at current prices. Consequently, the United States meets its current and expected future needs for niobium and tantalum through imports of primary mineral concentrates and alloys and through recovery from foreign and domestic alloy scrap that contain the metals.
Environmentally, the main issues related to niobium and tantalum mining are land disruptions, the volume of waste materials and their disposal, and the radioactivity of some tailings and waste materials that contain thorium and uranium. Because of the relative biological inertness of niobium and tantalum, human and ecological health concerns are generally minimal under most natural conditions.
Demand for both niobium and tantalum is expected to increase as the world economy continues to recover from the downturn that began in 2008. Increased demand for niobium is linked to increased consumption of microalloyed steel, which is used in the manufacture of cars, buildings, ships, and refinery equipment. Demand for these steels will likely increase with continued economic development in such countries as Brazil, China, and India. In addition, increased global demand for cars, cell phones, computers, superconducting magnets, and other high-tech devices will likely spur increased demand for both niobium and tantalum. The estimated global reserves and resources of niobium and tantalum are large and appear more than sufficient to meet global demand for the foreseeable future, possibly the next 500 years. The sale of “conflict coltan” attributed to rebel forces waging a civil war in Congo (Kinshasa) has been of recent concern and has highlighted the need for a transparent and traceable global supply chain that can exclude illegal columbite-tantalite from the conventional market while discerning legitimate artisanal mine production in central Africa.
","largerWorkType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"largerWorkTitle":"Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/pp1802M","isbn":"978-1-4113-3991-0","usgsCitation":"Schulz, K.J., Piatak, N.M., and Papp, J.F., 2017, Niobium and tantalum, chap. M of Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Seal, R.R., II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802, p. M1–M34, https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1802M.","productDescription":"viii, 34 p.","numberOfPages":"46","onlineOnly":"N","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-045581","costCenters":[{"id":245,"text":"Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":334595,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/m/coverthb1.jpg"},{"id":334596,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/m/pp1802m.pdf","text":"Report","size":"15.2 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"PP 1802 M"}],"contact":"Mineral Resources Program Coordinator
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Email: minerals@usgs.gov
https://minerals.usgs.gov
Mineral commodities are vital for economic growth, improving the quality of life, providing for national defense, and the overall functioning of modern society. Minerals are being used in larger quantities than ever before and in an increasingly diverse range of applications. With the increasing demand for a considerably more diverse suite of mineral commodities has come renewed recognition that competition and conflict over mineral resources can pose significant risks to the manufacturing industries that depend on them. In addition, production of many mineral commodities has become concentrated in relatively few countries (for example, tungsten, rare-earth elements, and antimony in China; niobium in Brazil; and platinum-group elements in South Africa and Russia), thus increasing the risk for supply disruption owing to political, social, or other factors. At the same time, an increasing awareness of and sensitivity to potential environmental and health issues caused by the mining and processing of many mineral commodities may place additional restrictions on mineral supplies. These factors have led a number of Governments, including the Government of the United States, to attempt to identify those mineral commodities that are viewed as most “critical” to the national economy and (or) security if supplies should be curtailed.
This book presents resource and geologic information on the following 23 mineral commodities currently among those viewed as important to the national economy and national security of the United States: antimony (Sb), barite (barium, Ba), beryllium (Be), cobalt (Co), fluorite or fluorspar (fluorine, F), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), graphite (carbon, C), hafnium (Hf), indium (In), lithium (Li), manganese (Mn), niobium (Nb), platinum-group elements (PGE), rare-earth elements (REE), rhenium (Re), selenium (Se), tantalum (Ta), tellurium (Te), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and zirconium (Zr). For a number of these commodities—for example, graphite, manganese, niobium, and tantalum—the United States is currently wholly dependent on imports to meet its needs. The first two chapters (A and B) deal with general information pertinent to the study of mineral resources. Chapters C through V describe individual mineral commodities and include an overview of current uses of the commodity, identified resources and their distribution nationally and globally, the state of current geologic knowledge, the potential for finding additional deposits nationally and globally, and geoenvironmental issues that may be related to the production and uses of the commodity. These chapters are updates of the commodity chapters published in 1973 in U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 820, “United States Mineral Resources.”
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/pp1802","isbn":"978-1-4113-3991-0","usgsCitation":"Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Seal, R.R., II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., 2017, Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802, 797 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1802.","productDescription":"Report: 862 p.; Data Release","numberOfPages":"862","onlineOnly":"N","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-069563","costCenters":[{"id":245,"text":"Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":350071,"rank":5,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://mrdata.usgs.gov/pp1802/ ","text":"- Global Distribution of Selected Mines, Deposits, and Districts of Critical Minerals","linkFileType":{"id":5,"text":"html"},"description":"Global distribution of selected mines, deposits, and districts of critical minerals"},{"id":336929,"rank":2,"type":{"id":8,"text":"Cover"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/pp1802_frontbackcovers.pdf","text":"Front and Back Covers","size":"1.23 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"PP 1802"},{"id":352473,"rank":7,"type":{"id":12,"text":"Errata"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/pp1802_erratum-march132018.txt","text":"Erratum","size":"1 KB","linkFileType":{"id":2,"text":"txt"}},{"id":336933,"rank":3,"type":{"id":2,"text":"Additional Report Piece"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/cover/pp1802frontmatter.pdf","text":"Professional Paper 1802 - Front Matter","size":"326 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"PP 1802","linkHelpText":" - Front Matter"},{"id":336928,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":350094,"rank":6,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/pp1802_entirebook.pdf","text":"Report (Entire Book)","size":"148 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":349464,"rank":4,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7GH9GQR","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Global Distribution of Selected Mines, Deposits, and Districts of Critical Minerals"}],"contact":"Mineral Resources Program Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey
913 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Email: minerals@usgs.gov
http://minerals.usgs.gov
Tin (Sn) is one of the first metals to be used by humans. Almost without exception, tin is used as an alloy. Because of its hardening effect on copper, tin was used in bronze implements as early as 3500 B.C. The major uses of tin today are for cans and containers, construction materials, transportation materials, and solder. The predominant ore mineral of tin, by far, is cassiterite (SnO2).
In 2015, the world’s total estimated mine production of tin was 289,000 metric tons of contained tin. Total world reserves at the end of 2016 were estimated to be 4,700,000 metric tons. China held about 24 percent of the world’s tin reserves and accounted for 38 percent of the world’s 2015 production of tin.
The proportion of scrap used in tin production is between 10 and 25 percent. Unlike many metals, tin recycling is relatively efficient, and the fraction of tin in discarded products that get recycled is greater than 50 percent.
