Kroepsch, Adrianne听1听;听Williams, Mark听2听;听Nydick, Koren听3听;听Gianniny, Gary听4
1听University of Colorado-麻豆影院
2听University of Colorado
3听Mountain Studies Institute
4听Fort Lewis College
There remains considerable uncertainty about how coal bed methane (CBM) production from Colorado鈥檚 Fruitland Formation may affect the quantity and quality of nearby surface water, springs, wetlands, and groundwater systems along the northwestern margin of the San Juan Basin (SJB) near Durango, CO. Despite being one of the highest-producing and most extensively studied CBM basins in the world (Fasset 2000; Snyder and Fabryka-Martin 2007), controversy remains over the age of Fruitland Formation waters, as well as the extent to which the SJB undergoes active hydrologic throughflow and whether CBM production near the Fruitland Outcrop will impact existing surface-groundwater interactions. In order to more closely characterize basin hydrology near the Fruitland Outcrop, geochemical and isotopic properties of 67 surface water and groundwater sites were monitored from 2008-2009 in neighboring La Plata and Archuleta counties. Water samples were collected from existing CBM wells, domestic wells, piezometers, springs, and the Florida and Piedra Rivers and tributaries using a sampling strategy designed to provide baseline hydrologic information in an area soon to see increased CBM drilling. Isotopic and geochemical results suggest tighter surface-groundwater connections at the edge of the basin than expected, with marked variation between drainages, and may indicate a system that is already over-drafted by existing CBM production and heavy domestic well use. Data also suggest that increased CBM production near the Fruitland Outcrop could indeed affect local hydrology, and that resource management strategies may need to account for spatial variation in these potential impacts.
Fassett, J.E. (2000). Geology and coal resources of the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado. In M.A. Kirschbaum, L.N.R. Roberts, & L.R.H. Biewick (Eds.), Geologic Assessment of Coal in the Colorado Plateau: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, compiled by Colorado Plateau Coal Assessment Group: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1625-B, Q1-Q131.
Snyder, G., & Fabryka-Martin, J. (2007). I-129 and Cl-36 in dilute hydrocarbon waters: Marine-cosmogenic, in situ, and antropogenic sources. Applied Geochemistry, 22 (3), 692-714.