Towards Quantifying the Likelihood of Water Resource Impacts from Unconventional Gas Development     

Margaret Shanafield  Peter G. Cook  Craig T. Simmons 《Ground water》2019,57(4):547-561

Gas production from unconventional reservoirs has led to widespread environmental concerns. Despite several excellent reviews of various potential impacts to water resources from unconventional gas production, no study has systematically and quantitatively assessed the potential for these impacts to occur. We use empirical evidence and numerical and analytical models to quantify the likelihood of surface water and groundwater contamination, and shallow aquifer depletion from unconventional gas developments. These likelihoods are not intended to be exact. They provide a starting point for comparing the probabilities of adverse impacts between types of water resources and pathways. This analysis provides much needed insight into what are “probable” rather than simply “possible” impacts. The results suggest that the most likely water resource impacts are surface water and groundwater contamination from spills at the well pad, which can be as high as 1 in 10 and 1 in 100 for each gas well, respectively. For wells that are hydraulically fractured, the likelihood of contamination due to inter-aquifer leakage is 1 in 10⁶ or lower (dependent on the separation distance between the production formation and the aquifer). For gas-bearing formations that were initially over-pressurized, the potential for contamination from inter-aquifer leakage after production ceases could be as high as 1 in 400 where the separation between gas formation and shallow aquifer is 500 m, but will be much lower for greater separation distances (more characteristic of shale gas).  相似文献   

Geochemical correlations between effusive and explosive silicic volcanics in the Saraykent region (Yozgat), central Anatolia,Turkey     

Gonca Genaliolu‐Kucu  Peter A. Floyd 《Geological Journal》2002,37(2):143-165

Two main volcanic events are distinguished between Saraykent and Akçakışla in the Yozgat province of central Anatolia: (1) early Late Cretaceous–Palaeocene effusive activity, that produced a sequence of intermediate to felsic ‘basal lavas’; and (2) marginally later Palaeocene explosive activity that formed a series of covering ignimbrite flows. Due to their close temporal and spatial relation, geochemical comparisons were made between the silicic members of the lavas and ignimbrites, to identify chemical groups and their relative petrogenesis. The basal lavas range from calc‐alkaline basaltic andesites to dominant rhyolites. Based on trace element correlations three main geochemical groups were identified: the Akçakışla rhyolites (present as domes); Akçakışla rhyodacites‐dacites (lava flows); and Ozan‐Saraykent rhyolites (lava flows). Large‐ion lithophile elements have been mobile in all the groups, but mainly in the Akçakışla rhyolites. Rare earth element (REE) patterns show marked similarity between the Ozan and Saraykent basal lavas. The Akçakışla dome rhyolites are more fractionated with lower La_N/Yb_N ratios (c.10), whereas the Akçakışla basal lavas have much higher La_N/Yb_N ratios (c.30). The chemical coherence and petrographic similarities between the Saraykent and Ozan lavas suggest a single suite related via fractionation. Three geochemical groups were also established for the ignimbrites: Saraykent ignimbrite; Bağlıca ignimbrite‐Toklu‐Kızıldağ crystal tuffs; and Keklikpınar ignimbrite. The ignimbrites, like the basal lavas, display a pronounced depletion in Ba on ORG‐normalized plots. Relative to the basal lavas, chondrite‐normalized patterns for the ignimbrites are different in displaying negative Eu anomalies that indicate feldspar fractionation. The lack of geochemical overlap or coherence between any of the lava and ignimbrite groups suggests that they represent distinct eruptive events and are not related in any simple volcanic development and cogenetic sense. Two geochemical features are common to all the volcanic rock groups: (1) the presence of a Nb‐Ta anomaly, which is generally accepted as a crustal signature; and (2) the relatively low Y abundances which appear characteristic for the region as a whole. These fundamental features of the local silicic volcanism largely reflect source composition and effects. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

DEM simulation of granular media—structure interface: effects of surface roughness and particle shape     

Richard P. Jensen  Peter J. Bosscher  Michael E. Plesha  Tuncer B. Edil 《国际地质力学数值与分析法杂志》1999,23(6):531-547

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Geochemical Atlas of the Slovak Republic at a scale of 1:1,000,000     

Kamil Vrana  Stanislav Rapant  Dušan Bodiš  Karol Marsina  Blanka Maňkovská  Ján ?urlík  Peter Šef?ík  Jozef Daniel  Ladislav Lu?ivjanský  Jaroslav Lexa  Silvester Pramuka 《Journal of Geochemical Exploration》1997,60(1):7-37

