Joanna Thamke
Biography
Joanna is the Associate Center Director for Studies of the USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center. She oversees the interpretive scientific activities (Studies Program) in the Center, across both States, including all the Studies Sections and Units. She also serves as the general contact for the Center’s science activities in Montana. Joanna is the Field Representative of the U.S. Accredited Officer for the St. Mary and Milk Rivers.
Joanna has been with the USGS since the mid-1980s and has spent most of her career in Helena, MT. Her projects focus on water quality, water availability, water use, and energy in the Williston Basin. Joanna’s work has been recognized outside the USGS with the 2007 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Research Award, the 2008 U.S. Department of Interior Environmental Achievement Award, the 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Honor Award, the 2019 American Water Resources Association Montana Water Legend Award, and the 2020 University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Award from the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department.
Science and Products
International Hydrological Studies of Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
The USGS serves as the lead agency for the United States to measure and apportion natural flows of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers according to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the International Joint Commission Order of 1921. The division of water between the United States and Canada is overseen by the Accredited Officers of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, who are appointed by their...
Flaxville Aquifer
The Flaxville aquifer is present in the northern and central parts of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and consists of sand and gravel that forms extensive plateaus and topographic benches used for dryland farming. Because many residents rely on groundwater as their primary water supply on the Reservation, the Flaxville and underlying aquifers are important sources of groundwater. The goal...
Science Team about Energy and Plains and Potholes Environments (STEPPE)
Brine Contamination to Plains and Potholes Environments from Energy Development in the Williston Basin
Delineation of Brine Contamination in and near the East Poplar Oil Field, Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Northeastern Montana
Brine is a byproduct of crude oil production. Handling and disposal of brine during the last 50 years in the East Poplar oil field has resulted in contamination of not only the shallow Quaternary aquifers, but also the Poplar River. Previous investigations have documented and partially delineated the extent of brine contamination in the East Poplar oil field during the early 1990s...
Williston and Powder River Basins Groundwater Availability Study
The development of two nationally important energy-producing areas, the Williston structural basin (containing the Bakken Formation) and Powder River structural basin, provide a critical opportunity to study the water-energy nexus within a groundwater context. Large volumes of water are needed for energy development in these basins. The hydraulically connected aquifers in the...
Estimating National Water Use Associated with Continuous Oil and Gas Development
Project Period: 2016-ongoing
Cooperator: U.S. Geological Survey Water Availability and Use Science Program
Project Chiefs: Joanna Thamke and Josh Valder
Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, Texas and New Mexico, 2010–19
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey started a topical study to quantify water use in areas of continuous oil and gas (COG) development. The first phase of the study was completed in 2019 and analyzed the Williston Basin. The second phase of the study analyzed the Permian Basin using the same techniques and approaches used for the Williston Basin...
Valder, Joshua F.; McShane, Ryan R.; Thamke, Joanna N.; McDowell, Jeremy S.; Ball, Grady P.; Houston, Natalie A.; Galanter, Amy E.
Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Williston Basin, North Dakota and Montana, 2007–17
This study of water use associated with development of continuous oil and gas resources in the Williston Basin is intended to provide a preliminary model-based analysis of water use in major regions of production of continuous oil and gas resources in the United States. Direct, indirect, and ancillary water use associated with development of...
McShane, Ryan R.; Barnhart, Theodore B.; Valder, Joshua F.; Haines, Seth S.; Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M. ; Carter, Janet M.; Delzer, Gregory C.; Thamke, Joanna N.
Analytical framework to estimate water use associated with continuous oil and gas development
An analytical framework was designed to estimate water use associated with continuous oil and gas (COG) development in support of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Availability and Use Science Program. This framework was developed to better understand the relation between the production of COG resources for energy and the amount of water needed to...
Valder, Joshua F.; McShane, Ryan R.; Barnhart, Theodore B.; Wheeling, Spencer L.; Carter, Janet M.; Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M. ; Delzer, Gregory C.; Thamke, Joanna N.
Predicting attenuation of salinized surface- and groundwater-resources from legacy energy development in the Prairie Pothole Region
Oil and gas (energy) development in the Williston Basin, which partly underlies the Prairie Pothole Region in central North America, has helped meet U.S. energy demand for decades. Historical handling and disposal practices of saline wastewater co-produced during energy development resulted in salinization of surface and groundwater at numerous...
Preston, Todd M.; Anderson, Chauncey W.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Hossack, Blake R.; Skalak, Katherine; Cozzarelli, Isabelle M.
