A STUDY OF GROUND-WATER CONTAMINATION DUE TO OIL-FIELD BRINES IN MORROW AND DELAWARE CCUNTIES, OHIO, WITH EMPHASIS ON DETECTION UTILIZING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUES A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Ronald Stephen zoster, B.S. The Ohio State university 1967 Approved by We the Adviser Department of GeologyTO EL NOBLE'S MIR4AM VON CHRISTIAN'S COMETSTUDY OF GROUND-WATER CONTAMINATION DUE TO OIL-PIELD BRINES IN MORROW AND DELAWARE COUNTIES, OHIO, WITH EMPHASIS ON DETECTION UTILIZING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUES TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page Acknowledgments. poodeucadad iv a Introduction......6e...eee 3p 1 2 Description of Survey Areas....... 10 3 Chloride Analysis..........+ : 29 4 Areal Extent of Contamination (Morrow County).......... 7 46 5 Enclave Movement and Disgersion (Morrow County)...... sh 6 Conductivity Analysis and Mapping (Delaware County)... Se 62 7 Electrical Resistivity Studies... 69 8 Detection of Stream Pollution..... qn 9 Conelusions...... 133 Appendix Tables........++ OG 137 References Cited. eee lesiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported by a grant authorized under the Water Resources Act of 1964 (Project A-004~ Ohio), and was administered by The Office of water Resources Research, U.S, Department of Interior. Many persons have given valuable assistance and advice concerning the work. Professor Jay H. fehr, Department of Geology, The Ohio State University, supervised the project. Dr. Kenesaw Shumate, Acting Director of The Ohio State University Water Resources center, contributed valuable services and advice during the investigative period. Mr. Ted Clark, research as- sistant for the project, was an invaluable and skilled technician throughout the duration of the project. Dr. Donald Norling, Chief of The Ohio Division of Oil and Gas, was a source of valuable information and ad- vice during the preparation of this report. Mr. Jimmy B. Shaw has granted permission to use plates and figures from his thesis (shaw, 1966). The writer wishes to express his appreciation to The Federal water Pollution Control Administration for an appointment as a Trainee in Water Supply and Pol-v lution Control (5TI-wP-39-03) for the past academic year and summer. The writer wishes to express gratitude and thanks to Miss Mary Jo Blackburn, his fiancée, for her patience, consideration, and typing during the preparation of the thesis. The writer assumes responsibility for any errors.Figure 1-1: Olentangy River, Delaware, Ohio. The effect of highly saline ground water on vegetation on the east bank, ‘Taken August, 1966.vii A STUDY OF GROUND-WATER CONTAMINATION DUE TO OIL-FIELD BRINES IN MORROW AND DELAWARE COUNTIES, OHIO, WITH EMPHASIS ON DETECTION UTILIZING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUESCHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The quality of potable water is of vital concern to all. It should be protected from contamination by all possible means. One source of contamination is oil-€ield wastes (brine) produced as a by-product of crude-oil recovery. Brine may contaminate fresh-water supplies both above and below the land surface. The introduction of saline wastes into fresh- water reservoirs can lead to significant economic as well as health problems when a reliable supply of potable water is’ endangered or impaired. Contamination of ground-water aquifers is especially serious due to the slow movement of this water. At this writing, less than five years have passed since the oil boom in Morrow County, Ohio. within three years, 2036 oil weils were drilled in this county. During the period of maximum activity few people took the necessary conservation measures to protect their ground-water resource. Consequently, a significant percentage of the ground-water aquifers were contaminated. Millions of gallons of oil-field waters were disposed of in Morrow County through unlined bulldozedpits, while countless truckloads of brine were dumped into Shaw and Whetstone Creeks, the two main effluent streams traversing the major oil production area. This aspect of the oil boom presented an opportunity for a thorough study of the hydrological aspects of this type of pollution. A broad program was initiated in 1965 to study the ground-water contamination in this area. The main objectives of the study were to determine the source(s), severity, areal extent, and future movement of polluted ground water as a result of the introduction of saline oil-field wastes into both surface and underground-water reservoirs in Morrow County. The study was extended into a smaller area in Delaware County, Ohio. This is the second thesis to be writen on aspects Of the above-mentioned project. An Investigation of Ground-water Contamination by Oil-field Brine Disposal in Morrow and Delaware Counties, Ohio, was recently completed as a master's thesis at The Ohio State University by Jimmy E. Shaw (1966). Although this thesis is presented as an independent report, there is necessarily some overlapping of Shaw's study.Shaw's work was primarily a general. overview of the hydrologic aspects of the problem. By the use of isochlor