Only about 20 percent of the world’s identified tin resources occur as primary hydrothermal hard-rock veins, or lodes. These lodes contain predominantly high-temperature minerals and almost invariably occur in close association with silicic, peraluminous granites. About 80 percent of the world’s identified tin resources occur as unconsolidated secondary or placer deposits in riverbeds and valleys or on the sea floor. The largest concentration of both onshore and offshore placers is in the extensive tin belt of Southeast Asia, which stretches from China in the north, through Thailand, Burma (also referred to as Myanmar), and Malaysia, to the islands of Indonesia in the south. Furthermore, tin placers are almost always found closely allied to the granites from which they originate. Other countries with significant tin resources are Australia, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Most hydrothermal tin deposits belong to what can be thought of as a superclass of porphyry-greisen deposits. The hydrothermal tin deposits are all characterized by a close spatial, temporal, and genetic association with highly differentiated, peraluminous porphyritic granite intrusions. The intrusions form pegmatites; disseminated ore; parallel or subparallel, greisen-bordered sheeted veins that either cross-cut the intrusion or are peripheral to it; skarns; and (or) limestone replacements that contain different amounts of cassiterite, molybdenite, and wolframite.
The tectonic settings of tin-bearing granites are relatively well understood and of limited variety. Tin and tungsten deposits and their associated igneous rocks are found mainly in continental settings.
Historically, prospecting for tin has been carried out by the time-honored methods of panning, drilling, trenching, and assaying. Geophysical and geochemical surveys have been employed to cover large areas more rapidly, isolating areas of possible tin deposits so that drilling can be more effective and less costly. Elemental concentrations and relationships of the lithophile elements, especially barium, lithium, niobium, potassium, rubidium, and zirconium, are the most reliable chemical indicators of ore-forming processes and tin-bearing potential.
The average human diet includes an intake of about 10 milligrams per day of tin. Ingestion of tin in significantly greater amounts than 10 milligrams per day may lead to a stomach ache, anemia, and liver and kidney problems. Exposure to some organo-tin compounds can interfere with brain and nervous system function and, in severe cases, can cause death. Extended inhalation of tin oxide—an issue mainly for those people who work in the tin industry—results in a higher potential to develop stannosis, which is a mild disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of tin-bearing dust. Inorganic tin is poorly absorbed by the body, and no evidence exists for the carcinogenicity of metallic tin and tin compounds in humans.
Most placer tin deposits are mined by open pit and (or) dredging methods. Mining of alluvial placers in modern streambeds and riverbeds is likely to increase the amount of sediment delivered downstream. This, combined with potential diversion of rivers and streams, may negatively affect downstream ecosystems. Many of the placer deposits located in Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are located offshore. Most offshore placer tin deposits are mined by dredging methods, which have the potential to negatively affect benthic, midwater, and pelagic ecosystems.
In a congressionally mandated U.S. Department of Defense study of strategic minerals published in 2013, tin has the greatest shortfall amount (insufficient supply to meet demand) at \\$416 million; this amount is more than twice that of antimony ($182 million), which is the strategic mineral with the next largest shortfall amount (U.S. Department of Defense, 2013). The United States imported 75 percent of its tin supply in 2015. During the period 2012–15, these imports were from, in descending order of amount imported, Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bolivia.
A promising advancement concerning research into the origin of tin deposits is the recent development of a reliable method of analyzing tin isotopes in cassiterite. Although the mechanism of transport and deposition of tin is fairly well understood, the means by which tin is incorporated into the parent magma at the points of magma generation and ascent needs further investigation.
Tin metallogenic provinces worldwide are well known. Consequently, any undiscovered tin deposits will likely be spatially close to known deposits or extensions of the same.
","largerWorkType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"largerWorkTitle":"Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/pp1802S","isbn":"978-1-4113-3991-0","usgsCitation":"Kamilli, R.J., Kimball, B.E., and Carlin, J.F., Jr., 2017, Tin, chap. S of Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Seal, R.R., II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802, p. S1–S53, https://doi.org/10.3133/ pp1802S.","productDescription":"ix, 53 p.","numberOfPages":"68","onlineOnly":"N","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-058673","costCenters":[{"id":312,"text":"Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":334846,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/s/pp1802s.pdf","text":"Report","size":"4.63 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"PP 1802 S"},{"id":334845,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/s/coverthb1.jpg"}],"contact":"Mineral Resources Program Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey
913 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Email: minerals@usgs.gov
https://minerals.usgs.gov
Many changes have taken place in the mineral resource sector since the publication by the U.S. Geological Survey of Professional Paper 820, “United States Mineral Resources,” which is a review of the long-term United States resource position for 65 mineral commodities or commodity groups. For example, since 1973, the United States has continued to become increasingly dependent on imports to meet its demands for an increasing number of mineral commodities. The global demand for mineral commodities is at an alltime high and is expected to continue to increase, and the development of new technologies and products has led to the use of a greater number of mineral commodities in increasing quantities to the point that, today, essentially all naturally occurring elements have several significant industrial uses. Although most mineral commodities are present in sufficient amounts in the earth to provide adequate supplies for many years to come, their availability can be affected by such factors as social constraints, politics, laws, environmental regulations, land-use restrictions, economics, and infrastructure.
This volume presents updated reviews of 23 mineral commodities and commodity groups viewed as critical to a broad range of existing and emerging technologies, renewable energy, and national security. The commodities or commodity groups included are antimony, barite, beryllium, cobalt, fluorine, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, lithium, manganese, niobium, platinum-group elements, rare-earth elements, rhenium, selenium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, vanadium, and zirconium. All these commodities have been listed as critical and (or) strategic in one or more of the recent studies based on assessed likelihood of supply interruption and the possible cost of such a disruption to the assessor. For some of the minerals, current production is limited to only one or a few countries. For many, the United States currently has no mine production or any significant identified resources and is largely dependent on imports to meet its needs. As a result, the emphasis in this volume is on the global distribution and availability of each mineral commodity. The environmental issues related to production of each mineral commodity, including current mitigation and remediation approaches to deal with these challenges, are also addressed.
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the mineral resource classifications, terms, and definitions used in this volume. A review of the history of the use and meaning of the term “critical” minerals (or materials) is included as an appendix to the chapter.
","largerWorkType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"largerWorkTitle":"Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/pp1802A","isbn":"978-1-4113-3991-0","usgsCitation":"Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Bradley, D.C., and Seal, R.R., II, 2017, Critical mineral resources of the United States—An introduction, chap. A of Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Seal, R.R., II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802, p. A1–A14, https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1802A.","productDescription":"iii, 14 p.","numberOfPages":"22","onlineOnly":"N","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-075025","costCenters":[{"id":245,"text":"Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":339518,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/a/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":339512,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/a/pp1802a.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.79 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"PP 1802 A"}],"contact":"Mineral Resources Program Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey
913 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Email: minerals@usgs.gov
https://minerals.usgs.gov
Lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites comprise a compositionally defined subset of granitic pegmatites. The major minerals are quartz, potassium feldspar, albite, and muscovite; typical accessory minerals include biotite, garnet, tourmaline, and apatite. The principal lithium ore minerals are spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite; cesium mostly comes from pollucite; and tantalum mostly comes from columbite-tantalite. Tin ore as cassiterite and beryllium ore as beryl also occur in LCT pegmatites, as do a number of gemstones and high-value museum specimens of rare minerals. Individual crystals in LCT pegmatites can be enormous: the largest spodumene was 14 meters long, the largest beryl was 18 meters long, and the largest potassium feldspar was 49 meters long.
Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites account for about one-fourth of the world’s lithium production, most of the tantalum production, and all of the cesium production. Giant deposits include Tanco in Canada, Greenbushes in Australia, and Bikita in Zimbabwe. The largest lithium pegmatite in the United States, at King’s Mountain, North Carolina, is no longer being mined although large reserves of lithium remain. Depending on size and attitude of the pegmatite, a variety of mining techniques are used, including artisanal surface mining, open-pit surface mining, small underground workings, and large underground operations using room-and-pillar design. In favorable circumstances, what would otherwise be gangue minerals (quartz, potassium feldspar, albite, and muscovite) can be mined along with lithium and (or) tantalum as coproducts.
Most LCT pegmatites are hosted in metamorphosed supracrustal rocks in the upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies. Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite intrusions generally are emplaced late during orogeny, with emplacement being controlled by pre-existing structures. Typically, they crop out near evolved, peraluminous granites and leucogranites from which they are inferred to be derived by fractional crystallization. In cases where a parental granite pluton is not exposed, one is inferred to lie at depth. Lithium-cesium-tantalum LCT pegmatite melts are enriched in fluxing components including H2O, F, P, and B, which depress the solidus temperature, lower the density, and increase rates of ionic diffusion. This, in turn, enables pegmatites to form thin dikes and massive crystals despite having a felsic composition and temperatures that are significantly lower than ordinary granitic melts. Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites crystallized at remarkably low temperatures (about 350–550 °C) in a remarkably short time (days to years).
Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites form in orogenic hinterlands as products of plate convergence. Most formed during collisional orogeny (for example, Kings Mountain district, North Carolina). Specific causes of LCT pegmatite-related magmatism could include: ordinary arc processes; over thickening of continental crust during collision or subduction; slab breakoff during or after collision; slab delamination before, during, or after collision; and late collisional extensional collapse and consequent decompression melting. Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite deposits are present in all continents including Antarctica and in rocks spanning 3 billion years of Earth history. The global age distribution of LCT pegmatites is similar to those of common pegmatites, orogenic granites, and detrital zircons. Peak times of LCT pegmatite genesis at about 2640, 1800, 960, 485, and 310 Ma (million years before present) correspond to times of collisional orogeny and supercontinent assembly. Between these pulses were long intervals when few or no LCT pegmatites formed. These minima overlap with supercontinent tenures at ca. 2450–2225, 1625–1000, 875–725, and 250–200 Ma.
Exploration and assessment for LCT pegmatites are guided by a number of observations. In frontier areas where exploration has been minimal at best, the key first-order criteria are an orogenic hinterland setting, appropriate regional metamorphic grades, and the presence of evolved granites and common granitic pegmatites. New LCT pegmatites are most likely to be found near known deposits. Pegmatites tend to show a regional mineralogical and geochemical zoning pattern with respect to the inferred parental granite, with the greatest enrichment in the more distal pegmatites. Mineral-chemical trends in common pegmatites that can point toward an evolved LCT pegmatite include: increasing rubidium in potassium feldspar, increasing lithium in white mica, increasing manganese in garnet, and increasing tantalum and manganese in columbite-tantalite. Most LCT pegmatite bodies show a distinctive internal zonation featuring four zones: border, wall, intermediate (where lithium, cesium, and tantalum are generally concentrated), and core. This zonation is expressed both in cross section and map view; thus, what may appear to be a common pegmatite may instead be the edge of a mineralized body.
Neither lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites nor their parental granites are likely to cause serious environmental concerns. Soils and country rock surrounding a LCT pegmatite, as well as waste from mining operations, may be enriched in characteristic elements relative to global average soil and bedrock values. These elements may include lithium, cesium, tantalum, beryllium, boron, fluorine, phosphorus, manganese, gallium, rubidium, niobium, tin, and hafnium. Among this suite of elements, however, the only ones that might present a concern for environmental health are beryllium and fluorine, which are included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water regulations with maximum contaminant levels of 4 micrograms per liter and 4 milligrams per liter, respectively.
","largerWorkType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"largerWorkTitle":"Mineral deposit model for resource assessment (Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070)","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20105070O","usgsCitation":"Bradley, D.C., McCauley, A.D., and Stillings, L.M., 2017, Mineral-deposit model for lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5070–O, 48 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20105070O.","productDescription":"v, 48 p.","numberOfPages":"58","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-055446","costCenters":[{"id":171,"text":"Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":342538,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5070/o/sir20105070o.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.80 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2010–5070–O"},{"id":342537,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5070/o/coverthb.jpg"}],"contact":"Director, Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, MS–973
Denver, CO 80225
One of the largest rechargeable groundwater systems by total available volume in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo Basin (hereinafter referred to as the “Rio Grande”) region of the United States and Mexico, the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system, supplies water for irrigation as well as for cities of El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation assessed the groundwater resources in the Mesilla Basin and surrounding areas in Doña Ana County, N. Mex., and El Paso County, Tex., by using a combination of geophysical and geochemical methods. The study area consists of approximately 1,400 square miles in Doña Ana County, N. Mex., and 100 square miles in El Paso County, Tex. The Mesilla Basin composes most of the study area and can be divided into three parts: the Mesilla Valley, the West Mesa, and the East Bench. The Mesilla Valley is the part of the Mesilla Basin that was incised by the Rio Grande between Selden Canyon to the north and by a narrow valley (about 4 miles wide) to the southeast near El Paso, Tex., named the Paso del Norte, which is sometimes referred to in the literature as the “El Paso Narrows.”
Previously published geophysical data for the study area were compiled and these data were augmented by collecting additional geophysical and geochemical data. Geophysical resistivity measurements from previously published helicopter frequency domain electromagnetic data, previously published direct-current resistivity soundings, and newly collected (2012) time-domain electromagnetic soundings were used in the study to detect spatial changes in the electrical properties of the subsurface, which reflect changes that occur within the hydrogeology. The geochemistry of the groundwater system was evaluated by analyzing groundwater samples collected in November 2010 for physicochemical properties, major ions, trace elements, nutrients, pesticides (reported but not used in the assessment), and environmental tracers. The data obtained from these samples (with the exception of the pesticide data) were used to gain insights into processes controlling the groundwater movement through the groundwater system in the study area. Results from the geophysical and geochemical assessments facilitated the interpretation of the geochemical characteristics of the groundwater sources and geochemical groups within the groundwater system.
