Justin Kulongoski - California Water Science Center
Science and Products
Rapid Fluctuations in Groundwater Quality
We think of groundwater as moving slowly, and groundwater quality as changing slowly—over decades or even centuries. But in some parts of some aquifers, groundwater quality can fluctuate rapidly, sometimes over just a few hours. Are such changes part of a long-term trend, or just part of a short-term cycle? And what does that mean for suitability for drinking?
Produced water volatile organic compound and select organic and inorganic data collected from eight oil fields, 2016-2020, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water samples for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the eight California oil fields of Fruitvale, Lost Hills, North Belridge, Orcutt, Placerita, South Belridge, Midway-Sunset, and Buena Vista from 2016 to 2020. Sampled sites included oil wells; injectate from t
Produced water chemistry data collected from the Orcutt oil field, 2018, Santa Barbara County, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water and casing gas samples from oil wells and injectate stored in surficial tanks planned for underground injection in the Orcutt oil field in Santa Barbara County in 2018. Samples were collected from the Orcutt oil field on February 6th and February 7th, 2018. This digital
Produced water chemistry data for the Lost Hills, Fruitvale, and North and South Belridge study areas, Southern San Joaquin Valley, California (version 1.1, September 2020)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) collected produced water and casing gas samples from petroleum wells and other oil-field sites in selected oil fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley in Kern County in 2016 and 2017. The samples were collected as part of the Water Boards Regional Groundwater Monitoring Program
Datasets of Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January 2017 through December 2019
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 983 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. The data were collected from six types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of groundwater used for public water supply; land-use study networ
Datasets from Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and Previously Unpublished Data from 2013 to 2015
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 648 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (514) were sampled from January through December 2016 and 60 of them were sampled in 2013 and 74 in 2014. The data were collected from seven types of well networks: principal a
Produced water chemistry for samples from four petroleum wells, southern San Joaquin Valley, California, 2014
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water samples from four petroleum wells in the southern San Joaquin Valley on November 5, 2014. This digital dataset contains the site information, analyzing laboratories and methods, and water chemistry and quality control results for these samples. Water chemistry results i
Filter Total Items: 64
Occurrence of water and thermogenic gas from oil-bearing formations in groundwater near the Orcutt Oil Field, California, USA
Study regionSanta Barbara County, California, USA.Study focusTo analyze a wide array of newly collected chemical, isotopic, dissolved gas, and age dating tracers in conjunction with historical data from groundwater and oil wells to determine if water and/or thermogenic gas from oil-bearing formations have mixed with groundwater in the Orcutt Oil Field and surrounding area.New hydrological insights
Authors
Robert Anders, Matthew K. Landon, Peter B. McMahon, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew Hunt, Tracy Davis
The triple argon isotope composition of groundwater on ten-thousand-year timescales
Understanding the age and movement of groundwater is important for predicting the vulnerability of wells to contamination, constraining flow models that inform sustainable groundwater management, and interpreting geochemical signals that reflect past climate. Due to both the ubiquity of groundwater with order ten-thousand-year residence times and its importance for climate reconstruction of the la
Authors
Alan Seltzer, John A. Krantz, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, David L. Kimbrough, Justin T. Kulongoski, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Investigating the effect of enhanced oil recovery on the noble gas signature of casing gases and produced waters from selected California oil fields
In regions where water resources are scarce and in high demand, it is important to safeguard against contamination of groundwater aquifers by oil-field fluids (water, gas, oil). In this context, the geochemical characterisation of these fluids is critical so that anthropogenic contaminants can be readily identified. The first step is characterising pre-development geochemical fluid signatures (i.e
Authors
R. L. Tyne, P. H. Barry, R. Karolytė, D. J. Bryne, Justin T. Kulongoski, D.J. Hillegonds, C. J. Ballentine
Helium-carbon systematics of groundwaters in the Lassen Peak Region
Carbon dioxide emissions from active subaerial volcanoes represent 20–50% of the annual global volcanic CO2 flux (Barry et al., 2014). Passive degassing of carbon from the flanks of volcanoes, and the associated accumulation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) within nearby groundwater, also represents a potentially important, yet poorly constrained flux of carbon to the surface (Werner et al., 20
