TY - JOUR
T1 - Accumulation of Marcellus Formation Oil and Gas Wastewater Metals in Freshwater Mussel Shells
AU - Geeza, Thomas J.
AU - Gillikin, David P.
AU - McDevitt, Bonnie
AU - Van Sice, Katherine
AU - Warner, Nathaniel R.
N1 - Funding Information:
The U.S. National Science Foundation funds Union College’s isotope ratio mass spectrometer and peripherals (NSF-MRI #1229258). We thank Anouk Verheyden and Sarah Katz for assistance in Union’s stable isotope lab. We thank Nevin Welte for assistance with sample collection and identification and Matthew Gonzalez for TIMS and MC-ICPMS support. Additionally, we thank Brian Stewart and Thai Phan for providing the USGS EN-1 carbonate standard. Student support from NSF-AIR#1640634 and NSF-CBET#1703412 is acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/9/18
Y1 - 2018/9/18
N2 - For several decades, high-salinity water brought to the surface during oil and gas (O&G) production has been treated and discharged to waterways under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. In Pennsylvania, USA, a portion of the treated O&G wastewater discharged to streams from 2008 to 2011 originated from unconventional (Marcellus) wells. We collected freshwater mussels, Elliptio dilatata and Elliptio complanata, both upstream and downstream of a NPDES-permitted facility, and for comparison, we also collected mussels from the Juniata and Delaware Rivers that have no reported O&G discharge. We observed changes in both the Sr/Cashell and 87Sr/86Srshell in shell samples collected downstream of the facility that corresponded to the time period of greatest Marcellus wastewater disposal (2009-2011). Importantly, the changes in Sr/Cashell and 87Sr/86Srshell shifted toward values characteristic of O&G wastewater produced from the Marcellus Formation. Conversely, shells collected upstream of the discharge and from waterways without treatment facilities showed lower variability and no trend in either Sr/Cashell or 87Sr/86Srshell with time (2008-2015). These findings suggest that (1) freshwater mussels may be used to monitor changes in water chemistry through time and help identify specific pollutant sources and (2) O&G contaminants likely bioaccumulated in areas of surface water disposal.
AB - For several decades, high-salinity water brought to the surface during oil and gas (O&G) production has been treated and discharged to waterways under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. In Pennsylvania, USA, a portion of the treated O&G wastewater discharged to streams from 2008 to 2011 originated from unconventional (Marcellus) wells. We collected freshwater mussels, Elliptio dilatata and Elliptio complanata, both upstream and downstream of a NPDES-permitted facility, and for comparison, we also collected mussels from the Juniata and Delaware Rivers that have no reported O&G discharge. We observed changes in both the Sr/Cashell and 87Sr/86Srshell in shell samples collected downstream of the facility that corresponded to the time period of greatest Marcellus wastewater disposal (2009-2011). Importantly, the changes in Sr/Cashell and 87Sr/86Srshell shifted toward values characteristic of O&G wastewater produced from the Marcellus Formation. Conversely, shells collected upstream of the discharge and from waterways without treatment facilities showed lower variability and no trend in either Sr/Cashell or 87Sr/86Srshell with time (2008-2015). These findings suggest that (1) freshwater mussels may be used to monitor changes in water chemistry through time and help identify specific pollutant sources and (2) O&G contaminants likely bioaccumulated in areas of surface water disposal.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.8b02727
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.8b02727
M3 - Article
C2 - 30179464
AN - SCOPUS:85053603638
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 52
SP - 10883
EP - 10892
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 18
ER -
