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Adam C Mumford

Dr. Adam Mumford is a Hydrologist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area. 

Dr. Adam Mumford is a geomicrobiologist who studies the interactions between microbial communities and minerals in the shallow subsurface. His current work focuses on how microbial communities respond to inputs of produced water from unconventional oil and gas development, and how these responses can mitigate or exacerbate the risk posed by produced waters to streams and shallow aquifers. 

Dr. Mumford received his BS in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire in 2003, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University in 2012. Prior to joining the USGS National Research Program as a Mendenhall Research Fellow in 2014, he served as a postdoctoral research associate at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, ME. 

For more information, please visit the Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory and Reston Microbiology Labortory websites. 

Science and Products

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Scientist preparing to analyze samples in a laboratory

Advanced PFAS Measurement Methods

Environmental Health Program scientists, in collaboration with other USGS scientists, are developing complementary field and laboratory methods and capabilities to detect and quantify a range of target and nontarget per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and indicator compounds at low levels (parts per trillion) in a variety of environmental matrices. The PFAS Integrated Science Team is...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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Advanced PFAS Measurement Methods

Environmental Health Program scientists, in collaboration with other USGS scientists, are developing complementary field and laboratory methods and capabilities to detect and quantify a range of target and nontarget per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and indicator compounds at low levels (parts per trillion) in a variety of environmental matrices. The PFAS Integrated Science Team is...
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Framework for Examining Stream Ecosystem Health in Areas of Shale Gas Development—A Multi-Parameter Watershed-Based Case Study in Pennsylvania

In a case study of 25 headwater streams in Pennsylvania, no statistically significant associations were determined between shale gas development and geochemical tracers of produced waters or measures of microbial and macroinvertebrate community composition. Although the results are specific to the region studied, the integrated biological and geochemical framework provides a tool for examining...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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Framework for Examining Stream Ecosystem Health in Areas of Shale Gas Development—A Multi-Parameter Watershed-Based Case Study in Pennsylvania

In a case study of 25 headwater streams in Pennsylvania, no statistically significant associations were determined between shale gas development and geochemical tracers of produced waters or measures of microbial and macroinvertebrate community composition. Although the results are specific to the region studied, the integrated biological and geochemical framework provides a tool for examining...
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Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)

Produced water from Marcellus Shale and amphibians

Research biologists at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge are conducting a series of scientific studies on the potential effects of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing activities on terrestrial wildlife. Findings will help in assessing proposals for managing recycling and distribution of large volumes of flowback and produced waters generated by methods of...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Environmental Health Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center
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Produced water from Marcellus Shale and amphibians

Research biologists at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge are conducting a series of scientific studies on the potential effects of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing activities on terrestrial wildlife. Findings will help in assessing proposals for managing recycling and distribution of large volumes of flowback and produced waters generated by methods of...
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Phytoplankton identification and biovolume data for field samples from Detroit Lake, Oregon, and Owasco Lake, New York, collected in August 2019 and August 2020

This dataset contains taxonomic and biovolume data for phytoplankton sampled from Detroit Lake, OR, in August, 2019, and August, 2020. Taxonomy is reported to the lowest possible taxonomic level along with total and percent biovolume. Surface grab samples for phytoplankton enumeration were collected with a van Dorn type sampler and then transferred into a clearn polycarbonate churn. Whole water sa
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Water Resources Mission Area

Data on barium, strontium, cobalt, and nickel plumes formed during microbial iron-reduction on sediments and in water from a crude-oil-contaminated aquifer, Bemidji, Minnesota (2009-2019)

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release provides concentrations from groundwater and soil extracts for iron (Fe), barium (Ba), strontium (Sr), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni). Groundwater analyses for pH and alkalinity are also included. Samples were collected at the National Crude Oil Spill Fate and Natural Attenuation Research Site, near Bemidji MN (USA) between 2009-2019. The site is in Be
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Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory

Microbial Community Composition Data from Blacktail Creek near Williston, North Dakota

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
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Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology

Geochemistry data collected (1985-2015) for understanding the evolution of groundwater-contaminant plume chemistry emanating from legacy contaminant sources, an example from a long-term crude oil spill near Bemidji, Minnesota

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release is focused on the geochemistry of wells within the oil zone and groundwater monitoring wells away from the oiled zone at the National Crude Oil Spill Fate and Natural Attenuation Research Site, Bemidji MN (USA) from 1985-2015. The site located in Beltrami County is where a high-pressure pipeline carrying crude oil burst in 1979 and spilled approximat
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Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory

Data on the Effects of Oil and Gas Wastewater Components on Microbial Community Structure and Function

