Citation Note: These data were collected as part of a research study published in Environmental Science and Technology. Please reference the following paper when citing these data. Blondes, M.S., Shelton, J.L., Engle, M.A., Trembly, J.P., Doolan, C.A., Jubb, A.M., Chenault, J.M., Rowan, E.L., Haefner, R.J., and Mailot, B.E., 2020, Utica Shale Play Oil and Gas Brines: Geochemistry and Factors Influencing Wastewater Management: Environmental Science & Technology, https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02461. The Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays in the Appalachian Basin are the 4th and 1st largest natural gas producing plays in the United States. Hydrocarbon production generates large volumes of brine (“produced water”) that must be disposed of, treated, or reused. Though Marcellus brines have been studied extensively, there are few studies from the Utica Shale Play. This study presents new brine chemical analyses from 16 Utica Shale Play wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Results from Na-Cl-Br systematics and stable and radiogenic isotopes suggest that the Utica Shale Play brines are likely residual pore water concentrated beyond halite saturation during the formation of the Ordovician Beekmantown evaporative sequence. The narrow range of chemistry for the Utica Shale Play produced waters (e.g., total dissolved solides = 214 – 283 g/L) over both time and space implies a consistent composition for disposal and reuse planning. The amount of salt produced annually from the Utica Shale Play is equivalent to 3.4% of annual U.S. halite production. Utica Shale Play brines have radium activities 580 times the EPA maximum contaminant level and are supersaturated with respect to barite, indicating the potential for surface and aqueous radium hazards if not properly disposed of.

This release contains isotopic composition (δ7Li, δ11B, δ138Ba) data of produced water and core samples taken from the Utica Shale and Point Pleasant Formation.

This release contains isotopic composition (δ7Li, δ11B, δ138Ba) data of produced water and core samples taken from the Utica Shale and Point Pleasant Formation.

Recent production of light sweet oil from shallow (~2,000 ft) horizontal wells in the Upper Devonian Berea Sandstone of eastern Kentucky and historical oil production from conventional wells in the Berea of adjoining southern Ohio has prompted re-evaluation of Devonian petroleum systems in the central Appalachian Basin. Herein, we examined Upper Devonian Ohio Shale (lower Huron Member) and Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale organic-rich source rocks from eastern Ohio and nearby areas using organic petrography and geochemical analyses of solvent extracts. The data indicate the organic matter in the Ohio and Marcellus Shales was primarily derived from marine algae and its degradation products including bacterial biomass. Absence of odd-over-even n-alkane distributions in gas chromatograms and low gammacerane index values in Devonian source rocks are similar to properties reported for Devonian-reservoired oils in eastern Ohio, suggesting a strong oil-source rock correlation. However, petrographic and geochemical parameters presented here were unable to discriminate specific shale source rocks (e.g., Ohio Shale vs. Marcellus Shale) for the Devonian oils. Lower Paleozoic oils from eastern Ohio, in contrast, are characterized by the presence of odd-over-even n-alkane distributions and higher gammacerane values which clearly discriminate them from Devonian shale-derived oils. Measurements of solid bitumen reflectance (BRo) at the thermal maturity range of the samples (immature to peak oil conditions) tend to underestimate ‘true’ thermal maturity because solid bitumen has lower reflectance than co-occurring vitrinite. Because solid bitumen dominates the organic matter in Devonian shale and vitrinite is sparse, the value of reflectance as a thermal proxy is questionable and its use may lead to reports of ‘vitrinite reflectance suppression’ in early mature to oil window mature areas. For example, thermal maturity estimates from equilibrium(?) biomarker isomerization ratios may suggest some of the Devonian source rock samples are at middle to peak oil window conditions e.g., approximate vitrinite reflectance values of 0.8-0.9%, whereas solid bitumen reflectance is approximately 0.52-0.54% in the same samples. If correct, this observation may require that the predicted onset of oil generation from Devonian shale source rocks in eastern Ohio is moved farther westward. As a consequence, only local to short-distance (30-50 mi) migration would be necessary for emplacement of Devonian-sourced oils into Devonian reservoirs of eastern Ohio, rather than long-distance migration (>50 mi) from ‘deep in the Appalachian basin’, as suggested by previous workers, potentially impacting exploration and future assessments of undiscovered petroleum resources in the Berea Sandstone. However, biomarker isomerization ratios do not show consistent relationships to other thermal maturity parameters (BRo, Tmax), thereby preventing development of robust empirical calibrations for these thermal proxies in the Devonian of eastern Ohio.

Sediment composition data to support the manuscript "Multivariate analysis of shale gas development on the chemical and biological health of headwater streams"

Sediment composition data to support the manuscript "Multivariate analysis of shale gas development on the chemical and biological health of headwater streams"

This data release contains geochemical and mineralogical laboratory results from core samples collected from the USGS Cow Creek 1-21 well. The well was drilled and cored in 2022 and targeted the Lewis Shale on the eastern edge of the Washakie Basin in Carbon County, Wyoming. The core data include results from total organic carbon (TOC) and total carbon (TC) analysis, programmed pyrolysis, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (ICP-OES/MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), stable isotope (C-13) analysis, and vitrinite reflectance analysis. A separate data release contains 4 geophysical wire line logs and is available at .

This data release includes whole rock (WR) geochemical data for 94 samples. Whole rock geochemistry data were analyzed at Actlabs in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Rock samples were collected by Peter Valley, Greg Walsh, Arthur Merschat, and Ryan McAleer. The whole rock geochemistry data characterize the composition of mapped meta-igneous rocks in eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire, USA. The data release contains three files, including one metadata file and 2 comma-delimited (CSV) files. The CSV files include the following: BronsonHill_WR_data.csv and BronsonHill_WR_data_dictionary.csv.

This data release includes whole rock (WR) geochemical data for 94 samples. Whole rock geochemistry data were analyzed at Actlabs in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Rock samples were collected by Peter Valley, Greg Walsh, Arthur Merschat, and Ryan McAleer. The whole rock geochemistry data characterize the composition of mapped meta-igneous rocks in eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire, USA. The data release contains three files, including one metadata file and 2 comma-delimited (CSV) files. The CSV files include the following: BronsonHill_WR_data.csv and BronsonHill_WR_data_dictionary.csv.