Authors
Peter Barry, David Bekaert, John Krantz, Saemundor Halldorsson, J. Maarten DeMoor, Tobias Fischer, Cynthia Werner, Peter J. Kelly, Alan Seltzer, Brian Franz, Justin T. Kulongoski
Noble gas signatures constrain oil-field water as the carrier phase of hydrocarbons occurring in shallow aquifers in the San Joaquin Basin, USA
Noble gases record fluid interactions in multiphase subsurface environments through fractionation processes during fluid equilibration. Water in the presence of hydrocarbons at the subsurface acquires a distinct elemental signature due to the difference in solubility between these two fluids. We find the atmospheric noble gas signature in produced water is partially preserved after hydrocarbons pr
Authors
Ruta Karolyte, Peter H. Barry, Andrew Hunt, Justin T. Kulongoski, R. L. Tyne, Tracy Davis, Michael Wright, Peter B. McMahon, C. J. Ballentine
Relative risk of groundwater-quality degradation near California (USA) oil fields estimated from 3H, 14C, and 4He
Relative risks of groundwater-quality degradation near selected California oil fields are estimated by examining spatial and temporal patterns in chemical and isotopic data in the context of groundwater-age categories defined by tritium and carbon-14. In the Coastal basins, western San Joaquin Valley (SJV), and eastern SJV; 82, 76, and 0% of samples are premodern (pre-1953 recharge), respectively;
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, Matthew K. Landon, Tracy Davis, Michael Wright, Celia Z. Rosecrans, Robert Anders, Michael Land, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew Hunt
Groundwater residence time estimates obscured by anthropogenic carbonate
Groundwater is an important source of drinking and irrigation water. Dating groundwater informs its vulnerability to contamination and aids in calibrating flow models. Here, we report measurements of multiple age tracers (14C, 3H, 39Ar, and 85Kr) and parameters relevant to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from 17 wells in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV), an agricultural region that is heavil
Authors
Alan Seltzer, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, Kathryn Durkin, Emily Mace, Craig E. Aaselth, Jake Zappala, Peter Mueller, Bryant Jurgens, Justin T. Kulongoski
Groundwater quality of aquifers overlying the Oxnard Oil Field, Ventura County, California
Groundwater samples collected from irrigation, monitoring, and municipal supply wells near the Oxnard Oil Field were analyzed for chemical and isotopic tracers to evaluate if thermogenic gas or water from hydrocarbon-bearing formations have mixed with surrounding groundwater. New and historical data show no evidence of water from hydrocarbon-bearing formations in groundwater overlying the field. H
Authors
Celia Z. Rosecrans, Matthew K. Landon, Katherine Marie Ransom, Janice M. Gillespie, Justin T. Kulongoski, Michael J. Stephens, Andrew G. Hunt, David H. Shimabukuro, Tracy Davis
He-CO2-N2 isotope and relative abundance characterization of geothermal fluids from the Ethiopian Rift
We report He-CO2-N2 isotopic and relative abundances in free gases and dissolved gas phase of geothermal fluids from the Ethiopian Rift. Fluid samples were collected from ~30 geothermal localities from three key regions throughout rifted and non-rifted areas of Ethiopia. The majority of samples, including off-rift samples, indicate a strong contribution of mantle-derived He-C-N to the fluid sample
Authors
S. A. Halldórsson, P. Scarsi, T. Abebe, T. Evans, Justin T. Kulongoski, P. R. Castillo, P. H. Barry
Small atoll fresh groundwater lenses respond to a combination of natural climatic cycles and human modified geology
Freshwater lenses underlying small ocean islands exhibit spatial variability and temporal fluctuations in volume, influencing ecologic management. For example, The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge harbors one of the few surviving native stands of Pisonia grandis in the central Pacific Ocean, yet these trees face pressure from groundwater salinization, with little basic groundwater data to gu
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, J Cantelon, B. Kurylyk, Justin T. Kulongoski, Audrey Mills, John W. Lane
Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2015
Environmental groundwater-quality data were collected from 648 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (514) were sampled from January through December 2016, and 60 of them were sampled in 2013 and 74 in 2014. The data were collected from seven types of well networ
Authors
Terri Arnold, Laura M. Bexfield, MaryLynn Musgrove, Melinda L. Erickson, James A. Kingsbury, James R. Degnan, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
Deglacial water-table decline in Southern California recorded by noble gas isotopes
Constraining the magnitude of past hydrological change may improve understanding and predictions of future shifts in water availability. Here we demonstrate that water-table depth, a sensitive indicator of hydroclimate, can be quantitatively reconstructed using Kr and Xe isotopes in groundwater. We present the first-ever measurements of these dissolved noble gas isotopes in groundwater at high pre
Authors
Alan M. Seltzer, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, Justin T. Kulongoski, Riley Gannon, Martin Stute, Jeffery P. Severinghaus