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 characteriz
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Energy Resources Program, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Geochemistry Data from Samples Collected in 2015-2017 to study an OG wastewater spill in Blacktail Creek, North Dakota

These metadata sets present the comprehensive geochemical composition of solid and water samples from the site of a 11.4ML (million liters) wastewater spill discovered in January, 2015. Analyses of a pipeline sample (analyses of select analytes), supplied by the North Dakota Department of Health are also included. The spill was near Blacktail Creek, north of Williston, ND. The leak was from a pipe
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory

Sediment composition data from northern Pennsylvania

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

Dataset of trace dissolved hydrocarbons in surface water and groundwater in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia between 2014 and 2017

This dataset contains measurements of dissolved hydrocarbons in various water sources, as well as ancillary raw calibration data showing the stability of the gas chromatograph with an atomic emission detector and flame ionization detector (GC-AED-FID) analytical system over time. Across multiple studies, samples from tap water, groundwater, surface water, springs, mine outflows, and blank material
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Water Resources Mission Area

Microbiology of the greater Bravo Dome region

Bravo Dome is a commercial natural CO2 field that supplies the gas to depleted oil fields for enhanced oil recovery. In order to understand the distribution of CO2 across the greater Bravo Dome region, including southeastern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, and to assess the impacts of high CO2 concentrations on microbes in the subsurface, 7 samples were collected from sites associated with h
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

MCHM Degradation Data Release

This USGS data release includes all the data presented in peer-reviewed publication entitled "Degradation of MCHM (4-methylcyclohexanemethanol) in Sediments from Elk River, West Virginia". We conducted experiments on crude MCHM to examine photooxidation or biodegradation. We also assessed the potential of sediments to serve as a long-term source of MCHM and well as the potential for native microb
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Water Resources Mission Area, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory
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Validation and standardization of SPE and HPLC-UV methods for simultaneous determination of legacy and insensitive munitions

There have been few attempts to consolidate legacy and insensitive munitions analyses. Furthermore, there are no standard methods for insensitive munitions (IM) in tissues, resulting in overlapping methods and supplementary analyses. The goal of the present study was to validate extraction and instrumental methods previously developed and address analytical methodology gaps (missing tissue matrice
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Austin Scircle, Ashley Kimble, Jared C. Smith, Bobbi Stromer, Samuel Beal, Jay Clausen, Thomas Georgian, Adam Mumford, Geoffrey Giarmo, Martin Peterson, Hart Hedgpeth, Rebecca Crouch, Anthony J. Bednar

Using biological responses to monitor freshwater post-spill conditions over 3 years in Blacktail Creek, North Dakota, USA

A pipeline carrying unconventional oil and gas (OG) wastewater spilled approximately 11 million liters of wastewater into Blacktail Creek, North Dakota, USA. Flow of the mix of stream water and wastewater down the channel resulted in storage of contaminants in the hyporheic zone and along the banks, providing a long-term source of wastewater constituents to the stream. A multi-level investigation
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Aida Farag, David Harper, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Douglas B. Kent, Adam Mumford, Denise M. Akob, Travis W. Schaeffer, Luke R. Iwanowicz
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Eastern Ecological Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Understanding the evolution of groundwater-contaminant plume chemistry emanating from legacy contaminant sources: An example from a long-term crude oil spill

Understanding the evolution of plumes emanating from residual hydrocarbon contaminant sources requires evaluating how changes in source compositions over time cause changes in dissolved plume chemistry as residual sources age. This study investigates such changes at the site of a 1979 crude-oil pipeline spill and is the first comprehensive look at groundwater chemistry associated with a residual h
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Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Mary Jo Baedecker, Adam Mumford, Jeanne B. Jaeschke, Tracey Spencer
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Spectral mixture analysis for surveillance of harmful algal blooms (SMASH): A field-, laboratory-, and satellite-based approach to identifying cyanobacteria genera from remotely sensed data

Algal blooms around the world are increasing in frequency and severity, often with the possibility of adverse effects on human and ecosystem health. The health and economic impacts associated with harmful algal blooms, or HABs, provide compelling rationale for developing new methods for monitoring these events via remote sensing. Although concentrations of chlorophyll-a and key pigments like phyco
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Carl J. Legleiter, Tyler Victor King, Kurt D. Carpenter, Natalie Celeste Hall, Adam Mumford, E. Terrence Slonecker, Jennifer L. Graham, Victoria G. Stengel, Nancy Simon, Barry H. Rosen
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Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center, New York Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Oil and gas wastewater components alter streambed microbial community structure and function

