Analysls of 8allroad Commlsslon of 1exas daLa on well waLer chemlsLry ln Lhe

Sllverado on Lhe 8razos nelghborhood, 1x.

1erry Lngelder
ueparLmenL of Ceosclences
1he ennsylvanla SLaLe unlverslLy

ulmock, A became Lhe posLer chlld for Lhose looklng for exLenslve groundwaLer conLamlnaLlon by Lhe
gas lndusLry. 1he ennsylvanla ueparLmenL of LnvlronmenLal roLecLlon (A-uL) Look exLenslve well
waLer samples and reached several concluslons. Arguably, Lhe mosL lmporLanL was LhaL no evldence of
hydruallc fracLure fluld could be deLecLed ln Lhe local ground waLer (Csborn eL al., 2011, Warner eL al.,
2012). Some of Lhe local nelghbors were noL saLlsfled wlLh Lhe A-uL resulLs and called upon Lhe uS
LnvlronmenLal roLecLlon Agency (uS-LA) Lo lnLervene. AfLer equally exLenslve LesLlng, Lhe u-LA
reached Lhe same concluslon whlch was LhaL ulmock groundwaLer was safe Lo drlnk (Legere, 2012).
Whlle Lhe LA lnvesLlgaLlon puL Lo bed all suspenslon of groundwaLer conLamlnaLlon Lhe hydraullc
fracLure process lLself, Lhls sLlll lefL nagglng quesLlons abouL Lhe role of caslng lnLegrlLy ln allowlng
shallow meLhane Lo mlgraLe lnLo groundwaLer ln Lhe ulmock reglon. no one dlspuLes Lhe facL LhaL
cemenL around a slgnlflcanL number of gas wells evenLually leaks meLhane (WaLson and 8achu, 2009).
Lven on Lhls lssue LesLs were lnconcluslve abouL Lhe orlgln of meLhane ln ulmock groundwaLer because
Lhe gas chemlsLry looks as much llke gas from upper uevonlan source rocks as lL does gas from Lhe
Mlddle uevonlan Marcellus gas shale (8aldassare eL al., 2014). lL ls also very clear LhaL Lhermogenlc gas
ln ulmock groundwaLer was presenL ln Susquehanna CounLy long before lndusLry arrlved (Molofsky eL
al., 2013).
now, Lhe 8allroad Commlsslon of 1exas (88C) ls under flre because lL has been unable Lo verlfy
groundwaLer conLamlnaLlon ln Lhe Sllverado on Lhe 8razos nelghborhood ouLslde of lorL WorLh, 1x
(Shlpp, 2014). 1he presumpLlon of Lhe news medla ls LhaL Lhe 88C musL be lncompeLenL because Lhe
88C could noL flnd evldence of conLamlnaLlon. 1he lssue ln Lhe case of Lhe Sllverado nelghborhood ls
meLhane mlgraLlon, largely because llke Lhe Marcellus, no experL has found evldence of sLlmulaLlon fluld
ln groundwaLer above Lhe 8arneLL. undersLandably, Lhe medla can'L read, undersLand, and lnLerpreL
Lhe 88C reporL on Sllverado buL one would hope LhaL Lhe 'experLs' Lhey quoLe sLudled Lhe reporL
carefully and more lmporLanLly, undersLood lL.
1he 88C-Sllverado reporL (hLLp://www.scrlbd.com/doc/228383731/Sllverado-on-Lhe-8razos-ComplalnL-
lnvesLlgaLlon) conLalns exLenslve daLa Lables LhaL need Lo be read ln Lhe conLexL of Lhe lsoLope
geochemlsLry daLa from Lhe 8arneLL gas (Zumberge eL al., 2012). 1he 88C-Sllveradp reporL makes lL easy
Lo compare groundwaLer gas composlLlon and gas from Lhe nearby 1eal and 8uLler gas wells. llrsL, Lhe
amounL of nlLrogen (n
2
) ln Lhe Sllverado ground waLer relaLlve Lo Lhe LhaL ln Lhe 8arneLL should have
been enough Lo lead any reasonable observer (l.e., an oberver wlLhouL an agenda) Lo conclude LhaL
Lhese gases are noL from Lhe same source. ln facL, waLer wells drllled lnLo Lhe SLrawn aqulfer of Lhe
Sllverado area are known Lo produce gases wlLh a relaLlvely hlgher nlLrogen conLenL (Plll eL al., 2007).
Second, arker CounLy ls an area of Lhe 8arneLL where weL gas [l.e., gas wlLh slgnlflcanL eLhane (C
2
P
6
),
propane (C
3
P
8
), and buLane (C
4
P
10
)] ls produced (!arvle eL al., 2007). 1he 8arneLL gas has a weLness [(C
2

