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The Effect of Long-Term Regional Pumping on Hydrochemistry and Dissolved Gas Content in an Undeveloped Shale-Gas-Bearing Aquifer in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

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The Effect of Long-Term Regional Pumping on Hydrochemistry and Dissolved Gas Content in an Undeveloped Shale-Gas-Bearing Aquifer in Southwestern Ontario, Canada Hydrogeology Journal (2015) 23: 719–739 DOI 10.1007/s10040-014-1229-7 The effect of long-term regional pumping on hydrochemistry and dissolved gas content in an undeveloped shale-gas-bearing aquifer in southwestern Ontario, Canada Stewart M. Hamilton & Stephen E. Grasby & Jennifer C. McIntosh & Stephen G. Osborn Abstract Baseline groundwater geochemical mapping of oxidized carbon species including CO2,HCO3 and DIC, inorganic and isotopic parameters across 44,000 km2 of suggesting contemporary methanogenesis. Pumping in the southwestern Ontario (Canada) has delineated a discreet Devonian shale contact aquifer may stimulate zone of natural gas in the bedrock aquifer coincident with an methanogenesis by lowering TDS, removing products and 8,000-km2 exposure of Middle Devonian shale. This study replacing reactants, including bicarbonate, derived from describes the ambient geochemical conditions in these shales overlying glacial sedimentary aquifers. in the context of other strata, including Ordovician shales, and discusses shale-related natural and anthropogenic Keywords Hydrochemistry . Shale gas . Water processes contributing to hydrogeochemical conditions in supply . Methane . Canada the aquifer. The three Devonian shales—the Kettle Point Formation (Antrim equivalent), Hamilton Group and Marcellus Formation—have higher DOC, DIC, HCO , 3 Introduction CO2(aq), pH and iodide, and much higher CH4(aq). The two Ordovician shales—the Queenston and Georgian-Bay/Blue Mountain Formations—are higher in Ca, Mg, SO and H S. A groundwater geochemical mapping project by the 4 2 Ontario Geological Survey (OGS) has been completed in In the Devonian shale region, isotopic zones of Pleistocene- 2 aged groundwater have halved in size since first identified in a 44,000 km area of southwestern Ontario, Canada. The the 1980s; potentiometric data implicate regional ground- project is part of the larger ongoing Ambient Groundwater water extraction in the shrinkage. Isotopically younger Geochemistry program, the purpose of which is to waters invading the aquifer show rapid increases in characterize the current state of groundwater quality in CH , pH and iodide with depth and rapid decrease in accessible parts of the province at a regular sample density 4(aq) to a high degree of analytical completeness. The geo- chemical data, which include dissolved gas concentra- Received: 23 July 2014 /Accepted: 30 December 2014 tions, have delineated an area of elevated natural gas Published online: 3 February 2015 (CH4) in groundwater that is coincident with the subcrop * The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at of Devonian-aged shale formations in southwestern Springerlink.com Ontario. The gas occurrence is near ubiquitous in shale bedrock-derived waters in this area and very common in water derived from wells in overburden that overlies the S. M. Hamilton ()) Ontario Geological Survey, 933 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON shales. Sporadic gas occurrences were also noted that P3E 2G9, Canada spatially relate to Devonian carbonates and Ordovician e-mail: [email protected] shale units. There has never been commercial shale gas Tel.: 705-670-5915 extraction in Ontario and the occurrence of methane gas in S. E. Grasby Devonian shales has long been recognized as a natural Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB T2L 2A7, Canada phenomenon (Caley 1943). J. C. McIntosh The impact of shale gas development on shallow Hydrology and Water Resources, potable groundwater resources is of rising international University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA concern. Concerns include migration of natural gas, fl J. C. McIntosh hydraulic fracturing uids, and/or brines into shallow United States Geological Survey, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA aquifers (Kargbo et al. 2010; Osborn et al. 2011; Jackson et al. 2013). Research had been hindered, however, by the Present Address: S. G. Osborn lack of baseline analyses of natural groundwater condi- Geology, tions in regions of significant shale gas potential and in California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, USA areas of current shale gas development (Vidic et al. 2013). 