Salt Scar at Skiatook Lake, Oklahoma

Pumping oil and gas out of the ground also produces large volumes of water with undesirable quality known as produced water. Spills, leaks, and the improper disposal of produced water can cause severe scarring of the surrounding environment. USGS scientists have installed monitoring equipment (wells, rain gage, sampling line) to collect water-quality data on a salt scar that extends from a brine pit (pit and berm in foreground) to Skiatook Lake, Okla. (in background) at an active oil production site (Site B). A multidisciplinary team of scientists is developing methods to assess salt scars, such as this one.