Science and Products
- Science
Rapid Fluctuations in Groundwater Quality
We think of groundwater as moving slowly, and groundwater quality as changing slowly—over decades or even centuries. But in some parts of some aquifers, groundwater quality can fluctuate rapidly, sometimes over just a few hours. Are such changes part of a long-term trend, or just part of a short-term cycle? And what does that mean for suitability for drinking? - Data
Produced water volatile organic compound and select organic and inorganic data collected from eight oil fields, 2016-2020, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water samples for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the eight California oil fields of Fruitvale, Lost Hills, North Belridge, Orcutt, Placerita, South Belridge, Midway-Sunset, and Buena Vista from 2016 to 2020. Sampled sites included oil wells; injectate from tProduced water chemistry data collected from the Orcutt oil field, 2018, Santa Barbara County, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water and casing gas samples from oil wells and injectate stored in surficial tanks planned for underground injection in the Orcutt oil field in Santa Barbara County in 2018. Samples were collected from the Orcutt oil field on February 6th and February 7th, 2018. This digitalProduced water chemistry data for the Lost Hills, Fruitvale, and North and South Belridge study areas, Southern San Joaquin Valley, California (version 1.1, September 2020)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) collected produced water and casing gas samples from petroleum wells and other oil-field sites in selected oil fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley in Kern County in 2016 and 2017. The samples were collected as part of the Water Boards Regional Groundwater Monitoring ProgramDatasets of Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January 2017 through December 2019
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 983 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. The data were collected from six types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of groundwater used for public water supply; land-use study networDatasets from Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and Previously Unpublished Data from 2013 to 2015
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 648 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (514) were sampled from January through December 2016 and 60 of them were sampled in 2013 and 74 in 2014. The data were collected from seven types of well networks: principal aProduced water chemistry for samples from four petroleum wells, southern San Joaquin Valley, California, 2014
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board collected produced water samples from four petroleum wells in the southern San Joaquin Valley on November 5, 2014. This digital dataset contains the site information, analyzing laboratories and methods, and water chemistry and quality control results for these samples. Water chemistry results i - Publications
Filter Total Items: 64
Occurrence of water and thermogenic gas from oil-bearing formations in groundwater near the Orcutt Oil Field, California, USA
Study regionSanta Barbara County, California, USA.Study focusTo analyze a wide array of newly collected chemical, isotopic, dissolved gas, and age dating tracers in conjunction with historical data from groundwater and oil wells to determine if water and/or thermogenic gas from oil-bearing formations have mixed with groundwater in the Orcutt Oil Field and surrounding area.New hydrological insightsAuthorsRobert Anders, Matthew K. Landon, Peter B. McMahon, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew Hunt, Tracy DavisThe triple argon isotope composition of groundwater on ten-thousand-year timescales
Understanding the age and movement of groundwater is important for predicting the vulnerability of wells to contamination, constraining flow models that inform sustainable groundwater management, and interpreting geochemical signals that reflect past climate. Due to both the ubiquity of groundwater with order ten-thousand-year residence times and its importance for climate reconstruction of the laAuthorsAlan Seltzer, John A. Krantz, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, David L. Kimbrough, Justin T. Kulongoski, Jeffrey P. SeveringhausInvestigating the effect of enhanced oil recovery on the noble gas signature of casing gases and produced waters from selected California oil fields
In regions where water resources are scarce and in high demand, it is important to safeguard against contamination of groundwater aquifers by oil-field fluids (water, gas, oil). In this context, the geochemical characterisation of these fluids is critical so that anthropogenic contaminants can be readily identified. The first step is characterising pre-development geochemical fluid signatures (i.eAuthorsR. L. Tyne, P. H. Barry, R. Karolytė, D. J. Bryne, Justin T. Kulongoski, D.J. Hillegonds, C. J. BallentineHelium-carbon systematics of groundwaters in the Lassen Peak Region
