Methane occurrence is associated with sodium-rich valley waters in domestic wells overlying the Marcellus shale in New York State

Kayla M. Christian, Laura K. Lautz, Gregory D. Hoke, Donald I. Siegel, Zunli Lu, John Kessler

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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Abstract

Prior work suggests spatial parameters (e.g., landscape position, distance to nearest gas well) can be used to estimate the amount of dissolved methane in domestic drinking water wells overlying the deep Marcellus Shale. New York (NY) provides an opportunity to investigate methane occurrence prior to expansion of high-volume hydraulic fracturing because unconventional gas production is currently banned in the state. We sampled domestic groundwater wells for methane in 2013 (n=137) across five counties of NY bordering Pennsylvania, and then resampled a subset of those wells in 2014 for methane concentrations and δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4. The majority of waters from wells sampled (77%) had low concentrations of methane (10 mg/L). Dissolved methane concentrations did not change as a function of proximity to existing vertical gas wells, nor other parameters indicating subsurface planes of weakness (i.e., faults or lineaments). Methane levels were significantly higher in wells closer to hydrography flow lines, and most strongly correlated to Na-HCO3 water type. The distribution of methane between Ca-HCO3 (n=76) and Na-HCO3 (n=23) water types significantly differed (p

LanguageEnglish (US)
JournalWater Resources Research
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2016

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shale
methane
sodium
well
valley
water
gas well
hydrography
lineament
gas production
drinking water
groundwater

Keywords

  • Contamination
  • Groundwater
  • Shale gas

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Water Science and Technology

Cite this

Methane occurrence is associated with sodium-rich valley waters in domestic wells overlying the Marcellus shale in New York State. / Christian, Kayla M.; Lautz, Laura K.; Hoke, Gregory D.; Siegel, Donald I.; Lu, Zunli; Kessler, John.

In: Water Resources Research, 2016.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Christian, KM, Lautz, LK, Hoke, GD, Siegel, DI, Lu, Z & Kessler, J 2016, 'Methane occurrence is associated with sodium-rich valley waters in domestic wells overlying the Marcellus shale in New York State' Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1002/2015WR017805
Christian KM, Lautz LK, Hoke GD, Siegel DI, Lu Z, Kessler J. Methane occurrence is associated with sodium-rich valley waters in domestic wells overlying the Marcellus shale in New York State. Water Resources Research. 2016. Available from, DOI: 10.1002/2015WR017805
Christian, Kayla M. ; Lautz, Laura K. ; Hoke, Gregory D. ; Siegel, Donald I. ; Lu, Zunli ; Kessler, John. / Methane occurrence is associated with sodium-rich valley waters in domestic wells overlying the Marcellus shale in New York State. In: Water Resources Research. 2016
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