Williston Basin groundwater availability, United States and Canada
The Williston Basin contains important oil and gas resources for the Nation. Freshwater supplies are limited in this semiarid area, and oil and gas development can require large volumes of freshwater. Groundwater is the primary source of water for many water users in the Williston Basin, so to better understand these resources, the U.S. Geological...
Thamke, Joanna N.; Long, Andrew J.; Davis, Kyle W.
Groundwater availability of the Williston Basin, United States and Canada
Executive SummaryThe Williston Basin of the Northern Great Plains is a sedimentary basin—a geologic bowl-like structure filled with layered sedimentary rocks dating as far back as the Paleozoic age. The basin, which is nationally important for the production of energy resources, spans Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States,...
Long, Andrew J.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Davis, Kyle W.; Bartos, Timothy T. Characterization and origin of brines from the Bakken-Three Forks petroleum system in the Williston Basin, USA
Brine (also referred to as ‘produced water’) samples were collected from 28 wells producing oil from the Late Devonian-Early Mississippian Bakken and Three Forks Formations in the Williston Basin of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. The samples were analyzed for major ions, trace metals, stable isotopes, and strontium isotopes. The brines...
Peterman, Zell; Thamke, Joanna N.; Futa, Kiyoto; Oliver, Thomas A.
Assessment of water and proppant quantities associated with petroleum production from the Bakken and Three Forks Formations, Williston Basin Province, Montana and North Dakota, 2016
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed an assessment of water and proppant requirements and water production associated with the possible future production of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Three Forks and Bakken Formations (Late Devonian to Early Mississippian) of the Williston Basin Province in Montana and North Dakota. This...
Haines, Seth S.; Varela, Brian A.; Hawkins, Sarah J.; Gianoutsos, Nicholas J.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Engle, Mark A.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Gaswirth, Stephanie B.; Marra, Kristen R.; Kinney, Scott A.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Martinez, Cericia D. Chemical and isotopic changes in Williston Basin brines during long-term oil production: An example from the Poplar dome, Montana
Brine samples were collected from 30 conventional oil wells producing mostly from the Charles Formation of the Madison Group in the East and Northwest Poplar oil fields on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana. Dissolved concentrations of major ions, trace metals, Sr isotopes, and stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) were analyzed to compare...
Peterman, Zell; Thamke, Joanna N.
Estimating national water use associated with unconventional oil and gas development
The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP) goals are to provide a more accurate assessment of the status of the water resources of the United States and assist in the determination of the quantity and quality of water that is available for beneficial uses. These assessments would identify long-term...
Carter, Janet M.; Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Delzer, Gregory C.
Conceptual model of the uppermost principal aquifer systems in the Williston and Powder River structural basins, United States and Canada
The three uppermost principal aquifer systems of the Northern Great Plains—the glacial, lower Tertiary, and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems—are described in this report and provide water for irrigation, mining, public and domestic supply, livestock, and industrial uses. These aquifer systems primarily are present in two nationally important...
Long, Andrew J.; Aurand, Katherine R.; Bednar, Jennifer M.; Davis, Kyle W.; McKaskey, Jonathan D.R.G.; Thamke, Joanna N.
Hydrogeologic framework of the uppermost principal aquifer systems in the Williston and Powder River structural basins, United States and Canada
The glacial, lower Tertiary, and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems in the Williston and Powder River structural basins within the United States and Canada are the uppermost principal aquifer systems and most accessible sources of groundwater for these energy-producing basins. The glacial aquifer system covers the northeastern part of the Williston...
Thamke, Joanna N.; LeCain, Gary D.; Ryter, Derek W.; Sando, Roy; Long, Andrew J.
USGS Assesses Current Groundwater-Quality Conditions in the Williston Basin Oil Production Area
Energy development in the Williston Basin oil production area of Montana and North Dakota, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks Formations, has not affected shallow groundwater quality, according to a recently published study in the journalGroundwater.
Low-flying Helicopter Surveying Groundwater and Geology in the Poplar River Valley Area, Montana
Citizens should not be alarmed if they see a low-flying helicopter towing a large wire-loop contraption hanging from a cable in the Poplar, Montana area during the next couple of weeks.
East Poplar Brine-Contaminated Groundwater Plumes Continue to Move
A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey describes the extent and movement of contamination in the East Poplar oil field area in northeastern Montana.