maps he effectively mapped and traced "enclaves" of ground-water pollution based on well monitoring. continuation of the well-monitoring program is included herein where such data has led to more accurate predictions than were previously possible and to test some of the theories presented by Shaw and this writer. A statistical analysis of a significant portion of the data from the well monitoring program is presented in this thesis. A new way to detect and trace ground-water pollution by electrical resistivity is presented. A method of detecting stream pollution caused by effluent saline ground water utilizing specific conductivity is also discussed. Qil-field vaste Disposal Ohio is not alone in the area of ground-water contamination resulting from oil-field brines. several other states, notably Alabama and Texas, have experienced contamination of a far greater magnitude than Ohio. For example, in Texas during 1961 alone, 461,000,000 barrels of highly mineralized brine were disposed of into open surface pits (McMillion, 1985, p. 37)-The primary cause of such contamination is the so-called "evaporation" pit, Nearly every author writing on the subject has been critical of the pits as a means of disposal or as a cause of pollution. Considerable doubt may be raised concerning the effectiveness of such pits to evaporate their waters to the atmosphere, especially in humid climates such as Ohio, In parts of Texas, where evaporation may be several feet of water per year, evaporation may be an effective means of oil-fiela water disposal. Any picture or view of a disposal pit will usually show a thin film of oil covering the surface. This results from incomplete separation of the oil-brine mixture from the producing oil well. The presence of a film will reduce the evaporation rate significantly. To overcome this problem, pits are skimmed and/or burned- off periodically. Even in areas where evaporation rate is high, the problem of infiltration will present itself unless proper precautions are made. These would include lining of the pits with bentonite clay or a plastic sheet to create a hyfraulic seal between the water in the pitand the ground. In addition, pits must be operated so that no overflow is permitted. Unlined or overflowing disposal pits are by no means the only way ground water may become contaminated due to oil-recovery operations. shaw has listed three additional causes of pollution: 1) seismic exploration causing interformational leakage; 2) indiscriminate dumping by contract truckers; 3) overland travel of contaminated waters, e.g., emission and reinfiltration (1966, p. 55). Knowles lists pipeline leakage as the second major cause (evaporation pits being the major one) of brine contamination in Alabama (1965, p. 22). Chapter 3 of this thesis discusses an example of pipe leakage as a cause of ground-water contamination. This author would include pipe leaks as a major cause of oil-recovery- related contamination. If an oil well is ast completed correctly, serious contamination by highly mineralized substratum waters may Occur. For this reason, most states have strict laws and regulations concerning the completion and plugging of oil and gas wells.There are two effective methods of disposal neither of which is without problems. First, where climate is favorable, lined, non-overflowing evaporation pits may be effective in brine disposal. Secondly, the use of disposal or injection wells probably is the most effective method for oil~field disposal of waste waters. Problems associated with evaporation pits have been cited. Those associated with disposal wells include the added expense of such an operation, clogging of the well, and the presence of a high-pressure aquifer (artesian) in a low horizon, i «+, lack of an effective horizon to inject the brine. Studies of the hydrology of ground-water pollution due to oil-field water disposal have appeared in the literature but are few in number. Most often, these studies are regional or state-wide in scope, The primary evidence in all studies for the detection of brine contamination is chloride concentration. Another criteria is tree kills (Powell, Carroon, and Avrett 1963, p. 10). Tree kills result from highly mineralized water at the root zones of the trees affected, Figure 1-1, a photograph taken during August, 196 from theOlentangy iver in the Delaware County, Ohio research area of this study, shows dead vegetation on the right bank. This is due to highly mineralized, contaminated ground waters resulting from seepage of an “evaporation” Pit in the area. The most important consideration in studies of ground-water contamination to potable water supplies is the element of time. Because ground water moves so slowly, an affected fresh-water supply is in serious danger of being impaired for many years, perhaps several hundred years. Many studies have been concerned with reporting the existance of the contamination, estimating the severity and areal extent, and issuing a patent warning of the danger to present and future fresh-water supplies. However, little research into mechanisms of movement of contaminated waters has been reported. “yollowing the Morrow county oil boom, the onic Division