The widespread application of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies expanded oil and gas (OG) development to previously inaccessible resources. A single OG well can generate millions of liters of wastewater, which is a mixture of brine produced from the fractured formations and injected hydraulic fracturing fluids (HFFs). With thousands of wells completed each year, safe manag
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Denise M. Akob, Adam Mumford, Andrea Fraser, Cassandra Rashan Harris, William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Energy Resources Program, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Geochemical and geophysical indicators of oil and gas wastewater can trace potential exposure pathways following releases to surface waters

Releases of oil and gas (OG) wastewaters can have complex effects on stream-water quality and downstream organisms, due to sediment-water interactions and groundwater/surface water exchange. Previously, elevated concentrations of sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), barium (Ba), strontium (Sr), and lithium (Li), and trace hydrocarbons were determined to be key markers of OG wastewater releases when combine
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Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Douglas B. Kent, Martin A. Briggs, Mark A Engle, Adam Benthem, Katherine Skalak, Adam Mumford, Jeanne B. Jaeschke, Aida Farag, John W. Lane, Denise M. Akob
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Energy Resources Program, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Compositional analysis of formation water geochemistry and microbiology of commercial and carbon dioxide-rich wells in the southwestern United States

Studies of naturally occurring subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulations can provide useful information for potential CO2 injection projects; however, the microbial communities and formation water geochemistry of most reservoirs are understudied. Formation water and microbial biomass were sampled at four CO2-rich reservoir sites: two within Bravo Dome, a commercial CO2 field in New Mexico; one
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Jenna L. Shelton, Robert S. Andrews, Denise M. Akob, Christina A. DeVera, Adam C. Mumford, Mark Engle, Michelle R. Plampin, Sean T. Brennan
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Shale gas development has limited effects on stream biology and geochemistry in a gradient-based, multiparameter study in Pennsylvania

The number of horizontally drilled shale oil and gas wells in the United States has increased from nearly 28,000 in 2007 to nearly 127,000 in 2017, and research has suggested the potential for the development of shale resources to affect nearby stream ecosystems. However, the ability to generalize current studies is limited by the small geographic scope as well as limited breadth and integration o

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Adam Mumford, Kelly O. Maloney, Denise M. Akob, Sarah Nettemann, Arianne Proctor, Jason Ditty, Luke Ulsamer, Josh Lookenbill, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
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Water Resources Mission Area, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Phylogenetic techniques in geomicrobiology

Molecular biological techniques have revolutionized the field of geomicrobiology by providing researchers with robust techniques for identifying microorganisms and characterizing microbial communities in a wide variety of environments. These techniques have freed researchers from the constraints of classical culture-based microbiology and allowed the discovery of previously unknown phylogenetic di
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Denise M. Akob, Adam C. Mumford, Darren S. Dunlop, Amisha T. Poret-Peterson
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Water Resources Mission Area, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Organic geochemistry and toxicology of a stream impacted by unconventional oil and gas wastewater disposal operations

Water and sediment extracts samples were analyzed for extractable hydrocarbons by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using an Agilent (Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA, USA) 7890 series GC and 5975 electron ionization (EI) mass selective detector (MSD) operated in scan mode. Agilent ChemStation software was used for data acquisition and analysis (version E.02.00.493 on GC/MS computer
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William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, Lynn M. Crosby, Karl B. Haase, Keith A. Loftin, Michelle Hladik, Denise M. Akob, Calin Tatu, Adam C. Mumford, Jeanne B. Jaeschke, Anne L. Bates, Tiffani Schell, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
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Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, California Water Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Microbial community composition of a hydrocarbon reservoir 40 years after a CO2 enhanced oil recovery flood

Injecting CO2 into depleted oil reservoirs to extract additional crude oil is a common enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) technique. However, little is known about how in situ microbial communities may be impacted by CO2 flooding, or if any permanent microbiological changes occur after flooding has ceased. Formation water was collected from an oil field that was flooded for CO2-EOR in the 1980s, incl
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Jenna L. Shelton, Robert S. Andrews, Denise M. Akob, Christina A. DeVera, Adam C. Mumford, John E. McCray, Jennifer C. McIntosh
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Common hydraulic fracturing fluid additives alter the structure and function of anaerobic microbial communities

The development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resources results in the production of large volumes of wastewater containing a complex mixture of hydraulic fracturing chemical additives and components from the formation. The release of these wastewaters into the environment poses potential risks that are poorly understood. Microbial communities in stream sediments form the base of the food ch
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Adam C. Mumford, Denise M. Akob, J. Grace Klinges, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
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Water Resources Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory, Reston Microbiology Laboratory, Advanced Research Computing (ARC)

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