Brine migration study in Marcellus Shale

YOUNGSTOWN — Natural underground pathways could allows salts and gases from Marcellus Shale formations deep underground to migrate into shallow drinking water aquifers.

A Duke University study found elevated levels of salinity with similar geochemistry to deep Marcellus brine in drinking water samples from three groundwater aquifers, but the study showed no direct links between the salinity and shale gas exploration in the region.

“This is a good news-bad news kind of finding,” said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

But the study further goes on to say that it does not appear that hydraulic fracturing caused the elevated salinity. The location of the samples containing brine don’t correlate with the location of shale-gas wells, Vengosh said. The results are consistent with tests conducted in the 1980s before shale gas development.