Data supporting "Common hydraulic fracturing fluid additives alter the structure and function of anaerobic microbial communities", describing iron reduction experiments, microbial community profiling, and statistical testing of data.

In order to determine the innate microbial community of shale gas reservoirs and how they are impacted by hydraulic fracturing, this study analyzed biomass collected from produced water and rock from hydraulically fractured wells in the Utica Shale. The samples include rock chips from a drill core from one Utica well, produced water from that same Utica well, and produced water from 12 different Utica wells that had been in production between 1-5 years, spanning the oil and gas windows of SE Ohio. The samples were filtered for biomass, extracted, amplified, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on the Illumina MiSeq platform.

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.

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.

This metadata record describes data collected from laboratory experiments designed to characterize the microbial processes that contribute to clogging (i.e., bioclogging) of wells used for recharge (i.e., injection) of fresh surface water into specific aquifer zones (Upper Floridan Aquifer [UFA] and Avon Park Permeable Zone [APPZ]) as part of water storage technology of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). Solid rock core samples were collected from three wells (ASRC38S, ASRL63S and ASRC59; abbreviated to C38S, L63S, and C59 henceforth) near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, that have been designated as injection well sites for ASR wells as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, on July 22, 2022 (C38S/UFA), May 22, 2023 (C38S/APPZ), July 7, 2023 (L63S/UFA), July 13, 2023 (L63S/APPZ) and November 15, 2023 (C59/UFA and C59/APPZ). The cores were crushed and sieved to a specific size, and this sized material was used to pack four columns: two columns for each well and aquifer storage zone (e.g., C38S/UFA and C38S/APPZ) (ATSM International, 2020; Rinck-Pfeiffer and others, 2000). Within each set of paired columns, one column was allowed to be colonized by native groundwater microbial communities (i.e., C38S/UFA Biofilm Positive column) by being connected to a continuously flowing source of native groundwater, either the UFA or APPZ, depending on the source of the packed core materials, for between two and four months. Prior to starting each experiment, pressure sensors were inserted into each column (Rinck-Pfeiffer and others, 2000). Each experiment was initiated by respectively pumping native groundwater from the UFA or APPZ into the UFA/Biofilm Positive and Negative and APPZ/Biofilm Positive and Negative columns for one week to geochemically condition the columns before starting the recharge phases of the experiments. Water collected from the Kissimmee River confluence with Lake Okeechobee was used as the recharge source water and was pumped through both the UFA Biofilm Positive and Negative and APPZ Biofilm Positive and Negative columns. During each experiment, pressure data in kilopascals (kPa) were recorded at specific locations along the vertical axis of all columns (Rinck-Pfeiffer and others, 2000). Additionally, pump rates into the columns were closely maintained at 5.00 milliliters per minute (mL/min). These data were used to calculate the hydraulic conductivity (meters/day) for all experiments (Sanchez-Vila and others, 2006). In addition to column pressure and flow rate data being collected, samples were also collected from native groundwater sources, Kissimmee River and from the column inputs, discharges and porewater after a static storage period for geochemistry, nutrients, dissolved gases, and organic carbon substrates to characterize microbial community preferential growth rates on selected organic carbon substrates.

These datasets contain microbial community data from groundwater samples collected at an in situ bioremediation site located at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, NJ. DNA was extracted from groundwater samples collected from monitoring wells at the NAWC study site from July 2008 through July 2015 and analyzed for microbial community structure. Sample collection coincided with a groundwater bioremediation experiment investigating the microbial degradation of the contaminant trichloroethylene (TCE) prevalent in the targeted region of the aquifer. Nutrient addition and a microbial consortium, commercially developed to stimulate the degradation of TCE and TCE byproducts, was introduced to the contaminated groundwater on October 15, 2008. This data release contains microbial community data including taxonomy, alpha, and beta diversity from next-generation sequencing of the V4 region of 16S rRNA from groundwater samples collected during the 7-year observation period. A further discussion and interpretation of the data is presented by Jennifer C Underwood, Denise M Akob, Michelle Mi Lorah, Thomas E Imbrigiotta, Ronald W Harvey, Claire R Tiedeman, Microbial community response to a bioaugmentation test to degrade trichloroethylene in a fractured rock aquifer, Trenton, N.J, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Volume 98, Issue 7, July 2022, fiac077, https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiac077.

Water used for hydraulic fracturing treatments in and near the Williston Basin during 2000-2015, was estimated using data reported in IHS Markit (TM) (2016). Hydraulic fracturing treatment data from IHS Markit (TM) (2016) may include volumes in a variety of measurement units, and they may include multiple treatments per well. All listed treatments within the study area were converted to gallons and summed on a per-well basis, discounting any treatments for which the specified measurement units were unclear (for example, “sacks”, or “feet”), which were minor. Of 3,734,380 treatments listed within the study area during the timeframe of interest, 0.7% (26,373 records) were not included. For each well, the date listed as the well completion date (typically the date of final preparation of the well for petroleum production) was considered to be the date of the water consumption. Listings for the actual treatment date are incomplete in the IHS Markit (TM) (2016) database, but generally the completion date is within a few days, or at most months, of the actual treatment date. The per-well treatment volumes were then aggregated via summation to a 1-mile grid using ArcGIS functions. The annual aggregated hydraulic fracturing treatment data were exported as annual GeoTIFF images with a resolution of 1 square mile per pixel and bundled into a TAR archive file. This data is not part of the USGS Aggregated Water Use Database (AWUDS) or the National Water Information System (NWIS).

These data sets present results from the analyses of groundwater samples collected from monitoring wells and monitoring intervals in bedrock wells in the mudstone aquifer underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, NJ. The water samples were collected between 2008 and 2013 and were analyzed for field parameters, inorganic and organic constituents, and the abundances of selected microbes of importance to the evaluation of biological degradation of organic contaminants in groundwater. The collection and analyses of the groundwater samples coincides with conducting a bioaugmentation experiment in a targeted region of the mudstone aquifer. The purpose of the bioaugmentation was to introduce and stimulate microbial species that are capable of degrading trichloroethene (TCE). The bioaugmentation experiment was initiated on October 15, 2008. Samples were collected in wells prior to the start of the experiment and for a period of 5 years after the experiment was initiated.