Geochemical Evidence of Potential Groundwater Contamination with Human Health Risks Where Hydraulic Fracturing Overlaps with Extensive Legacy Hydrocarbon Extraction.

ABSTRACT: Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) sometimes impacts water resources, including incidents of methane (CH₄) migration from compromised wells and spills that degrade water with salts, organics, and metals. We hypothesized that contamination may be more common where UOGD overlaps with legacy coal, oil, and gas extraction. We tested this hypothesis on ∼7000 groundwater analyses from the largest U.S. shale gas play (Marcellus), using data mining techniques to explore UOGD contamination frequency. Corroborating the hypothesis, we discovered small, statistically significant regional correlations between groundwater chloride concentrations ([Cl]) and UOGD proximity and density where legacy extraction was extremely dense (southwestern Pennsylvania (SWPA)) but no such correlati

SUBMITTER: Shaheen SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9302435 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature