Acid Mine Drainage Flowing from Abandoned Gas Wells

Abstract

In northwestern Pennsylvania (USA), numerous abandoned natural gas wells are producing artesian flows of Fe-contaminated water. The origin of the polluted water has been generally assumed to be brines from the gas-producing sands. We sampled 20 artesian discharges where iron staining was conspicuous. The waters were not brines, but were more characteristic of acid mine drainage (AMD). The dominant cations were Fe, Ca, and Mg, while the dominant anion was sulfate. The study area has a long history of coal mining in the lower Allegheny formation; however, the coal beds are generally at higher elevations than the discharges. We propose that AMD formed in the coal mines is infiltrating into lower aquifers, moving outside the lateral limits of mining, and using abandoned gas wells as conduits to the surface. While flowing through the underlying sandstones, the AMD chemistry is modified by contact with siderite, the dominant carbonate mineral in this stratigraphy. This would suggest that current remediation strategies that emphasize plugging the pollution-producing gas wells may be ill-advised because the source of the polluted water is more shallow than currently assumed.