The groundwater-flow system in the study area consists primarily of the Mesilla Basin aquifer system, which can be divided into four hydrogeologic units by using an informal classification scheme based on basin-fill stratigraphy and sedimentology with an emphasis on aquifer characteristics. The four hydrogeologic units are (1) the Rio Grande alluvium, which is the shallow aquifer of the Mesilla Basin within the confines of the Mesilla Valley, and the three hydrogeologic units that compose the Santa Fe Group: (2) the lower part of the Santa Fe Group, which is the least productive zone, (3) the middle part of the Santa Fe Group, which is the primary water-bearing hydrogeologic unit in the basin and is generally saturated, and (4) the upper part of the Santa Fe Group, which is the most productive water-bearing unit within the Santa Fe Group but is only partially saturated in the north and largely unsaturated in the south and western parts of the Mesilla Basin.
The helicopter frequency domain electromagnetic survey results indicated that approximately half of the resistivity values were less than 10 ohm-meters at depths of 50 and 100 feet with a transition where the resistivity values changed from relatively high values (greater than 20 ohm-meters) to relatively low resistivity values (less than 10 ohm-meters) near Vado, New Mexico. Slightly more than 25 percent of the gridded resistivity values from the three-dimensional grid of the combined inverse modeling results of the direct-current resistivity and time-domain electromagnetic soundings were equal to or less than 10 ohm-meters with large regions of low resistivity becoming apparent in the southernmost part of the study area near the Paso Del Norte where these low resistivity features are spatially the widest at or below the top of the bedrock. These low resistivity values might represent clayey deposits, sediments composed largely of sand and gravel saturated with saline water, or both. Historical dissolved-solids-concentration data within the surface geophysical subset area of the study area were compiled and compared to the inverse modeling results of the combined direct-current resistivity and time-domain soundings; this comparison was done to strengthen the interpretation made from the combined inverse modeling results that the low resistivity features were representative of sand and gravel deposits saturated with saline water and not clayey deposits.
Water-level altitudes within the Rio Grande alluvium generally decreased from north to south, with a west to east decrease in water-level altitudes near Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a result of groundwater pumping. Groundwater flow within the Santa Fe Group is more complex than the groundwater flow within the Rio Grande alluvium because of the larger lateral and vertical extent of the Santa Fe Group compared to the Rio Grande alluvium. Groundwater from the Organ Mountains flows directly south towards the Paso del Norte. Groundwater from the Robledo Mountains, the Rough and Ready Hills, and the Sleeping Lady Hills generally flows to the southeast. Groundwater flowing near the north end of the midbasin uplift generally continues east towards the Rio Grande and then flows south on the east side of the midbasin uplift. Groundwater flowing near the west side of the midbasin uplift generally continues south parallel to the faults that make up the midbasin uplift and then flows east towards the Paso del Norte when it reaches the south end of the midbasin uplift. Groundwater from the Aden Hills and the East and West Potrillo Mountains flows to the south end of the midbasin uplift and then continues east towards the Paso del Norte. Throughout most of the Mesilla Valley, the vertical hydraulic gradient was downward because the water-level altitude in the Rio Grande alluvium was higher than it was in the Santa Fe Group, but in some areas (typically in the middle and southern parts of the Mesilla Valley), the vertical hydraulic gradient was substantially reduced or even reversed to an upward hydraulic gradient.
The geochemistry data indicate that there was a complex system of multiple geochemical endmembers and mixing between these endmembers with recharge to the Rio Grande alluvium and Santa Fe Group composed mostly of seepage from the Rio Grande, inflows from deeper or neighboring water systems, and mountain-front recharge. Five distinct geochemical groups were identified in the Mesilla Basin study area: (1) ancestral Rio Grande (pre-Pleistocene) geochemical group, (2) modern Rio Grande (Pleistocene to present) geochemical group, (3) mountain-front geochemical group, (4) deep groundwater upwelling geochemical group, and (5) unknown freshwater geochemical group. The ancestral Rio Grande groundwater was water that recharged into the system as seepage losses from the ancestral Rio Grande; this groundwater generally flows from north to south-southeast towards the Paso del Norte. Groundwater on the west side of the midbasin uplift generally flows south until it reaches the southern part of the study area; from the southern part of the study area, the groundwater flows east towards the Paso del Norte. Groundwater on the east side of the midbasin uplift flows south-southeast towards the Paso del Norte where it mixes with groundwater from the modern Rio Grande, uplifted areas in the west, and the deep saline source. The water type of the modern Rio Grande geochemical group ranged from calcium-sulfate water type in the northern part of the study area to sodium-chloride-sulfate water type in the southern part of the study area; from north to south there was a substantial increase in specific conductance, strontium-87/strontium-86 ratio, potassium, and the trace metals of iron and lithium, changing the water chemistry such that it became similar to the water chemistry of the deep groundwater upwelling geochemical group. From age-dating results, water in the modern Rio Grande geochemical group was recharged to the Rio Grande alluvium within the past 10 years. The mountain-front geochemical group was generally old water (apparent age was greater than 10,000 carbon-14 years before present) that was somewhat mineralized and has relatively high concentrations of fluoride and silica, which might indicate longer exposure to volcanic and siliciclastic rocks or aluminosilicate minerals. There were five different locations of recharge determined from the groundwater geochemistry within the mountain-front geochemical group, all having a slightly different geochemical signature: (1) the Rough and Ready Hills, Robledo Mountains, and the Sleeping Lady Hills, (2) the Doña Ana Mountains, (3) the Aden Hills and West Potrillo Mountains, (4) the East Potrillo Mountains, and (5) the Sierra Juárez in Mexico. The groundwater from the Rough and Ready Hills, Robledo Mountains, the Sleeping Lady Hills, and the Doña Ana Mountains generally flows toward the Rio Grande and eventually mixes together and with the modern Rio Grande groundwater. The groundwater originating from the Aden Hills and East and West Potrillo Mountains generally flows east to southeast at a slow rate and eventually mixes and continues east, where it mixes with groundwater from the ancestral Rio Grande geochemical group and with the groundwater from the Sierra Juárez. The groundwater from the Sierra Juárez flows north and then east towards the Paso del Norte where it mixes with groundwater from the uplifted areas in the west, ancestral and modern Rio Grande groundwater, and the upwelling groundwater from a deep saline source. The deep groundwater upwelling geochemical group had the highest concentrations of bicarbonate, potassium, silica, aluminum, iron, and lithium within the study area, indicating that it had been in contact with carbonate and siliciclastic rocks for a much longer period of time and at higher temperatures compared to the other geochemical groups, and was most likely ancient marine groundwater originating from the Paleozoic and Cretaceous carbonate rocks which was upwelling into the Mesilla Basin aquifer system in the southeastern part of the study area through the extensive fault systems. Direct-current resistivity and time-domain electromagnetic soundings support the interpretation of ancient marine groundwater upwelling into the Mesilla Basin aquifer system, as do the analytical results from wells, and the helicopter frequency domain electromagnetic data collected along the Rio Grande. The hydrogen-2/hydrogen-1 ratio and oxygen-18/oxygen-16 ratio isotopic results for samples in the unknown freshwater geochemical group did not plot on the Rio Grande evaporation line, indicating this group did not have a Rio Grande signature (that is, there was no isotopic evidence of a component of Rio Grande water) and it also had the lowest mineralized content of any geochemical group in the study area.