Notes. A survey of discharges from a natural gas-drilling operation in Lake Erie

Abstract

We mapped turbid discharge plumes from a Canadian gas drilling rig by continuous-flow nephelometry and measured the concentrations of selected inorganic and organic constituents in the plumes. The buoyant surface plumes were from approx.600 to 1500 m long, with a maximum width of approx.250 m and areas less than 25 ha. Maximum total suspended solids in the discharge plumes were usuallly less than 5.0 mg/L and were rapidly dispersed when discharging ceased. Sodium, magnesium, sulfate, and chloride were diluted to ambient lake-water levels within 50 m of the drilling rig. Volatile hydrocarbons were <25 ..mu..g/L and dispersed quickly. Methane and ethane were enriched in the discharge plume but dispersed rapidly with increasing distance from the rig.