720 The purpose of this report is to present the results of an Land use in southwestern Ontario is predominantly investigation into the groundwater geochemical and flow agricultural with some forested terrain. In all, 97 % of the conditions in and around the Devonian shales to provide samples in this study were collected from rural areas. Two baseline data in gas-yielding shale formations in general samples were taken in each 10×10 km block, which that have not been impacted by commercial development, allowed latitude to avoid obvious sources of contamina- and to understand the hydrogeochemical processes oper- tion such as quarries or landfills. Road salt, and farm- ating in the organic-rich shales of southwestern Ontario. based contaminants such as pesticides and fertilizers may Major ion chemistry, selected trace elements, dissolved have affected bedrock well chemistry but, as of yet, little gases, and stable and radioactive isotopes of water were evidence of this is apparent in the bedrock-well compo- collected for 1010 samples from domestic, farm, and nent of the database, the chemistry of which is largely monitoring wells completed in glacial overburden units controlled by host lithology (Mellor 2008). and 14 major bedrock units ranging from Ordovician to Southwestern Ontario has a temperate climate with middle Devonian in age (Hamilton 2015). These strata warm summers and mild winters and average daily highs include five gas-yielding shale units (Armstrong and in the coldest/warmest months (January/July) of −5.6 and Carter 2010), treated here in four groups: (1) the 20.6 ° C, respectively (Canada Climate Normals 2014). Devonian Kettle Point Formation, (2) Hamilton Group, Precipitation ranges from 800 to 1000 mm/year across the (3) Marcellus Formation, and (4) the Ordovician region, including 100 to 300 cm of snowfall, while Queenston and underlying Georgian Bay-Blue Mountain evapotranspiration varies from 500 to 600 mm/year formations. The Devonian shales are treated in greater (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 1984). detail in this report because of their spatial association with significant methane accumulations (Hamilton 2015; McIntosh et al. 2014) and with decadal changes in Bedrock geology regional water levels. Another paper related to this work Southern Ontario is underlain by the Michigan and (McIntosh et al. 2014) discusses the spatial distribution of Appalachian Paleozoic sedimentary basins, which are gas, isotopic and chemical composition of the gas, and separated by the Algonquin and Findlay arches (Fig. 1; mechanisms and timing of gas formation in Paleozoic Sanford et al. 1985). The two arches are separated by the bedrock and overburden deposits, and its relationship to Chatham Sag, an area of flat lying Paleozoic sedimentary water chemistry. strata. This sedimentary succession is bounded by the Canadian Shield to the north and northeast. Within the carbonate dominated Paleozoic succession, the Devonian organic rich shale units are the focus of this study (Kettle Background Point, Hamilton and Marcellus shale units). While these shale units have inherently low permeability, natural Study area fracture systems in the shales support viable potable The detailed study area encompasses all of the on-land groundwater supplies (Singer et al. 2003). exposure of Devonian shale in southwestern Ontario As a result of extensive Quaternary sedimentary cover, (Fig. 1). The broader study area encompasses all of there is very little outcrop exposure of the Devonian southwestern Ontario and is intended to provide context shales in southwestern Ontario. The bedrock mapping in for the geochemical, hydrogeological and isotopic inves- the area relied heavily on borehole records and is partly tigation of the shale region. Data were derived from the based on earlier mapping by the Ontario Geological 2007–2014 Ambient Groundwater database, which can be Survey that is over 30 years old. Therefore, limited re- downloaded without charge from the website of the mapping of the shale boundaries and thickness was carried Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines out as part of this study as described in the methods (Hamilton 2015). The database allows detailed investiga- section. tion of the effect of host lithology on water chemistry, which is profound (Mellor 2008 and the following section ‘Major ion and trace element geochemistry’). It has also Devonian shale revealed additional processes that affect water chemistry The Kettle Point, Hamilton and Marcellus shale units are including karst influence on the flow path and residence more extensive than had been originally mapped (Fig. 2). time resulting from an extensive, previously unreported Most of the boundary changes occur in areas where the breathing-well zone (Freckelton 2013). shale is thin and occasionally discontinuous. However, For the sake of geological and hydrogeological this study shows that even where the water-hosting shale completeness, 50 samples were borrowed from the 2011 is thin, it appears to be important in controlling the study area and serve to infill a small part of southwestern chemistry of groundwater. The four Devonian shale units Ontario (Fig. 1) that had been excluded from the 2007 to described below have a combined average on-shore 2010 work. The 2011 study (Hamilton et al. 2011) used thickness of 107 m (Table 1) and a maximum on-shore the same sampling and analytical
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