The Permian Basin, straddling New Mexico and Texas, is one of the most productive oil and gas (OG) provinces in the United States. OG production yields large volumes of wastewater that contain elevated concentrations of major ions including salts (also referred to as brines), and trace organic and inorganic constituents. These OG wastewaters pose unknown environmental health risks, particularly in the case of accidental or intentional releases. Releases of OG wastewaters have resulted in water-quality and environmental health effects at sites in West Virginia (Akob, et al., 2016, Orem et al. 2017, Kassotis et al. 2016) and in the Williston Basin region in Montana and North Dakota (Cozzarelli et al. 2017, Cozzarelli et al. 2021, Lauer et al. 2016, Gleason et al. 2014, and Mills et al. 2011). Starting in November 2017, 39 illegal dumps of OG wastewater were identified in southeastern New Mexico on public lands by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Illegal dumping is an unpermitted release of waste materials that is in violation of Federal and State laws including the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (U.S. EPA, 1976), Federal Land Policy and Management Act (U.S. DOI, 2016; 43 USC 1701(a)(8); 43 USC 1733(g)), the State of New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Act (New Mexico Legislature. 2019), and New Mexico Administrative Code § 19.15.34.20. To evaluate the effects of these releases, changes in soil geochemistry and microbial community structure at 6 sites were analyzed by comparing soils from within OG wastewater dump-affected zones to corresponding unaffected (control) soils. In addition, the effects on local vegetation were evaluated by measuring the chemistry of 4 plant species from dump-affected and control zones at a single site. Samples of local produced waters were geochemically and isotopically characterized to link soil geochemistry to reservoir geochemistry. These data sets included field observations; soil water extractable inorganic chemical composition, pH, strontium (Sr) isotopes, and specific conductance; bulk soil Raman, carbon (C), nitrogen (N), mercury (Hg), radium (Ra) and thorium (Th) isotopes, and percent moisture; plant inorganic chemical composition; and soil microbial community composition data. At each site, triplicate soil samples were collected from dump-affected and control zones and duplicate field samples were collected at each site. Plant biomass was collected in triplicate from dump-affected and control zones at a single site. This data release includes eleven data tables provided as machine readable 'comma-separated values' format (*.csv): T01_Permian_Data_Dictionary.csv, the entity and attribute metadata section for tables T02-T11 in table format; T02_Soil_Geochemistry.csv, descriptions of sampling sites and concentrations of major anions, cations, and trace elements from the soil samples; T03_Plant_Geochemistry.csv, concentrations of major anions, cations, trace elements, and Sr isotopes from the vegetation samples; T04_Soil_Isotopes.csv, Sr, Ra, and Th isotopes from the soils; T05_Raman_Counts.csv, Raman spectra counts from the soil samples; T06_Raman_Band_Separation.csv, Raman band separation from selected soil samples; T07_Soil_Organics_Spectra.csv, spectral data of alkane unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) from soil extracts; T08_Soil_Organics_Summary.csv, a summary of alkane UCMs from soil extracts; T09_Soil_16S_BIOM.csv, microbial operational taxonomic units from the soils; T10_Produced_Water.csv, selected geochemistry and isotopic measurements from produced water samples; T11_Limits_AnalyticalMethods.csv, a listing of analytical detection limits.

Oil and gas (OG) wastewaters are commonly disposed of by underground injection and previous research showed that activities at a disposal facility in West Virginia affected stream biogeochemistry and sediment microbial communities downstream from the facility. Microorganisms can control the fate and transport of organic and inorganic components of OG wastewater highlighting the need to characterize the effects of OG wastewater components on microbial activity. We conducted a series of aerobic microcosm experiments to assess the influence of high total dissolved solids (TDS) and hydraulic fracturing fluid additives (2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide (DBNPA), a biocide, and ethylene glycol, an anti-scaling additive), on microbial community structure and function. Microcosms were constructed with sediment from upstream (background) or downstream (impacted) from the disposal facility in West Virginia and four treatment conditions each with heat-killed controls were tested: 1) brine (high TDS) + DBNPA, 2) brine + ethylene glycol, 3) brine, and 4) unamended control. Microbial terminal electron accepting processes were monitored over time and changes in microbial community composition were characterized. Over the course of the incubation, the sediment layer in the microcosms became anoxic, and addition of DBNPA was observed to inhibit iron reduction.

These data were compiled to monitor potential changes in vegetation and soil properties to indicate recovery of reclaimed oil and gas sites with time since reclamation and allow for the comparison of reclaimed well pads with reference sites of similar site characteristics. Objective(s) of our study were to identify the recovery patterns of (1) individual soil characteristics and (2) holistic multivariate soil recovery as well as (3) determine how site properties and environmental factors affect reclamation outcomes. These data represent observations of 134 reclaimed oil and gas well pads. These data were collected by Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) certified field crews using field observations and AIM methods on lands impacted by oil and gas development on the Colorado Plateau and New Mexico Plateau of New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. These data can be used to estimate recovery on reclaimed oil and gas pads.