Carbon dioxide emissions from active subaerial volcanoes represent 20–50% of the annual global volcanic CO2 flux (Barry et al., 2014). Passive degassing of carbon from the flanks of volcanoes, and the associated accumulation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) within nearby groundwater, also represents a potentially important, yet poorly constrained flux of carbon to the surface (Werner et al., 20AuthorsPeter Barry, David Bekaert, John Krantz, Saemundor Halldorsson, J. Maarten DeMoor, Tobias Fischer, Cynthia Werner, Peter J. Kelly, Alan Seltzer, Brian Franz, Justin T. KulongoskiNoble gas signatures constrain oil-field water as the carrier phase of hydrocarbons occurring in shallow aquifers in the San Joaquin Basin, USA
Noble gases record fluid interactions in multiphase subsurface environments through fractionation processes during fluid equilibration. Water in the presence of hydrocarbons at the subsurface acquires a distinct elemental signature due to the difference in solubility between these two fluids. We find the atmospheric noble gas signature in produced water is partially preserved after hydrocarbons prAuthorsRuta Karolyte, Peter H. Barry, Andrew Hunt, Justin T. Kulongoski, R. L. Tyne, Tracy Davis, Michael Wright, Peter B. McMahon, C. J. BallentineRelative risk of groundwater-quality degradation near California (USA) oil fields estimated from 3H, 14C, and 4He
Relative risks of groundwater-quality degradation near selected California oil fields are estimated by examining spatial and temporal patterns in chemical and isotopic data in the context of groundwater-age categories defined by tritium and carbon-14. In the Coastal basins, western San Joaquin Valley (SJV), and eastern SJV; 82, 76, and 0% of samples are premodern (pre-1953 recharge), respectively;AuthorsPeter B. McMahon, Matthew K. Landon, Tracy Davis, Michael Wright, Celia Z. Rosecrans, Robert Anders, Michael Land, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew HuntGroundwater residence time estimates obscured by anthropogenic carbonate
Groundwater is an important source of drinking and irrigation water. Dating groundwater informs its vulnerability to contamination and aids in calibrating flow models. Here, we report measurements of multiple age tracers (14C, 3H, 39Ar, and 85Kr) and parameters relevant to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from 17 wells in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV), an agricultural region that is heavilAuthorsAlan Seltzer, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, Kathryn Durkin, Emily Mace, Craig E. Aaselth, Jake Zappala, Peter Mueller, Bryant Jurgens, Justin T. KulongoskiGroundwater quality of aquifers overlying the Oxnard Oil Field, Ventura County, California
Groundwater samples collected from irrigation, monitoring, and municipal supply wells near the Oxnard Oil Field were analyzed for chemical and isotopic tracers to evaluate if thermogenic gas or water from hydrocarbon-bearing formations have mixed with surrounding groundwater. New and historical data show no evidence of water from hydrocarbon-bearing formations in groundwater overlying the field. HAuthorsCelia Z. Rosecrans, Matthew K. Landon, Katherine Marie Ransom, Janice M. Gillespie, Justin T. Kulongoski, Michael J. Stephens, Andrew G. Hunt, David H. Shimabukuro, Tracy DavisHe-CO2-N2 isotope and relative abundance characterization of geothermal fluids from the Ethiopian Rift
We report He-CO2-N2 isotopic and relative abundances in free gases and dissolved gas phase of geothermal fluids from the Ethiopian Rift. Fluid samples were collected from ~30 geothermal localities from three key regions throughout rifted and non-rifted areas of Ethiopia. The majority of samples, including off-rift samples, indicate a strong contribution of mantle-derived He-C-N to the fluid sampleAuthorsS. A. Halldórsson, P. Scarsi, T. Abebe, T. Evans, Justin T. Kulongoski, P. R. Castillo, P. H. BarrySmall atoll fresh groundwater lenses respond to a combination of natural climatic cycles and human modified geology
Freshwater lenses underlying small ocean islands exhibit spatial variability and temporal fluctuations in volume, influencing ecologic management. For example, The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge harbors one of the few surviving native stands of Pisonia grandis in the central Pacific Ocean, yet these trees face pressure from groundwater salinization, with little basic groundwater data to guAuthorsMartin A. Briggs, J Cantelon, B. Kurylyk, Justin T. Kulongoski, Audrey Mills, John W. LaneGroundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2015
Environmental groundwater-quality data were collected from 648 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (514) were sampled from January through December 2016, and 60 of them were sampled in 2013 and 74 in 2014. The data were collected from seven types of well networAuthorsTerri Arnold, Laura M. Bexfield, MaryLynn Musgrove, Melinda L. Erickson, James A. Kingsbury, James R. Degnan, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth BelitzDeglacial water-table decline in Southern California recorded by noble gas isotopes
Constraining the magnitude of past hydrological change may improve understanding and predictions of future shifts in water availability. Here we demonstrate that water-table depth, a sensitive indicator of hydroclimate, can be quantitatively reconstructed using Kr and Xe isotopes in groundwater. We present the first-ever measurements of these dissolved noble gas isotopes in groundwater at high preAuthorsAlan M. Seltzer, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, Justin T. Kulongoski, Riley Gannon, Martin Stute, Jeffery P. Severinghaus - News