Chemical extraction data for oil and gas wastewater study samples from Blacktail Creek, North Dakota, and Wolf Creek, West Virginia

Sediment samples from sites affected by environmental releases of wastewater from oil and gas production were examined to determine sorbed versus mineral structure associations of barium, radium, strontium, and other elements. Archive samples were used from work at Blacktail Creek, North Dakota and Wolf Creek, West Virginia. The Blacktail Creek samples are described in publications and associated supplemental information by Cozzarelli et al. (2017, 2021), and in a USGS data release by Jaeschke et al. (2020). The Wolf Creek samples are described in a publication and supplemental information from Akob et al. (2016). Samples were reanalyzed by gamma spectroscopy for radium-226, and then extracted using buffered ammonium chloride solution. The experimental design included duplicate samples from some sites, laboratory duplicates from split samples from the field, and experimental duplicates for extractions. Each extraction was performed using about 10 to 15 grams of sediment. Each aliquot of sediment was extracted three times in series. Each of the three extraction steps lasted about 24 hours while on a mechanical twirler. After each extraction step, samples were centrifuged, and supernatant was collected. After the final extraction had its supernatant removed, samples were rinsed with ultrapure water and centrifuged again to remove remaining extractant, and the sediment pellet was collected and dried and analyzed by gamma spectroscopy for radium-226. Supernatant from the three extraction steps was analyzed for major and trace elements by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. Dried post-extraction sediment was also analyzed for surface area using a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. This data release contains radium-226 in sediment for pre- and post-extraction of sediment samples, the mass of major and trace elements solubilized in each extraction step, a calculation for total mass extracted for major and trace elements, and surface area of post-extraction sediment.

References:
Denise M. Akob, Adam C. Mumford, William Orem, Mark A. Engle, J. Grace Klinges, Douglas B. Kent, and Isabelle M. Cozzarelli Environmental Science & Technology 2016 50 (11), 5517-5525 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b00428

Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Douglas B. Kent, Martin Briggs, Mark A. Engle, Adam Benthem, Katherine J. Skalak, Adam C. Mumford, Jeanne Jaeschke, Aïda Farag, John W. Lane, Denise M. Akob, Geochemical and geophysical indicators of oil and gas wastewater can trace potential exposure pathways following releases to surface waters, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 755, Part 1, 2021, 142909, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142909.

I.M. Cozzarelli, K.J. Skalak, D.B. Kent, M.A. Engle, A. Benthem, A.C. Mumford, K. Haase, A. Farag, D. Harper, S.C. Nagel, L.R. Iwanowicz, W.H. Orem, D.M. Akob, J.B. Jaeschke, J. Galloway, M. Kohler, D.L. Stoliker, G.D. Jolly, Environmental signatures and effects of an oil and gas wastewater spill in the Williston Basin, North Dakota, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 579, 2017, Pages 1781-1793, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.157.