The Geochemical Atlas of Slovak Republic (49,036 km²) at a scale of 1 : 1,000,000 was compiled during 1991–1995 together with maps of associated geochemical and ecological features at a scale of 1 :200,000. Investigations were aimed at the evaluation of concentrations and distributions of Al, As, Ba, Be, Ca, Ce, Co, Cd, Cs, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Hg, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Th, U, V, W, Y, Zn, Zr in groundwater (16,359 samples), stream sediments (24,422 samples), rocks (3839 samples), soils (9892 samples from 4946 profiles; A and C horizons of each profile were sampled) and forest biomass (the foliage of the forest tree species from 3063 plots was sampled). In groundwater field measurements of temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved O₂, acidity, alkalinity were done. The evaluation was oriented to the natural radioactivity of the Slovak territory as follows: rocks (K, U, Th, U_tot and dose rate, 15,573 reference spectrometric points), radon risk and water (U_nat, ²²⁶Ra, ²²²Rn; 5271 samples). The main objective of the Geochemical Atlas was to construct single-component maps showing concentrations of chemical elements, compounds and measured parameters in the researched media of Slovakia at a scale of 1 : 1,000.000 and to create interactive databases of chemical composition and/or measured parameters of groundwater, biomass, rocks, soils, stream sediments and natural radioactivity, for the entire territory of the Slovak Republic. The single-component maps are not constructed in the part ‘Rocks’, where all the main rocks types of Slovakia are presented in the ‘Map of lithogeochemical rock types of Slovakia at a scale of 1: 500,000’. The edition of six atlases has been planned. In 1997 the first three atlases will appear (Groundwater, Biomass, Natural Radioactivity). Publishing of last three atlases (Rocks, Soils, Stream Sediments) is planned for 1998. Since the analytical works on stream sediments were finished during 1997, it was not possible to present here the results of that part of the Geochemical Atlas.  相似文献   

Land use change under conditions of high population pressure: the case of Java   总被引：15，自引：0，他引：15  

Peter H. Verburg  Tom Veldkamp  Johan Bouma 《Global Environmental Change》1999,9(4):303

A long history of increases in population pressure in Java has caused agricultural land use to expand and intensify. More recent land use changes caused the conversion of prime agricultural land into residential and industrial area. Results of a dynamic, regional-scale, land use change model are presented, defining the spatial distribution of these land use changes. The model is based on multi-scale modelling of the relations between land use and socio-economic and biophysical determinants. Historical validation showed that the model can adequately simulate the pattern of land use change. Future patterns of land use change between 1994 and 2010 are simulated assuming further urbanization. The results suggest that most intensive land use changes will occur in Java's lowland areas.  相似文献   

Exponential leap-forward gradient scheme for determining the isothermal layer depth from profile data     

Peter C. Chu  Chenwu Fan 《Journal of Oceanography》2017,73(4):503-526

Two distinct layers usually exist in the upper ocean. The first has a near-zero vertical gradient in temperature (or density) from the surface and is called the isothermal layer (or mixed layer). Beneath that is a layer with a strong vertical gradient in temperature (or density), called the thermocline (or pycnocline). The isothermal layer depth (ILD) or mixed layer depth (MLD) for the same profile varies depending on the method used to determine it. Also, whether they are subjective or objective, existing methods of determining the ILD do not estimate the thermocline (pycnocline) gradient. Here, we propose a new exponential leap-forward gradient (ELG) method of determining the ILD that retains the strengths of subjective (simplicity) and objective (gradient change) methods and avoids their weaknesses (subjective methods are threshold-sensitive and objective methods are computationally intensive). This new method involves two steps: (1) the estimation of the thermocline gradient G _th for an individual temperature profile, and (2) the computation of the vertical gradient by averaging over gradients using exponential leap-forward steps. Such averaging can filter out noise in the profile data. Five existing methods of determining the ILD (difference, gradient, maximum curvature, maximum angle, and optimal linear fitting methods) as well as the proposed ELG method were verified using global expendable bathythermograph (XBT) temperature and conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) datasets. Among all the methods considered, the ELG method yielded the highest skill score and the lowest Shannon information entropy (i.e., the lowest uncertainty).  相似文献   

Groundwater age,mixing and flow rates in the vicinity of large open pit mines,Pilbara region,northwestern Australia     

Peter Cook  Shawan Dogramaci  James McCallum  Joanne Hedley 《Hydrogeology Journal》2017,25(1):39-53