of Oil and Gas was created in the State Department of Natural Resources. Laws and regulations concerning the disposal of oil-field brines in producing areas of the state were enacted. ‘the following page contains a listing of some of the lawswhich pertain to the disposal of oil-field waters. Additional laws are forthcomming, but the present laws are intended to include all phases of oil-field waste contamination of fresh-water systems as previously discussed. Ohio has outlawed evaporation pits and presently only injection wells are approved for brine disposal (State Lav 1509, Ohio Revised Code). Under Ohio statutes, the Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas now has wide powers of enforcement to cope with practically all situations of contaminations from oil- field wastes. The Ohio General Assembly is currently considering new statutes to specifically define the existing laws and regulations (Oral communication, Dr. Donald Norling, Chief, Ohio Division of Oi1 and Gas, July, 17, 1967). Ohio appears to have a solid franwork of law for regulating any problems resulting from ground-water and surface-water contamination due to oil-recovery and exploration activity. The major remaining problem is the attainment of sufficient funds to support the enforcement of the existing laws.TAWS AND REGULATIONS PROHIBITING THE CONUAMINATION OF ‘SURFACE OR UNDERGROUND WATER AND THE PENALTIES FOR ‘VIOLATING THESE LAWS AND REGULATIONS State Lew 15 Ohio Revised Code “Contamination of surface or underground weter by substances resulting, obtained, or produced in connection with exploration, drilling, or producing of ofl or gas is prohibited, and the chief of the division of ofl and ges shell adopt such rules and regulations relating thereto as may be necessary for protection of the public health and safety or conservation of natural resources. All water produced from a well shall be injected into an under- ground formation approved by the chief, or disposed of by an alternative method or methods approved by the chief." sais dtat” sate nas SRL. rrertion of olution "All persons engaged in the drilling, deepening, reopening, plugging back, completing, reworking, operating and plugging of all wells and in the trensportation of salt water for disposal purposes shall conduct such operations in a manner which will not contaminate or pollute ground water or surface water. All wellheed connection surface and subsurface equipment shall be installed and maintained at all times to prevent leakage of oil, gas, and salt water. Salt water shall be stored, transported end disposed of in the manner prescribed by Regulations 101 to 110, inclusive, of the Regulations of the Chief, or in such other manner as the Chief may approve. Any other method of disposal is hereby prohibited.” Penalty for Violating State Lew 1509.22, Ohio Revised Code or State Regulation 10h “Whoever violates sections 1509.01 to 1509.29, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or any rules, regulations, or ordere Issued pursuant to these sections, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars for a first offense; for each subsequent offense such person shell be fined not less than two hundred nor more than one thousand dollars." State Law 3767.14, Ohio Revised Code "No person shall intentionally throw, deposit, or permit to be thrown or deposited, coal dirt, coel slack, coal screenings, or coal refuse from coal mines, refuse or filth from ® coal ofl refinery or gasworks, or whey or filthy drainage from a cheese factory, into a river, lake, pond, or stream, or a place from which it may wash therein. No person shell couse or permit petroleum, crude ofl, refined ofl, or a compound, mixture, residuum of of] or filth from an oil well, ofl tank, oil vat, or place of deposit of crude or refined oil, to run into or be poured, emptied, or thrown into @ river, ditch, drain, or watercourse, or into a place Prom which it may run or wash therein. Prosecution for a violation of this section must be brought in the county in which such coal mine, coal ofl refinery, gasworks, cheese factory, oil well, oil tank, ofl vat, or place of deposit of crude or refined oil 1s situated.” (Underscore added) Penalty for Violating State Law 3767.14, Ohio Revised Code "Whoever violates section 3767-1k of the Revised Code shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollers.”10 CHAPTER 2 DESCRIPTION OF SURVEY AREAS Delaware Survey Area Pigure 2-1 shows a small shaded area northeast of Delaware, Ohio. This area, on the east floodplain of the Olentangy River, was intensively utilized during this study. A detailed map is represented in Figure 2-2. The Delaware survey area contains approximately 20 acres. There are two oil wells and three disposal pits in the area. Use of all pits was discontinued in 1965, Production data available from the two oil wells in the area and adjacent to the pits led to the conclusion that nearly one quarter of a million barrels of brine were disposed of by means of these three pits (Shaw, 1966, p. 72). Figure 2-3 is a view looking south from the road through the enclave. A portion of one of the Ross pits (see Plate 1) is shown on the £lood- plain. One observation