This dataset includes data for water, sediment, and biota samples collected at 250 locations in the northwestern Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains during 1999–2012. The locations were chosen to assess potential effects from historical mining, with a focus primarily on mercury contamination associated with placer gold mines in the Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains, and a hard-rock mercury mine in the Trinity Mountains. Trace elements and major elements were analyzed in selected samples. All analyses of mercury, methylmercury, and (or) trace and major elements in water and sediment were performed by U.S. Geological Survey laboratories. Biota samples (invertebrates, fish, and frogs) were analyzed for mercury, methylmercury and (or) trace elements at the Trace Element Research Laboratory in College Station, Texas.

This dataset includes data for water, sediment, and biota samples collected at 250 locations in the northwestern Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains during 1999–2012. The locations were chosen to assess potential effects from historical mining, with a focus primarily on mercury contamination associated with placer gold mines in the Sierra Nevada and the Trinity Mountains, and a hard-rock mercury mine in the Trinity Mountains. Trace elements and major elements were analyzed in selected samples. All analyses of mercury, methylmercury, and (or) trace and major elements in water and sediment were performed by U.S. Geological Survey laboratories. Biota samples (invertebrates, fish, and frogs) were analyzed for mercury, methylmercury and (or) trace elements at the Trace Element Research Laboratory in College Station, Texas.

Low biomass waters provide a unique challenge in the field of microbial ecology. It is difficult to determine, when biomass concentrations are extremely low, whether or not the sequencing data received are of good quality and representative of the waters sampled. Fifty-nine samples including 8 blanks were collected from a low biomass hydraulically fractured well producing from the Niobrara Shale in Colorado. At least 4 samples were collected by filtering the exact volume for each listed here: 1000 mL, 900 mL, 800 mL, 700 mL, 600 mL, 500 mL, 400 mL, 300 mL, 200 mL, 100 mL, 0 mL (blanks).

A large spill of wastewater from oil and gas operations was discovered adjacent to Blacktail Creek near Williston, North Dakota in January 2015. To determine the effects of this spill on streambed microbial communities over time, bed sediment samples were taken from Blacktail Creek upstream, adjacent to, and at several locations downstream from the spill site. Blacktail Creek is a tributary of the Little Muddy River, and additional samples were taken upstream and downstream from the confluence of Blacktail Creek and the Little Muddy River. Samples were collected in February 2015, June 2015, June 2016, and June 2017. DNA was extracted from these sediments, and sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was performed to enable analysis of the microbial community structure. Raw sequence data was processed, and taxonomy was assigned based on the Silva 132 database (Yilmaz et al, 2014) using the MOTHUR software package (Schloss et al, 2009). Raw sequence data are available from GenBank at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA666160.

A large spill of wastewater from oil and gas operations was discovered adjacent to Blacktail Creek near Williston, North Dakota in January 2015. To determine the effects of this spill on streambed microbial communities over time, bed sediment samples were taken from Blacktail Creek upstream, adjacent to, and at several locations downstream from the spill site. Blacktail Creek is a tributary of the Little Muddy River, and additional samples were taken upstream and downstream from the confluence of Blacktail Creek and the Little Muddy River. Samples were collected in February 2015, June 2015, June 2016, and June 2017. DNA was extracted from these sediments, and sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was performed to enable analysis of the microbial community structure. Raw sequence data was processed, and taxonomy was assigned based on the Silva 132 database (Yilmaz et al, 2014) using the MOTHUR software package (Schloss et al, 2009). Raw sequence data are available from GenBank at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA666160.

The Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) is part of the Northeast Natural Energy LLC (NNE) production facility on the Monongahela River in Monongalia County, West Virginia, USA. Natural gas extraction in the area creates large volumes of wastewater that may contain chemical compounds that pose risks to humans, animals, and the environment. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been studying the organic compounds in water produced from shale gas wells and in 2014, NNE started drilling two production wells in the Marcellus Shale. The well, MIP (Morgantown Industrial Park) -5H, was completed the following year. Samples were collected from this well. Large volumes of wastewater fluids were produced from this well and contain a mixture of chemicals added during hydraulic fracturing of the formation and chemical constituents from the host rocks. The original hydraulic fracturing fluids and the wastewater contain organic materials that could be toxic or pose risks to the environment if leaked, spilled, or improperly disposed of. This project was designed to collect comprehensive data from multiple sample types, including Monongahela River water, wastewater collected at the separator (during the flowback and produced-water phase), storage tank wastewater, and field blanks. Water samples for the analyses contained in this release were collected from July 2015 through December 2018. Samples of Monongahela River water were collected from a lined holding pond adjacent to the MIP well pad on November 5, 2015. Wastewater was intermittently sampled from the MIP-5H separator on the well pad from December 10, 2015, to December 6, 2018. The wastewater produced during the first two weeks of production was labeled as flowback water until December 23, 2015, then the wastewater produced after this date was defined as produced water. A storage tank at the well pad site was sampled on December 6, 2018. This data release contains non-target liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry data.