Katherine Skalak

Environmental signatures and effects of an oil and gas wastewater spill in the Williston Basin, North Dakota.

Wastewaters from oil and gas development pose largely unknown risks to environmental resources. In January 2015, 11.4ML (million liters) of wastewater (300g/L TDS) from oil production in the Williston Basin was reported to have leaked from a pipeline, spilling into Blacktail Creek, North Dakota. Geochemical and biological samples were collected in February and June 2015 to identify geochemical signatures of spilled wastewaters as well as biological responses along a 44-km river reach. February water samples had elevated chloride (1030mg/L) and bromide (7.8mg/L) downstream from the spill, compared to upstream levels (11mg/L and <0.4mg/L, respectively). Lithium (0.25mg/L), boron (1.75mg/L) and strontium (7.1mg/L) were present downstream at 5-10 times upstream concentrations. Light hydrocarbon measurements indicated a persistent thermogenic source of methane in the stream. Semi-volatile hydrocarbons indicative of oil were not detected in filtered samples but low levels, including tetramethylbenzenes and di-methylnaphthalenes, were detected in unfiltered water samples downstream from the spill. Labile sediment-bound barium and strontium concentrations (June 2015) were higher downstream from the Spill Site. Radium activities in sediment downstream from the Spill Site were up to 15 times the upstream activities and, combined with Sr isotope ratios, suggest contributions from the pipeline fluid and support the conclusion that elevated concentrations in Blacktail Creek water are from the leaking pipeline. Results from June 2015 demonstrate the persistence of wastewater effects in Blacktail Creek several months after remediation efforts started. Aquatic health effects were observed in June 2015; fish bioassays showed only 2.5% survival at 7.1km downstream from the spill compared to 89% at the upstream reference site. Additional potential biological impacts were indicated by estrogenic inhibition in downstream waters. Our findings demonstrate that environmental signatures from wastewater spills are persistent and create the potential for long-term environmental health effects.

Storage filters upland suspended sediment signals delivered from watersheds

Climate change, tectonics, and humans create long- and short-term temporal variations in the supply of suspended sediment to rivers. These signals, generated in upland erosional areas, are filtered by alluvial storage before reaching the basin outlet. We quantified this filter using a random walk model driven by sediment budget data, a power-law distributed probability density function (PDF) to determine how long sediment remains stored, and a constant downstream drift velocity during transport of 157 km/yr. For 25 km of transport, few particles are stored, and the median travel time is 0.2 yr. For 1000 km of transport, nearly all particles are stored, and the median travel time is 2.5 m.y. Both travel-time distributions are power laws. The 1000 km travel-time distribution was then used to filter sinusoidal input signals with periods of 10 yr and 10 4 yr. The 10 yr signal is delayed by 12.5 times its input period, damped by a factor of 380, and is output as a power law. The 10 4 yr signal is delayed by 0.15 times its input period, damped by a factor of 3, and the output signal retains its sinusoidal input form (but with a power-law “tail”). Delivery time scales for these two signals are controlled by storage; in-channel transport time is insignificant, and low-frequency signals are transmitted with greater fidelity than high-frequency signals. These signal modifications are essential to consider when evaluating watershed restoration schemes designed to control sediment loading, and where source-area geomorphic processes are inferred from the geologic record.

Head‐of‐tide bottleneck of particulate material transport from watersheds to estuaries

We measured rates of sediment, C, N, and P accumulation at four floodplain sites spanning the nontidal through oligohaline Choptank and Pocomoke Rivers, Maryland, USA. Ceramic tiles were used to collect sediment for a year and sediment cores were collected to derive decadal sedimentation rates using 137Cs. The results showed highest rates of short- and long-term sediment, C, N, and P accumulation occurred in tidal freshwater forests at the head of tide on the Choptank and the oligohaline marsh of the Pocomoke River, and lowest rates occurred in the downstream tidal freshwater forests in both rivers. Presumably, watershed material was mostly trapped at the head of tide, and estuarine material was trapped in oligohaline marshes. This hydrologic transport bottleneck at the head of tide stores most available watershed sediment, C, N, and P creating a sediment shadow in lower tidal freshwater forests potentially limiting their resilience to sea level rise.

Large wood distribution, mobility, and recruitment in an inter-dam river reach: A comparison with geomorphic process on the Garrison Reach of the Missouri River pre and post the historical 2011 flood: Large wood distribution in an inter-dam river reach

This study assessed the effect of the largest flood since dam regulation on geomorphic and large wood (LW) trends using LW distributions at three time periods on the 150 km long Garrison Reach of the Missouri River. In 2011, a flood exceeded 4390m/s for a two-week period (705% above mean flow; 500 year flood). LW was measured using high resolution satellite imagery in summer 2010 and 2012. Ancillary data including forest character, vegetation cover, lateral bank retreat, and channel capacity. Lateral bank erosion removed approximately 7400 standing trees during the flood. Other mechanisms, that could account for the other two-thirds of the measured in-channel LW, include overland flow through floodplains and islands. LW transport was commonly near or over 100 km as indicated by longitudinal forest and bank loss and post-flood LW distribution. LW concentrations shift at several locations along the river, both preand post-flood, and correspond to geomorphic river regions created by the interaction of the Garrison Dam upstream and the Oahe Dam downstream. Areas near the upstream dam experienced proportionally higher rates of bank erosion and forest loss but in-channel LW decreased, likely due to scouring. A large amount of LW moved during this flood, the chief anchoring mechanism was not bridges or narrow channel reaches but the channel complexity of the river delta created by the downstream reservoir. Areas near the downstream dam experienced bank accretion and large amounts of LW deposition. This study confirms the results of similar work in the Reach: despite a historic flood longitudinal LWand channel trends remain the same. Dam regulation has created a geomorphic and LW pattern that is largely uninterrupted by an unprecedented dam regulation era flood. River managers may require other tools than infrequent high intensity floods to restore geomorphic and LW patterns. Copyright