+ C
2+
) / (C
1
+ C
2
+ C
2+
)] on Lhe order of 20 ln Lhe arker CounLy area accordlng Lo Lhe 88C daLa Lables.
1he gas ln Sllverado ground waLer has a weLness on Lhe order of 12 or less. Agaln, lL would be dlfflculL
for a reasonable observer Lo conclude Lhe LhaL Sllverado groundwaLer gas and 8arneLL gas were one and
Lhe same. 1hlrd, Lhe !
13
C eLhane daLa for 8arenLL gas are below -33.17 for all measuremenLs of gas from
1eal and 8uLler. ln sharp conLrasL, Lhe !
13
C eLhane daLa for Sllverado ground waLer are above -34.94
for all measuremenLs of gas from all waLer wells. 1here ls no overlapplng of !
13
C eLhane daLa, Lhus
maklng lL a mysLery why Lhe medla 'experLs' concluded LhaL Lhese are Lhe same gases. lL should be
noLed LhaL Lhe deuLerlum (!P
2
) ln Sllverado ground waLer gas polnLs Lo a Lhermogenlc orlgln buL Lhe gas
ls sLrange because !
13
C eLhane does noL slL where lL should on a normal Lhermal maLurlLy-rollover Lrend
commonly observed for C
2
P
6
ln several shale gas deposlLs of norLh Amerlca

(Zumberge eL al., 2012).
ln summary, based on Lhree observaLlons (l.e., Loo much n
2
, Loo llLLle C
2
P
6
, and Loo much
13
C) for
Sllverado groundwaLer as reporLed ln Lhe 88C-Sllverado daLa seL, lL ls boLh reckless and lrresponslble of
WlAA Lo expllclLly parLlclpaLe ln quesLlonlng Lhe lnLegrlLy of Lhe 88C of 1exas. ln Lhe fuLure, WlAA
mlghL wlsh Lo be more careful abouL lLs cholce of 'experLs' and approach only Lhose wlLhouL an agenda.
1he facL ls LhaL Lhe 88C-Sllverado daLa seL suggesLs, lf anyLhlng, LhaL Lhere ls nC llnk beLween fracklng
and groundwaLer conLamlnaLlon ln Lhe lorL WorLh 8asln. ln sclence, llnks are based on Lhe correlaLlon
of mulLlple daLa, noL an almosL ldenLlcal maLch" of slngle numbers. loLs of Lhe 88C-Sllverado daLa on
Lhree flgures from Lhe recenL Zumberge eL al. paper show how poorly Sllverado groundwaLer
geochemlsLry correlaLes wlLh 8arneLL gas geochemlsLry and noL essenLlally exacLly Lhe same" (llgures 1
- 3).
Cne of my greaLesL concerns abouL Amerlca's fuLure ls a news medla LhaL resorLs Lo Lhe dlsslmlnaLlon of
agenda based mlslnformaLlon. 1hls ls noL Lhe model LhaL one of Amerlca's greaLesL [ounallsLs, lda
1arbell, used ln Laklng on Lhe oll and gas lndusLry a cenLury ago.

