Measuring Aqueous CH4 Concentration Profiles in Shales and Tills to Define Source, Transport, and Fate of Organic Gases

The rapid development of unconventional shale resource plays has generated public concern with respect to potential contamination of potable groundwaters and surface waters by fugitive natural gases dominated by methane (CH4). Continuous core samples collected at six drill sites to a maximum depth o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Procedia earth and planetary science 2017, Vol.17, p.810-813
Main Authors: Hendry, M.J., Bangsund, A.L., Schmeling, E.E., Barbour, S.L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Baseline characterization
glacial till
groundwater
methane
shale
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Summary:The rapid development of unconventional shale resource plays has generated public concern with respect to potential contamination of potable groundwaters and surface waters by fugitive natural gases dominated by methane (CH4). Continuous core samples collected at six drill sites to a maximum depth of 240 m below ground were used to define the vertical distribution of dissolved CH4 and conservative Cl− through Cretaceous shales and overlying glacial tills in the Williston Basin, Canada. The interpretation of potentially reactive CH4 depth profiles in conjunction with conservative profiles provide insights into the source, transport, and fate of CH4 in aquitards-aquifer sequences and present baseline gas concentrations for use in fugitive gas migration investigations.
ISSN:1878-5220
1878-5220
DOI:10.1016/j.proeps.2017.01.048