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20175028","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation","usgsCitation":"Teeple, A.P., 2017, Geophysics- and geochemistry-based assessment of the geochemical characteristics and groundwater-flow system of the U.S. part of the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas, 2010–12: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017–5028, 183 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175028.","productDescription":"Report: x, 183 p.; 2 Figures; Project Sites, Read Me","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-070474","costCenters":[{"id":583,"text":"Texas Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":438297,"rank":8,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7PV6HJ3","text":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Time-Domain Electromagnetic Data Used in the Assessment of the U.S. Part of the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Mdanos Aquifer System in Doa Ana County, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas"},{"id":342582,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2017/5028/sir20175028.pdf","text":"Report","size":"16.6 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2017–5028"},{"id":342585,"rank":5,"type":{"id":20,"text":"Read Me"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2017/5028/sir20175028_readme_figures14_17.pdf","size":"890 kB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2017–5028 Read Me"},{"id":342586,"rank":6,"type":{"id":18,"text":"Project Site"},"url":"https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/","text":"Office of Groundwater"},{"id":342587,"rank":7,"type":{"id":18,"text":"Project Site"},"url":"https://www.usgs.gov/science/mission-areas/water/national-water-quality-program?qt-programs_l2_landing_page=0#qt-programs_l2_landing_page","text":"National Water-Quality Assessment Program"},{"id":342581,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2017/5028/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":342584,"rank":4,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2017/5028/sir20175028_figure17.pdf","text":"Figure 17","size":"23.1 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2017–5028 Figure 17"},{"id":342583,"rank":3,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2017/5028/sir20175028_figure14.pdf","text":"Figure 14","size":"22.3 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2017–5028 Figure 14"}],"country":"United States","state":"New Mexico, Texas","county":"Doña Ana County, El Paso County","otherGeospatial":"Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos Aquifer System","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -107.25,\n 31.65\n ],\n [\n -106.375,\n 31.65\n ],\n [\n -106.375,\n 32.625\n ],\n [\n -107.25,\n 32.625\n ],\n [\n -107.25,\n 31.65\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Texas Water Science Center
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1505 Ferguson Lane
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To indicate that atomic weights of many elements are not constants of nature, in 2009 and 2011 the Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) replaced single-value standard atomic weight values with atomic weight intervals for 12 elements (hydrogen, lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, chlorine, bromine, and thallium); for example, the standard atomic weight of nitrogen became the interval [14.00643, 14.00728]. CIAAW recognized that some users of atomic weight data only need representative values for these 12 elements, such as for trade and commerce. For this purpose, CIAAW provided conventional atomic weight values, such as 14.007 for nitrogen, and these values can serve in education when a single representative value is needed, such as for molecular weight calculations. Because atomic weight values abridged to four figures are preferred by many educational users and are no longer provided by CIAAW as of 2015, we provide a table containing both standard atomic weight values and conventional atomic weight values abridged to four figures for the chemical elements. A retrospective review of changes in four-digit atomic weights since 1961 indicates that changes in these values are due to more accurate measurements over time or to the recognition of the impact of natural isotopic fractionation in normal terrestrial materials upon atomic weight values of many elements. Use of the unit “u” (unified atomic mass unit on the carbon mass scale) with atomic weight is incorrect because the quantity atomic weight is dimensionless, and the unit “amu” (atomic mass unit on the oxygen scale) is an obsolete term: Both should be avoided.
","language":"English","publisher":"ACS Publications","doi":"10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00510","usgsCitation":"Coplen, T.B., Meyers, F., and Holden, N.E., 2017, Clarifying atomic weights: A 2016 four-figure table of standard and conventional atomic weights: Journal of Chemical Education, v. 94, no. 3, p. 311-319, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00510.","productDescription":"9 p.","startPage":"311","endPage":"319","ipdsId":"IP-079688","costCenters":[{"id":436,"text":"National Research Program - Eastern Branch","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":438402,"rank":0,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7668B9R","text":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Four-place table of standard atomic weight values of hydrogen through uranium compared since 1961"},{"id":438401,"rank":0,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F79Z9315","text":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Standard and conventional atomic weights 2016 abridged to four significant digits"},{"id":338533,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"}],"volume":"94","issue":"3","publishingServiceCenter":{"id":9,"text":"Reston PSC"},"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationDate":"2017-01-30","publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"58dcc7d3e4b02ff32c685661","chorus":{"doi":"10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00510","url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00510","publisher":"American Chemical Society (ACS)","authors":"Coplen Tyler B., Meyers Fabienne, Holden Norman E.","journalName":"Journal of Chemical Education","publicationDate":"1/30/2017"},"contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Coplen, Tyler B. 0000-0003-4884-6008 tbcoplen@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4884-6008","contributorId":508,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Coplen","given":"Tyler","email":"tbcoplen@usgs.gov","middleInitial":"B.","affiliations":[{"id":37277,"text":"WMA - Earth System Processes Division","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":27111,"text":"National Water Quality Program","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":436,"text":"National Research Program - Eastern Branch","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":37464,"text":"WMA - Laboratory & Analytical Services Division","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":686617,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Meyers, Fabienne","contributorId":189963,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Meyers","given":"Fabienne","email":"","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":686618,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Holden, Norman E.","contributorId":189167,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Holden","given":"Norman","email":"","middleInitial":"E.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":686619,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3}]}} ,{"id":70180905,"text":"sir20165143 - 2017 - Groundwater quality for 75 domestic wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 2014","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2017-03-06T09:10:37","indexId":"sir20165143","displayToPublicDate":"2017-03-06T09:00:00","publicationYear":"2017","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":334,"text":"Scientific Investigations Report","code":"SIR","onlineIssn":"2328-0328","printIssn":"2328-031X","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"2016-5143","title":"Groundwater quality for 75 domestic wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 2014","docAbstract":"Groundwater is a major source of drinking water in Lycoming County and adjacent counties in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, which are largely forested and rural and are currently undergoing development for hydrocarbon gases. Water-quality data are needed for assessing the natural characteristics of the groundwater resource and the potential effects from energy and mineral extraction, timber harvesting, agriculture, sewage and septic systems, and other human influences.
