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Selected Water-Quality Topics > Hydraulic Fracturing > Publications

Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Quality: USGS Publications, August 2012 to present

Publications are listed in chronological order, with newest reports first.

• Stream Vulnerability to Widespread and Emergent Stressors: A Focus on Unconventional Oil and Gas (Journal Article) 
  • New Tool Rates Stream Vulnerability to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development (Press Release)
• Oklahoma: A Century of Induced Earthquakes in Oklahoma? (Journal Article) 
  • A Century of Induced Earthquakes in Oklahoma? (Press Release)
• Land use and wetland drainage affect water levels and dynamics of remaining wetlands (Journal Article) 
  • Drainage of Prairie Pothole Wetlands Can Increase Flooding and Degrade Ecosystems (Press Release)
• Hydraulic fracturing water use variability in the United States and potential environmental implications (Journal Article) 
  • Water Used for Hydraulic Fracturing Varies Widely Across United States (Press Release)
• Groundwater Quality in Geauga County, Ohio -- Status, Including Detection Frequency of Methane in Water Wells, 2009, and Changes During 1978-2009 (USGS Report)
• Methodology for assessing quantities of water and proppant injection, and water production associated with development of continuous petroleum accumulations (USGS Report)
• A century of oilfield operations and earthquakes in the greater Los Angeles Basin, southern California (Journal Article)
• Marcellus: Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells (Journal Article) 
  • The Chemistry of Waters that Follow from Fracking: A Case Study (Press Release)
• Marcellus: Water quality of groundwater and stream base flow in the Marcellus Shale Gas Field of the Monongahela River Basin, West Virginia, 2011-12 (USGS Report)
  • Water Quality Characteristics Identified as Energy Exploration Continues in Monongahela River Basin (Press Release)
• The Water-Energy Nexus -- An Earth Science Perspective (USGS Circular)
• Incorporating induced seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model: results of the 2014 workshop and sensitivity studies (USGS Report)
• Wyoming: Digital Representation of Oil and Natural Gas Well Pad Scars in Southwest Wyoming -- 2012 Update (USGS Report)
• Assessment of surface water chloride and conductivity trends in areas of unconventional oil and gas development -- Why existing national data sets cannot tell us what we would like to know (Journal Article) 
• Coping with earthquakes induced by fluid injection Science (Journal Article)
• Historical Hydraulic Fracturing Trends and Data Unveiled in New USGS Publications (Press Release)
• Trends in Hydraulic Fracturing Distributions and Treatment Fluids, Additives, Proppants, and Water Volumes Applied to Wells Drilled in the United States from 1947 through 2010-Data Analysis and Comparison to the Literature (USGS Report)
• Data Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing Distributions and Treatment Fluids, Additives, Proppants, and Water Volumes Applied to Wells Drilled in the United States from 1947 through 2010 (USGS Report)
• Ohio: Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity 2009-2014 induced by massive wastewater injection (Journal Article)
• Pennsylvania: Drilling and Geophysical Logs of the Tophole at an Oil-and-Gas Well Site, Central Venango County, Pennsylvania (USGS Report)
• Ecological risks of shale oil and gas development to wildlife, aquatic resources and their habitats (Journal Article)
• Williston Basin: Quality and Age of Shallow Groundwater in the Bakken Formation Production Area, Williston Basin, Montana and North Dakota (Journal Article) 
• North Carolina: Baseline well inventory and groundwater-quality data from a potential shale gas resource area in parts of Lee and Chatham Counties, North Carolina, October 2011-August 2012 (USGS Report)
• USGS Investigations of Water Produced During Hydrocarbon Reservoir Development (USGS Fact Sheet)
• Pennsylvania: Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Cameron, Clarion, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, and Warren Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010 (USGS Report)
• Colorado and New Mexico: Two Decision-Support Tools for Assessing the Potential Effects of Energy Development on Hydrologic Resources as Part of the Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area Interactive Energy Atlas (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Estimation of methane concentrations and loads in groundwater discharge to Sugar Run, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Baseline groundwater quality from 34 wells in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2011 and 2013 (USGS Report)
• Williston Basin: Brine contamination to aquatic resources from oil and gas development in the Williston Basin, United States (USGS Report)
• Colorado: Spatial and stratigraphic distribution of water in oil shale of the Green River Formation using Fischer assay, Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado (USGS Report)
• Organic substances in produced and formation water from unconventional natural gas extraction in coal and shale (Journal Article)
• Marcellus: Surface disposal of produced waters in western and southwestern Pennsylvania: potential for accumulation of alkali-earth elements in sediments (Journal Article)