well (#1) is visable to the right of the pit. Several dead trees may be seen along the river's edge. he floodplain is underlain by coarse sands and gravels with interbedded clay and silt layers. Bedrockit ‘Seole in Mies FIGURE 2-7 Delowore Index map for Regional ond Survey Area!ongs rr “ery Be eevee 10.14] * ag eed 101 yt 220 SLATZER WO.! woast Delowore area map showing observation wells, oi! wells ond disposal pits. Contouring shows surface relief across floodplain. GUATIEN sods PH oarzen no. e FIGURE 2-2 JE. Show, 1966Pigure 2-3 1314 esent at depths of from 20 to 25 is consistantly p feet based upon resistivity surveys by this investigator. The bedrock is a dense, impervious limestone, the Delaware Limestone (Devonian), which does not outcrop in the area but is exposed below the water line in the adjacent Olentangy River, Because of buried boulders and the limited capacity of drilling equipment, the depth to bedrock could not be determined with certainty by drilling. The water table in the area is high and commonly less than three feet from the surface. water wells arilled in the floodplain deposits are capable of producing high yields because of the highly permeable nature of the materials. Owing to the high permeability and existence of a steep water-table gradient, shaw calculated the ground-water flow velocity to be greater than 1.5 feet per day (1966, p. 90). This velocity is based upon the assumption that the velocity of the chloride ions in the water and the velocity of the water are one and the same. This is not necessarily the case because ionic and electrochemical forces may cause the chloride ions to move at ad #ferent velocity than the1s water itself. clay for example, is well known for its ability to exchenge cations within its lattice. Sodium, a common constituent of brine, becomes loosely attached to the clay lattice. Anions may also become adsorbed depending upon the charges of the clays (Levorsen, 1967, p. 173). However, even if only cations are attracted and adsorbed by the lattice, anions could be electrically attracted to these cations. Therefore, ion-exchange could provide a mechanism for retarding the movement of ions in a saturated media. Tight hydrologic control exists in the area. Bounding the area on the west is the Olentangy River which is a ground-water divide. Water table surveys indi- cate that most of the ground water is moving toward the Olentangy River. However, some mounding of ground water occurred while the pits were in operation. This is evident from the high chloride concentrations in observation wells east of the pits, It seems probable that a considerable amount of contamination in this area east of the pits could he due to “ionic mounding" caused by chioride-concentration gvadients. Because16 the water table is close to the surface and, in fact, intersects the water table in the pits (when not in use), this type of mounding may be the major factor causing high chloride concentration upgradient from the pits. The enclave is bounded on the south by a small tributary, Saunders Creek, which is an intermittent stream and therefore would be expected to be a partial ground-water divide, Likewise, the north-south trending waterway which bounds the area on the east, is probably also a partial ground-water divide. This man-made cut has recently been tiled and covered with soil north of the road passing through the area. This accounts for omission of the cut on several plates in this thesis. Although there is no natural or man-made boundary to the north of the enclave, access to this area and detection methods enable its definition. As previously mentioned, the flovdplain is under~ lain by an impervious limestone to a depth of slightly more than 20 feet. This provides an effective hydraulic seal. The entire enclave is seen as being very well- defined since all boundaries are known or determineble.17 Method of Investigation: Several methods were employed to define the characteristics of the enclave. First, the method employed by Shaw, that of isochlor maps based upon chemical titrations of samples pumped from observation wells, was continued. Several new wells were drilled to improve control over the area. Isochlor maps are presented as Plates 1, 2, and 3. The second method of investigation was electrical conductivity analysis of well samples. From such data, iso-conductivity maps were drawn and are presented in Plates 4, 5, 6, and 7. Detailed discussion of this method is presented in Chapter 6. The third method is electrical resistivity surveys using geophysical equipment. ‘wo resistivity maps were prepared and are presented in Plates 8 and 9. Discussion of this method is presented in Chapter 7. Analysis of the latter two methods is based upon the assumption that the isochlor map is a true represen- tation of the enclave, i.e., its shape, areal extent, and its distribution of contamination for a given nontir. The excellent geologic and hydrologic control. in the Delaware area permitted the development of techniques18 of brine detection to be used in the Morrow County survey region, where control was limited. It was apparent because of dead vegetation along the river's edge that the pollution had