This report, prepared in cooperation with Lycoming County, presents analytical data for groundwater samples from 75 domestic wells sampled throughout Lycoming County in June, July, and August 2014. The samples were collected using existing pumps and plumbing prior to any treatment and analyzed for physical and chemical characteristics, including nutrients, major ions, metals and trace elements, volatile organic compounds, gross-alpha particle and gross beta-particle activity, uranium, and dissolved gases, including methane and radon-222.
Results indicate groundwater quality generally met most drinking-water standards, but that some samples exceeded primary or secondary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for arsenic, iron, manganese, total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride, pH, bacteria, or radon-222. Arsenic concentrations were higher than the MCL of 10 micrograms per liter (µg/L) in 9 of the 75 (12 percent) well-water samples, with concentrations as high as 23.6 μg/L; arsenic concentrations were higher than the health advisory level (HAL) of 2 μg/L in 23 samples (31 percent). Total iron concentrations exceeded the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) of 300 μg/L in 20 of the 75 samples. Total manganese concentrations exceeded the SMCL of 50 μg/L in 20 samples and the HAL of 300 μg/L in 2 of those samples. Three samples had chloride concentrations that exceeded the SMCL of 250 milligrams per liter (mg/L); two of those samples exceeded the SMCL of 500 mg/L for TDS. The pH ranged from 5.3 to 9.15 and did not meet the SMCL range of 6.5 to 8.5 in 22 samples, with 17 samples having a pH less than 6.5 and 8 samples having pH greater than 8.5. Generally, the samples that had elevated TDS, chloride, or arsenic concentrations had high pH.
Total coliform bacteria were detected in 39 of 75 samples (52 percent), with Escherichia coli detected in 10 of those 39 samples. Radon-222 activities ranged from non-detect to 7,420 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), with a median of 863 pCi/L, and exceeded the proposed drinking-water standard of 300 pCi/L in 50 (67 percent) of the 75 samples; radon-222 activities were higher than the alternative proposed standard of 4,000 pCi/L in 3 samples.
Water from 15 of 75 (20 percent) wells had concentrations of methane greater than the reporting level of 0.01 mg/L; detectable methane concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 16.8 mg/L. Two samples had methane concentrations (13.1 and 16.8 mg/L) exceeding the action level of 7 mg/L. Low levels of ethane (up to 0.12 mg/L) were present in the five samples with the highest methane concentrations (near or above 1 mg/L) that were analyzed for hydrocarbon compounds and isotopic composition. The isotopic composition of methane in four of these groundwater samples, from the Catskill and Lock Haven Formations and the Hamilton Group, have sample carbon isotopic ratio delta values (carbon-13/carbon-12) ranging from –42.36 to –36.08 parts per thousand (‰) and hydrogen isotopic ratio delta values (deuterium/protium) ranging from –212.0 to –188.4 ‰, which are consistent with the isotopic compositions reported for mud-gas logging samples from these geologic units and a thermogenic source of the methane. However, the isotopic composition and ratios of methane to ethane in a fifth sample indicate the methane in that sample may be of microbial origin that subsequently underwent oxidation. The fifth sample had the highest concentration of methane, 16.8 mg/L, with an carbon isotopic ratio delta values of -50.59 ‰ and a hydrogen isotopic ratio delta values of -209.7 ‰.
The six well-water samples with the highest methane concentrations also had among the highest pH values (8.25 to 9.15) and elevated concentrations of sodium, lithium, boron, fluoride, arsenic, and bromide. Relatively elevated concentrations of some other constituents, such as barium, strontium, and chloride, commonly were present in, but not limited to, those well-water samples with elevated methane.
Three of the six groundwater samples with the highest methane concentrations had chloride/bromide ratios that indicate mixing with a small amount of brine (0.02 percent or less) similar in composition to those reported at undetermined depth below the freshwater aquifer and for gas and oil well brines in Pennsylvania. The sample with the highest methane concentration and most other samples with low methane concentrations (less than about 1 mg/L) have chloride/bromide ratios that indicate predominantly anthropogenic sources of chloride, such as road-deicing salt, septic systems, and (or) animal waste. Brines that are naturally present may originate from deeper parts of the aquifer system, while anthropogenic sources are more likely to affect shallow groundwater because they occur on or near the land-surface.
The spatial distribution of groundwater compositions generally indicate that (1) uplands along the western border of Lycoming County usually have dilute, slightly acidic oxygenated, calcium-bicarbonate type waters; (2) intermediate altitudes or areas of carbonate bedrock usually have water of near neutral pH, with highest amounts of hardness (calcium and magnesium); (3) stream valleys, low elevations where groundwater may be discharging, and deep wells in uplands usually have water with pH values greater than 8 and highest arsenic, sodium, lithium, bromide concentrations. Geochemical modeling indicated that for samples with elevated pH, sodium, lithium, bromide, and alkalinity, the water chemistry could have resulted by dissolution of calcite (calcium carbonate) combined with cation-exchange and mixing with a small amount of brine. Through cation-exchange reactions between water and bedrock, which are equivalent to processes in a water softener, calcium ions released by calcite dissolution are exchanged for sodium ions on clay minerals. Thus, the assessment of groundwater quality in Lycoming County indicates groundwater is generally of good quality, but various parts of Lycoming County can have groundwater with low to moderate concentrations of methane and other constituents that appear in naturally present brine and produced waters from gas and oil wells at high concentrations.\"
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20165143","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the County of Lycoming, Pennsylvania","usgsCitation":"Gross, E.L., and Cravotta, C.A., III, 2017, Groundwater quality for 75 domestic wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5143, 74 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165143.","productDescription":"Report: xi, 74 p.; Appendixes 1-2","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-076071","costCenters":[{"id":532,"text":"Pennsylvania Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":336804,"rank":4,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2016/5143/sir20165143_appendix2.xlsx","text":"Appendix 2 - Table 2-1 - ","size":"27.3 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"SIR 2016-5143","linkHelpText":"Spearman rank correlation coefficient (r) matrix 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215 Limekiln Road
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http://pa.water.usgs.gov/
Wastewaters from oil and gas development pose largely unknown risks to environmental resources. In January 2015, 11.4 M L (million liters) of wastewater (300 g/L TDS) from oil production in the Williston Basin was reported to have leaked from a pipeline, spilling into Blacktail Creek, North Dakota. Geochemical and biological samples were collected in February and June 2015 to identify geochemical signatures of spilled wastewaters as well as biological responses along a 44-km river reach. February water samples had elevated chloride (1030 mg/L) and bromide (7.8 mg/L) downstream from the spill, compared to upstream levels (11 mg/L and < 0.4 mg/L, respectively). Lithium (0.25 mg/L), boron (1.75 mg/L) and strontium (7.1 mg/L) were present downstream at 5–10 times upstream concentrations. Light hydrocarbon measurements indicated a persistent thermogenic source of methane in the stream. Semi-volatile hydrocarbons indicative of oil were not detected in filtered samples but low levels, including tetramethylbenzenes and di-methylnaphthalenes, were detected in unfiltered water samples downstream from the spill. Labile sediment-bound barium and strontium concentrations (June 2015) were higher downstream from the Spill Site. Radium activities in sediment downstream from the Spill Site were up to 15 times the upstream activities and, combined with Sr isotope ratios, suggest contributions from the pipeline fluid and support the conclusion that elevated concentrations in Blacktail Creek water are from the leaking pipeline. Results from June 2015 demonstrate the persistence of wastewater effects in Blacktail Creek several months after remediation efforts started. Aquatic health effects were observed in June 2015; fish bioassays showed only 2.5% survival at 7.1 km downstream from the spill compared to 89% at the upstream reference site. Additional potential biological impacts were indicated by estrogenic inhibition in downstream waters. Our findings demonstrate that environmental signatures from wastewater spills are persistent and create the potential for long-term environmental health effects.