• Texas: Concentrations of selected constituents in surface-water and streambed-sediment samples collected from streams in and near an area of oil and natural-gas development, south-central Texas, 2011-13 (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Geohydrologic and Water-Quality Characterization of a Fractured-Bedrock Test Hole in an Area of Marcellus Shale Gas Development, Bradford County, Pennsylvania (Other Agency Report) 
• Colorado: Spatial and Stratigraphic Distribution of Water in Oil Shale of the Green River Formation Using Fischer Assay, Piceance Basin, Northwestern Colorado (USGS Report)
• Arkansas: Simulated effects of existing and proposed surface-water impoundments and gas-well pads on streamflow and suspended sediment in the Cypress Creek watershed, Arkansas (USGS Report)
• A review of environmental impacts of salts from produced waters on aquatic resources (Journal Article)
• Marcellus: Characterization of the Marcellus Shale based on computer-assisted correlation of wireline logs in Virginia and West Virginia (USGS Report)
• A framework for assessing water and proppant use and flowback water extraction associated with development of continuous petroleum resources (USGS Fact Sheet)
• Colorado: Estrogen and androgen receptor activities of hydraulic fracturing chemicals and surface and ground water in a drilling-dense region (Journal Article)
• Oklahoma: Observations of Static Coulomb Stress Triggering of the November 2011 M5.7 Oklahoma Earthquake Sequence (Journal Article) 
• New York: Methane Occurrence in Groundwater of South-Central New York State, 2012: Summary of Findings (USGS Fact Sheet)
• New York: Occurrence of Methane in Groundwater of South-Central New York State, 2012 -- Systematic Evaluation of a Glaciated Region by Hydrogeologic Setting (USGS Report)
• Oklahoma and Arkansas: Modeling earthquake rate changes in Oklahoma and Arkansas: possible signatures of induced seismicity (Journal Article)
• Pennsylvania: Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Armstrong and Indiana Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010 (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Sullivan and Wyoming Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010 (USGS Report)
• North Carolina: Shale Baseline Sampling of Groundwater in North Carolina (Video) 
• Colorado: Groundwater Ages and Mixing in the Piceance Basin Natural Gas Province, Colorado (Journal Article)
• Injection-induced earthquakes (Journal Article)
• A Stream-Based Methane Monitoring Approach for Evaluating Groundwater Impacts Associated with Unconventional Gas Development (Journal Article) 
• Colorado: Chemistry and Age of Groundwater in Bedrock Aquifers of the Piceance and Yellow Creek Watersheds, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, 2010-12 (USGS Report)
• Chemistry and Age of Groundwater in the Piceance Structural Basin, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, 2010-12 (USGS Fact Sheet)
• Pennsylvania and New York: Dissolved Methane in Groundwater, Upper Delaware River Basin, Pennsylvania and New York, 2007-12 (USGS Report)
• Discharges of produced waters from oil and gas extraction via wastewater treatment plants are sources of disinfection by-products to receiving streams (Journal Article) 
• Kentucky: Histopathological Analysis of Fish from Acorn Fork Creek, Kentucky Exposed to Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Releases (Journal Article) 
• Appalachian Basin: Water Resources and Shale Gas/Oil Production in the Appalachian Basin - Critical Issues and Evolving Developments (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Somerset and Westmoreland Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010 (USGS Report)
• Arkansas: Geochemical and isotopic variations in shallow groundwater in areas of the Fayetteville shale development, north-central Arkansas (Journal Article) 
• Arkansas: Shallow Groundwater Quality and Geochemistry in the Fayetteville Shale Gas-Production Area, North-Central Arkansas, 2011 (USGS Report)
• Wyoming: Groundwater-Quality and Quality-Control Data for Two Monitoring Wells near Pavillion, Wyoming, April and May 2012 (USGS Report)
• Wyoming: Sampling and Analysis Plan for the Characterization of Groundwater Quality in Two Monitoring Wells near Pavillion, Wyoming (USGS Report)
• Pennsylvania: Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010
• Pennsylvania: Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Beaver and Butler Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010
• New York: Specific Conductance Measurements in Central and Western New York Streams -- A Retrospective Characterization
• New York: Dissolved Methane in New York Groundwater, 1999-2011 (USGS Report)
• Marcellus and Utica: Baseline Groundwater Quality in National Park Units Within the Marcellus and Utica Shale Gas Plays, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, 2011 (USGS Report)
• Water Quality Studied in Areas of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development, Including Areas Where Hydraulic Fracturing Techniques are Used, in the United States (USGS Fact Sheet)
• The potential effects of sodium bicarbonate, a major constituent from coalbed natural gas production, on aquatic life (USGS Report)
• Colorado: Use of Diverse Geochemical Data Sets to Determine Sources and Sinks of Nitrate and Methane in Groundwater, Garfield County, Colorado, 2009 (USGS Report)

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