reached the river and was entering the stream. This provided an excellent opportunity to develop techniques for the detection of such effluent as well as testing the theory of an effluent stream being a ground-water @ivide (Lehr, 1963). Several river surveys were made and results are discussed in Chapter 8, Morrow County Survey Area Morrow County has been the major oil-producing area in Ohio during the past five yoars, It is located in north-central Ohio in the Scioto River basin. Most of the oil production is centered around the towns of Mt. Gilead, Edison, and Cardington, between or just adjacent fo the only two effluent streams through the area, Whetstone and Shaw Creeks. Figure 2-1 shows this area as shaded. Figure 2-4 is a more detailed map of the area. Oil production has decreased significantly during the two years this study was in process (1965-1967). Table 2-1 is a summary of oil drilling operations in19 REGIONAL SURVEY AREA Figure 2-4 MORROW COUNTY, OHIO20 the area. TABLE 2-1* YEAR NOs_0: ELLS DRILLED BARRELS Oli 2RODUCED™ 1963 229 4,862,000 1964 1342 10,476,000 1965 465 7,412,000 1966 165 4,862,000 * Source: Ohio Division of Oil and Gas, oral communication, 1-667. + Figures from Cambrian pool. Includes some production outside of Morrow County. Crude oil production during the past five years has been more than 25 million barrels (Table 2-1). The petroleum is trapped by an unconformity in buried hills of the Copper Ridge Dolomite (Late cawbrian). The roof rock is comprised of Ordovician shales. Because of the nature of the trap nearly all oil wells are or were wildcat wells. Many of the wells producing at this time can be classified as stripper wells (Levorsen, 1967, p. 480). While the number of barrels of crude oil recovered is known, the volume of brine produced as a by-product of oil-recovery operations can only be estimated. Qil-brine ratios vary from pool to pool and even within24 the same pool because of edge-water effects. Based upon an estimated ratio of 1:1, Shaw arrived at a figure of 16 million barrels of salt water produced and disposed of in Morrow County. It is apparent from Table 2-1 that this figure is low for a 1:1 ratio Methods of brine disposal are described in detail by Shaw(1960). They include hauling by tank truck with subsequent spreading or dumping on roads, in streams, or in gravel quarries, so-called "evaporation" pits, and subsurface injection into deep geologic horizons. Unlined pits are illegal along with hauling dumping, an@ spreading methods. These methods were widely employed prior to enactment of controling legislation, This permitted widespread ground-water contamination in the area, Figure 2-5 is a schematic drawing of oil-field waste disposal methods. Figure 2-6 shows the effects of brine disposal in a tributary of Whetstone Creek. Figure 2-7 shows the effect of an unusual method of disposal which is self-explanatory. The Morrow County survey area is a glaciated region, relatively flat and representative of ground moraines. North and northeast of Mt. Gilead the topography becomesS-2 ornsta mam wouDINE Wetton) aurRaTion. v8 WO 2004Figure 2-7 2324 hummocky, due to the presence of two terminal moraines, the Broadway and Powell (Goldthwait et al, Map 2-316). Very little research was undertaken in the vicinity of these moraines, however one resistance map was constructed in the area. The thickness of glacial till in Morrow County varies from zero to over 100 feet over buried stream valleys. ‘Whe only bedrock outcrops observed in the study area were below the water line in portions of ‘whetstone Creek between Cardington and Mt. Gilead. The composition of the till is quite variable. Evidence of this comes from many existing water-well logs and from wells drilled expressly for this study. The topsoil is generally a clay loam. a typical well log follows. Depth (ft) Diseription 0-5 Overburden (clzy loam) 5-9 Gray-brown silt loan, some sand strings 9-15 Yellow-brown clay-rich loam, gravel strings 15-21 Blue-gray clay loam with se ings -26 Grey to gray-black sandy loam, clay lenses present (water table at 12 feet)25 Domestic water supply in the area is obtained from drilled or dug welle and from spring water. The well capacities range from a “seepage” well capable of producing less than a few gallons per minute to wells whose maximum capacity is in excess of several hundred G.P.M. Poorer wells result most commonly from the casing and well point being set in clay which has a very low permeability. Drillers in the area usually refer to this clay as "bedrock". This leads to confusion when interpreting well logs. Higher capacity wells are set in unconsolidated sand of high permeability. Because of the highly variable nature of the till, ground-water velocities w 1 vary throughout the area. Movement of contaminated ground water, therefore, varies within the survey area. In addition, chemical processes, particularly ion-exchange activity, will vary because of differing chemical composition of the till. Underlying the till is the Ohio Shale (Devonian). Usually refered to as "slate" by the local drillers, the shale is a thick, dense, black material, and quite impervious to ground water except where jointing is