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Samples were analyzed for 247 contaminants using 15 chemical and microbiological methods. Most of these contaminants are not regulated currently either in drinking water or in discharges to ambient water by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) or other U.S. regulatory agencies. This analysis shows that there is little public health concern for most of the contaminants detected in treated water from the 25 DWTPs participating in this study. For vanadium, the calculated Margin of Exposure (MOE) was less than the screening MOE in two DWTPs. For silicon, the calculated MOE was less than the screening MOE in one DWTP. Additional study, for example a national survey may be needed to determine the number of people ingesting vanadium and silicon above a level of concern. In addition, the concentrations of lithium found in treated water from several DWTPs are within the range previous research has suggested to have a human health effect. Additional investigation of this issue is necessary. Finally, new toxicological data suggest that exposure to manganese at levels in public water supplies may present a public health concern which will require a robust assessment of this information.
","language":"English","publisher":"ScienceDirect","doi":"10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.146","usgsCitation":"Benson, R., Conerly, O.D., Sander, W., Batt, A.L., Boone, J.S., Furlong, E.T., Glassmeyer, S., Kolpin, D.W., and Mash, H., 2017, Human health screening and public health significance of contaminants of emerging concern detected in public water supplies: Science of Total Environment, v. 579, p. 1643-1648, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.146.","productDescription":"6 p.","startPage":"1643","endPage":"1648","ipdsId":"IP-061632","costCenters":[{"id":351,"text":"Iowa Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":470103,"rank":0,"type":{"id":41,"text":"Open Access External Repository Page"},"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6277017","text":"External Repository"},{"id":343548,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"}],"volume":"579","publishingServiceCenter":{"id":4,"text":"Rolla PSC"},"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"5965b227e4b0d1f9f05b37df","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Benson, Robert","contributorId":194436,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Benson","given":"Robert","email":"","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":704125,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Conerly, Octavia D.","contributorId":194437,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Conerly","given":"Octavia","email":"","middleInitial":"D.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":704126,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Sander, William","contributorId":194438,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Sander","given":"William","email":"","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":704127,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3},{"text":"Batt, Angela L.","contributorId":184134,"corporation":false,"usgs":false,"family":"Batt","given":"Angela","email":"","middleInitial":"L.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":704128,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":4},{"text":"Boone, J. 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Less research has occurred in mid-elevation forests, which may be important for retaining atmospheric N deposition. To explore the fate of N in the montane zone, we conducted plot-scale experimental rainfall events across a north–south transect within a catchment of the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory. Rainfall events mimicked relatively common storms (20–50% annual exceedance probability) and were labeled with 15N-nitrate (
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, geologic formations which have potential for natural gas development, underlie Wayne County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wayne Conservation District, conducted a study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in bedrock aquifers in Wayne County prior to potential extensive shale-gas development. The 2014 study expanded on previous, more limited studies that included sampling of groundwater from 2 wells in 2011 and 32 wells in 2013 in Wayne County. Eighty-nine water wells were sampled in summer 2014 to provide data on the presence of methane and other aspects of existing groundwater quality throughout the county, including concentrations of inorganic constituents commonly present at low levels in shallow, fresh groundwater but elevated in brines associated with fluids extracted from geologic formations during shale-gas development. Depths of sampled wells ranged from 85 to 1,300 feet (ft) with a median of 291 ft. All of the groundwater samples collected in 2014 were analyzed for bacteria, major ions, nutrients, selected inorganic trace constituents (including metals and other elements), radon-222, gross alpha- and gross beta-particle activity, selected man-made organic compounds (including volatile organic compounds and glycols), dissolved gases (methane, ethane, and propane), and, if sufficient methane was present, the isotopic composition of methane.
Results of the 2014 study show that groundwater quality generally met most drinking-water standards, but some well-water samples had one or more constituents or properties, including arsenic, iron, pH, bacteria, and radon-222, that exceeded primary or secondary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Arsenic concentrations were higher than the MCL of 10 micrograms per liter (µg/L) in 4 of 89 samples (4.5 percent) with concentrations as high as 20 µg/L; arsenic concentrations were higher than the Health Advisory level of 2 µg/L in 27 of 89 samples (30 percent). Total iron concentrations exceeded the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) of 300 µg/L in 9 of 89 samples (10 percent). The pH ranged from 5.4 to 9.3 and did not meet the SMCL range of greater than 6.5 to less than 8.5 in 27 samples (30 percent); 22 samples had pH values less than 6.5, and 5 samples had pH values greater than 8.5. Total coliform bacteria were detected in 22 of 89 samples (25 percent); Escherichia coli were detected in only 2 of those 22 samples. Radon-222 activities ranged from 25 to 7,400 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), with a median of 2,120 pCi/L, and exceeded the proposed drinking-water standard of 300 pCi/L in 86 of 89 samples (97 percent); radon-222 activities were higher than the alternative proposed standard of 4,000 pCi/L in 12 of 89 samples (13.5 percent).