Determining groundwater ages from environmental tracer concentrations measured on samples obtained from open bores or long-screened intervals is fraught with difficulty because the sampled water represents a variety of ages. A multi-tracer technique (Cl, ¹⁴C, ³H, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113 and SF₆) was used to decipher the groundwater ages sampled from long-screened production bores in a regional aquifer around an open pit mine in the Pilbara region of northwest Australia. The changes in tracer concentrations due to continuous dewatering over 7 years (2008–2014) were examined, and the tracer methods were compared. Tracer concentrations suggest that groundwater samples are a mixture of young and old water; the former is inferred to represent localised recharge from an adjacent creek, and the latter to be diffuse recharge. An increase in ¹⁴C activity with time in wells closest to the creek suggests that dewatering of the open pit to achieve dry mining conditions has resulted in change in flow direction, so that localised recharge from the creek now forms a larger proportion of the pumped groundwater. The recharge rate prior to development, calculated from a steady-state Cl mass balance, is 6 mm/y, and is consistent with calculations based on the ¹⁴C activity. Changes in CFC-12 concentrations with time may be related to the change in water-table position relative to the depth of the well screen.  相似文献   

From nappe stacking to exhumation: Cretaceous tectonics in the Apuseni Mountains (Romania)     

Reiser  Martin Kaspar  Schuster  Ralf  Spikings  Richard  Tropper  Peter  Fügenschuh  Bernhard 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2017,106(2):659-685

International Journal of Earth Sciences - New Ar–Ar muscovite and Rb–Sr biotite age data in combination with structural analyses from the Apuseni Mountains provide new constraints on...  相似文献   

Decadal Changes in Water Quality and Net Productivity of a Shallow Danish Estuary Following Significant Nutrient Reductions     

Peter A. Staehr  Jeremy Testa  Jacob Carstensen 《Estuaries and Coasts》2017,40(1):63-79

We utilized an extensive data set (1977–2013) from a water quality monitoring program to investigate the recovery of a Danish estuary following large reductions in total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) loading. Monthly rates of net transport and biogeochemical transformation of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and phosphorus (DIP) were computed in two basins of the estuary using a box model approach, and oxygen-based rates of net ecosystem production (NEP) were determined. Since 1990, nutrient loading was reduced by 58 % for nitrogen and 80 % for phosphorus, causing significant decreases in DIN (60 %) and DIP (85 %) concentrations. Reductions in nutrient loadings and concentrations reduced annual chlorophyll levels by 50 % in the inner estuary and improved Secchi depth by approximately 1 m during the same period, particularly in the summer period. In the outer, deeper region of the estuary trends in water quality was less evident. Improvements in the inner estuary were strongly coupled to declines in DIN. Thresholds of DIN and DIP concentrations limiting phytoplankton growth indicated that both regions of the estuary were nitrogen limited. NEP rates indicated the development of more net autotrophic conditions over time that were likely associated with higher benthic primary production stimulated by improved light conditions. Box model computations revealed a modest reduction in summer net production of DIP over time, despite the persistence of elevated fluxes for several years after external loads were reduced. Since the mid-1990s, nutrient loading and transformation were stable while nutrient concentrations continued to decline and water quality improved in the inner estuary. The oligotrophication trajectory involved an initial fast transformation and modest retention of nutrients followed by a gradual decline in the rate of improvement towards a new stable condition.  相似文献   

Chronology of Quaternary terrace deposits at the locality Hohle Gasse (Pratteln,NW Switzerland)     

Anne Claude  Naki Akçar  Susan Ivy-Ochs  Fritz Schlunegger  Philippe Rentzel  Christine Pümpin  Dmitry Tikhomirov  Peter W. Kubik  Christof Vockenhuber  Andreas Dehnert  Meinert Rahn  Christian Schlüchter 《Swiss Journal of Geoscience》2017,110(3):793-809

The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Alpine Foreland consists of distinct terrace levels, which have been assigned to four morphostratigraphic units: Höhere (Higher) Deckenschotter, Tiefere (Lower) Deckenschotter, Hochterrasse (High Terrace) and Niederterrasse (Lower Terrace). Here, we focus on the terrace gravels at Hohle Gasse, SSE of Pratteln near Basel, which are mapped as Tiefere Deckenschotter. Petrographic and morphometric data established from clasts allowed to infer the transport mechanisms and sources of the gravels. Sedimentological analyses indicate that the gravels were transported by a braided river and deposited in a distal glaciofluvial setting. In addition, it can be shown that the majority of the clasts display multiple reworking and only a minority maintained a distinct glaciofluvial shape. Cosmogenic multi-isotope dating using ¹⁰Be and ³⁶Cl allowed direct dating of the sediments at the study site. A depth-profile age of \(2 70_{ - 1 90}^{ + 8 30}\) ka for ¹⁰Be was achieved for the deposits at Hohle Gasse. Unfortunately, no age could be modelled from the ³⁶Cl concentrations as the blank correction was too high. Furthermore, this age proves that the studied terrace level should be assigned to the morphostratigraphic unit Hochterrasse.  相似文献