title: Noble gases identify the mechanisms of fugitive gas contamination in drinking-water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales.
abstract: Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have enhanced energy production but raised concerns about drinking-water contamination and other environmental impacts. Identifying the sources and mechanisms of contamination can help improve the environmental and economic sustainability of shale-gas extraction. We analyzed 113 and 20 samples from drinking-water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales, respectively, examining hydrocarbon abundance and isotopic compositions (e.g., C2H6/CH4, δ(13)C-CH4) and providing, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive analyses of noble gases and their isotopes (e.g., (4)He, (20)Ne, (36)Ar) in groundwater near shale-gas wells. We addressed two questions. (i) Are elevated levels of hydrocarbon gases in drinking-water aquifers near gas wells natural or anthropogenic? (ii) If fugitive gas contamination exists, what mechanisms cause it? Against a backdrop of naturally occurring salt- and gas-rich groundwater, we identified eight discrete clusters of fugitive gas contamination, seven in Pennsylvania and one in Texas that showed increased contamination through time. Where fugitive gas contamination occurred, the relative proportions of thermogenic hydrocarbon gas (e.g., CH4, (4)He) were significantly higher (P < 0.01) and the proportions of atmospheric gases (air-saturated water; e.g., N2, (36)Ar) were significantly lower (P < 0.01) relative to background groundwater. Noble gas isotope and hydrocarbon data link four contamination clusters to gas leakage from intermediate-depth strata through failures of annulus cement, three to target production gases that seem to implicate faulty production casings, and one to an underground gas well failure. Noble gas data appear to rule out gas contamination by upward migration from depth through overlying geological strata triggered by horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing.
authors.affiliation: Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; Divisions of Solid Earth Dynamics and Water, Climate and the Environment, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210; darrah.24@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Darrah
authors.affiliation: Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
authors.forename: Avner
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vengosh
authors.affiliation: Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; Department of Environmental Earth System Science, School of Earth Sciences, Woods Institute for the Environment, and Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755; and.
authors.forename: Nathaniel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Poreda
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060587:Groundwater; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D005741:Noble Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D010414:Pennsylvania; D013781:Texas; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*; D060986:Water Wells / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005741:Noble Gases; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: groundwater contamination; isotopic tracers; methane; noble gas geochemistry; water quality