Water from 8 of the 89 wells (9 percent) had concentrations of methane greater than the reporting level of 0.24 milligrams per liter (mg/L) with the detectable methane concentrations ranging from 0.74 to 9.6 mg/L. Of 16 replicate samples submitted to another laboratory with a lower reporting level of 0.0002 mg/L, 15 samples had detectable methane concentrations that ranged from 0.0011 to 9.7 mg/L. Of these 15 samples, low levels of ethane (0.00032 to 0.0017 mg/L) were detected in 6 of 7 samples with methane concentrations greater than 0.75 mg/L. The isotopic composition of methane in 6 of 8 samples with sufficient dissolved methane (about 1 mg/L) for isotopic analysis is consistent with a predominantly thermogenic methane source (sample carbon isotopic ratio δ13CCH4 values ranging from -56.36 to -45.97 parts per thousand (‰) and hydrogen isotopic ratio δDCH4 values ranging from -233.1 to -141.1 ‰). However, the low levels of ethane relative to methane indicate that the methane may be of microbial origin and subsequently underwent oxidation. Isotopic compositions indicated a possibly mixed thermogenic and microbial source (carbon dioxide reduction process) for the methane in 1 of the 8 samples (δ13CCH4 of -63.72 and δDCH4 of -192.3 ‰) and potential oxidation of microbial and (or) thermogenic methane in the remaining sample (δ13CCH4 of -46.56 and δDCH4 of -79.7 ‰).
Groundwater samples with relatively elevated methane concentrations (near or greater than 1 mg/L) had a chemical composition that differed in some respects (pH, selected major ions, and inorganic trace constituents) from groundwater with relatively low methane concentrations (less than 0.75 mg/L). The seven well-water samples with the highest methane concentrations (from about 1 to 9.6 mg/L) also had among the highest pH values (8.1 to 9.3, respectively) and the highest concentrations of sodium, lithium, boron, fluoride, arsenic, and bromide. Relatively elevated concentrations of some other constituents, such as barium, strontium, and chloride, commonly were present in, but not limited to, those well-water samples with elevated methane.
Groundwater samples with the highest methane concentrations had chloride/bromide ratios that indicate mixing with a small amount of brine (0.02 percent or less, by volume) similar in composition to that reported for gas and oil well brines in Pennsylvania. Most other samples with low methane concentrations (less than about 1 mg/L) had chloride/bromide ratios that indicate predominantly man-made sources of chloride, such as road salt, septic systems, and (or) animal waste. Although naturally occurring brines may originate from deeper parts of the aquifer system, the man-made sources are likely to affect shallow groundwater.
Geochemical modeling showed that the water chemistry of samples with elevated pH, sodium, lithium, bromide, and alkalinity could result from dissolution of calcite (calcium carbonate) combined with cation exchange and mixing with a small amount of brine. Through cation exchange reactions (which are equivalent to processes in a water softener) calcium ions released by calcite dissolution are exchanged for sodium ions on clay minerals. The spatial distribution of groundwater compositions generally shows that (1) relatively dilute, slightly acidic, oxygenated, calcium-carbonate type waters tend to occur in the uplands along the western border of Wayne County; (2) waters of near neutral pH with the highest amounts of hardness (calcium and magnesium) generally occur in areas of intermediate altitudes; and (3) waters with pH values greater than 8, low oxygen concentrations, and the highest arsenic, sodium, lithium, bromide, and methane concentrations can occur in deep wells in uplands but most frequently occur in stream valleys, especially at low elevations (less than about 1,200 ft above North American Vertical Datum of 1988) where groundwater may be discharging regionally, such as to the Delaware River. Thus, the baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Wayne County prior to gas-well development shows that shallow (less than about 1,000 ft deep) groundwater is generally of good quality, but methane and some constituents present in high concentrations in brine (and produced waters from gas and oil wells) may be present at low to moderate concentrations in some parts of Wayne County.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/sir20165073","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Wayne Conservation District","usgsCitation":"Senior, L.A., Cravotta, C.A., III, and Sloto, R.A., 2017, Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2014 (ver. 1.1, March 2017): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5073, 136 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20165073.","productDescription":"xi, 136 p.","numberOfPages":"152","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-075428","costCenters":[{"id":532,"text":"Pennsylvania Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":324374,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2016/5073/sir20165073.pdf","text":"Report","size":"7.47 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"SIR 2016-5073"},{"id":336925,"rank":3,"type":{"id":25,"text":"Version 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1.0: Originally posted June 30, 2016; Version 1.1: March 9, 2017","contact":"Director, Pennsylvania Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
215 Limekiln Road
New Cumberland, PA 17070
Or visit our Web site at: http://pa.water.usgs.gov
","tableOfContents":"There are 63 chemical elements that have two or more isotopes that are used to determine their standard atomic weights. The isotopic abundances and atomic weights of these elements can vary in normal materials due to physical and chemical fractionation processes (not due to radioactive decay). These variations are well known for 12 elements (hydrogen, lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, chlorine, bromine, and thallium), and the standard atomic weight of each of these elements is given by IUPAC as an interval with lower and upper bounds. Graphical plots of selected materials and compounds of each of these elements have been published previously. Herein and at the URL http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7GF0RN2, we provide isotopic abundances, isotope-delta values, and atomic weights for each of the upper and lower bounds of these materials and compounds.
","language":"English","publisher":"De Gruyter","doi":"10.1515/pac-2016-0302","usgsCitation":"Coplen, T.B., and Shrestha, Y., 2016, Isotope-abundance variations and atomic weights of selected elements: 2016 (IUPAC Technical Report): Pure and Applied Chemistry, v. 88, no. 12, p. 1203-1224, https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-0302.","productDescription":"22 p.","startPage":"1203","endPage":"1224","ipdsId":"IP-078266","costCenters":[{"id":436,"text":"National Research Program - Eastern Branch","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":462025,"rank":1,"type":{"id":40,"text":"Open Access Publisher Index Page"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-0302","text":"Publisher Index Page"},{"id":438496,"rank":0,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7GF0RN2","text":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Tables and charts for isotope-abundance variations and atomic weights of selected elements: 2016"},{"id":338532,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"}],"volume":"88","issue":"12","publishingServiceCenter":{"id":9,"text":"Reston PSC"},"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationDate":"2017-01-06","publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"58dcc7d5e4b02ff32c685677","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Coplen, Tyler B. 0000-0003-4884-6008 tbcoplen@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4884-6008","contributorId":508,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Coplen","given":"Tyler","email":"tbcoplen@usgs.gov","middleInitial":"B.","affiliations":[{"id":37277,"text":"WMA - Earth System Processes Division","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":436,"text":"National Research Program - Eastern Branch","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":27111,"text":"National Water Quality Program","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":37464,"text":"WMA - Laboratory & Analytical Services Division","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":686647,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Shrestha, Yesha 0000-0002-9714-8516 yshrestha@usgs.gov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9714-8516","contributorId":189970,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Shrestha","given":"Yesha","email":"yshrestha@usgs.gov","affiliations":[{"id":436,"text":"National Research Program - Eastern Branch","active":true,"usgs":true}],"preferred":true,"id":686648,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2}]}} ]}