1erry Lngelder, rofessor of Ceosclences
!une 6, 2014, unlverslLy ark, A











"#$#%#&'#()
8aldassare, l. !., McCaffrey, M. A., and Parper, !. A., 2014, A geochemlcal conLexL for sLray gas
lnvesLlgaLlons ln Lhe norLhern Appalachlan 8asln: lmpllcaLlons of analyses of naLural gases from
neogene-Lhrough uevonlan-age sLraLa: AAC 8ulleLln, v. 98, no. 2, p. 341-372.
Plll, 8. !., !arvle, u. M., Zumberge, !., Penry, M., and ollasLro, 8. M., 2007, Cll and gas geochemlsLry and
peLroleum sysLems of Lhe lorL WorLh 8asln: AAC bulleLln, v. 91, no. 4, p. 443-473.
!arvle, u. M., Plll, 8. !., 8uble, 1. L., and ollasLro, 8. M., 2007, unconvenLlonal shale-gas sysLems: 1he
Mlsslsslpplan 8arneLL Shale of norLh-cenLral 1exas as one model for Lhermogenlc shale-gas
assessmenL: AAC bulleLln, v. 91, no. 4, p. 473-499.
Legere, L., 2012, llrsL 11 ulmock homes sampled by LA show no healLh concerns, 1lmes 1rlbune:
ScranLon, A, hLLp://LheLlmes-Lrlbune.com/news/flrsL-11-dlmock-homes-sampled-by-epa-show-
no-healLh-concerns-1.1286343.
Molofsky, L. !., Connor, !. A., Wylle, A. S., Wagner, 1., and larhaL, S. k., 2013, LvaluaLlon of MeLhane
Sources ln CroundwaLer ln norLheasLern ennsylvanla: CroundwaLer, v. 31, p. 333-249.
Csborn, S. C., vengosh, A., Warner, n. 8., and !ackson, 8. 8., 2011, MeLhane conLamlnaLlon of drlnklng
waLer accompanylng gas-well drllllng and hydraullc fracLurlng: roceedlngs of Lhe naLlonal
Academy of Sclences, v. 108, no. 20, p. 8172-8176.
Shlpp, 8., 2014, SclenLlsLs: 1esLs prove fracklng Lo ablame for flamlng arker CounLy wells, WlAA news:
uallas, 1x, hLLp://www.wfaa.com/news/lnvesLlgaLes/SclenLlsLs-say-sLaLe-LesLs-prove-fracklng-
Lo-blame-for-arker-Co-flamlng-wells-262036131.hLml.
Warner, n. 8., !ackson, 8. 8., uarrah, 1. P., Csborn, S. C., uown, A., Zhao, k., WhlLe, A., and vengosh, A.,
2012, Ceochemlcal evldence for posslble naLural mlgraLlon of Marcellus lormaLlon brlne Lo
shallow aqulfers ln ennsylvanla: roceedlngs of Lhe naLlonal Academy of Sclences, v. 109, no.
30, p. 11961-11966.
WaLson, 1., and 8achu, S., 2009, LvaluaLlon of Lhe poLenLlal for gas and CC2 leakage along wellbores:
SL urllllng & CompleLlon, v. 24, no. 1, p. 113-126.
Zumberge, !., lerworn, k., and 8rown, S., 2012, lsoLoplc reversal ('rollover') ln shale gases produced
from Lhe Mlsslsslpplan 8arneLL and layeLLevllle formaLlons: Marlne and eLroleum Ceology, v.
31, no. 1, p. 43-32.





llgure 1. MeLhane carbon lsoLope composlLlon as a funcLlon of gas weLness ln Lhe 8arneLL and
layeLLevllle gas shale (afLer Zumberge eL al., 2012).












llgure 2. LLhane carbon lsoLope composlLlon as a funcLlon of gas weLness ln Lhe 8arneLL and
layeLLevllle gas shale (afLer Zumberge eL al., 2012).








llgure 3. MeLhane hydrogen lsoLope composlLlon as a funcLlon of gas weLness ln Lhe 8arneLL and
layeLLevllle gas shale (afLer Zumberge eL al., 2012).