1. |
- Folkerts, Erik J., et al.
(author)
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Embryonic cardio-respiratory impairments in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) following exposure to hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water
- 2022
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In: Environmental Pollution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0269-7491 .- 1873-6424. ; 310
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- During hydraulic fracturing, wastewaters - termed flowback and produced water (FPW) - are created as a by-product during hydrocarbon extraction. Given the large volumes of FPW that a single well can produce, and the history of FPW release to surface water bodies, it is imperative to understand the hazards that hydraulic fracturing and FPW pose to aquatic biota. Using rainbow trout embryos as model organisms, we investigated impacts to cardio-respiratory system development and function following acute (48 h) and sub-chronic (28-day) FPW exposure by examining occurrences of developmental deformities, rates of embryonic respiration (MO2), and changes in expression of critical cardiac-specific genes. FPW-exposed embryos had significantly increased rates of pericardial edema, yolk-sac edema, and tail/trunk curvatures at hatch. Furthermore, when exposed at three days post-fertilization (dpf), acute 5% FPW exposures significantly increased embryonic MO2 through development until 15 dpf, where a switch to significantly reduced MO2 rates was subsequently recorded. A similar trend was observed during sub-chronic 1% FPW exposures. Interestingly, at certain specific developmental timepoints, previous salinity exposure seemed to affect embryonic MO2; a result not previously observed. Following acute FPW exposures, embryonic genes for cardiac development and function were significantly altered, although at termination of sub-chronic exposures, significant changes to these same genes were not found. Together, our evidence of induced developmental deformities, modified embryonic MO2, and altered cardiac transcript expression suggest that cardio-respiratory tissues are toxicologically targeted following FPW exposure in developing rainbow trout. These results may be helpful to regulatory bodies when developing hazard identification and risk management protocols concerning hydraulic fracturing activities.
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2. |
- Lu, Yichun, et al.
(author)
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Suspended solids-associated toxicity of hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water on early life stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio)
- 2021
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In: Environmental Pollution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0269-7491 .- 1873-6424. ; 287
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water (HF-FPW), which contains polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and numerous other potential contaminants, is a complex wastewater produced during the recovery of tight hydrocarbon resources. Previous studies on HF-FPW have demonstrated various toxicological responses of aquatic organisms as consequences of combined exposure to high salinity, dissolved organic compounds and particle/suspended solids-bound pollutants. Noteworthy is the lack of studies illustrating the potentially toxic effects of the FPW suspended solids (FPW-SS). In this study, we investigated the acute and sublethal toxicity of suspended solids filtered from six authentic FPW sample collected from two fracturing wells, using a sediment contact assay based on early-life stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio). PAHs profiles and acute toxicity tests provided initial information on the toxic potency of the six samples. Upon exposure to sediment mixture at two selected doses (1.6 and 3.1 mg/mL), results showed adverse effects in larval zebrafish, as revealed by increased Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity. Transcriptional alterations were also observed in xenobiotic biotransformation (ahr, pxr, cyp1a, cyp1b1, cyp1c1, cyp1c2, cyp3a65, udpgt1a1, udpgt5g1), antioxidant response (sod1, sod2, gpx1a, gpx1b) and hormone receptor signaling (esr1, esr2a, cyp19a1a, vtg1) genes. The results demonstrated that even separated from the complex aqueous FPW mixture, FPW-SS can induce toxicological responses in aquatic organisms' early life stages. Since FPW-SS could sediment to the bottom of natural wetland acting as a continuous source of contaminants, the current findings imply the likelihood of long-term environmental risks of polluted sediments on aquatic ecosystems due to FPW spills.
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3. |
- Zhong, Cheng, et al.
(author)
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Temporal Changes in Microbial Community Composition and Geochemistry in Flowback and Produced Water from the Duvernay Formation
- 2019
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In: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2472-3452. ; 3:6, s. 1047-1057
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Microbial activity in flowback and produced water (FPW) may negatively influence shale oil and gas extraction. However, the impacts of using recycled produced water (RPW) for subsequent fracturing jobs are not well-understood. In this study, we compared time series of FPW samples from two horizontally fractured wells drilled into the Duvernay Formation in Alberta, Canada; well 1 used RPW in the makeup of the hydraulic fracturing fluid (HFF) whereas well 2 did not. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and live/dead cell enumeration were used to track microbial communities. Within 20 days of flowback, total dissolved solids in well 1 and well 2 increased from 5310 mg/L and 288 mg/L to over 150,000 mg/L, and FPW temperatures increased from 20 and 9 degrees C to 77 and 71 degrees C, respectively. Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (biocide) in well 2 decreased from 25 mu g/L to below the detection limit of 0.5 mu g/L. Cellular biomass decreased from similar to 10(5) cells mL(-1) to less than the detection limit of 10(5) cells mL(-1) in both wells, and the community in the samples was initially diverse but rapidly shifted to become dominated by the sulfidogenic lineage Halanaerobium. Methanogens were detected at low relative abundance within archaea, with DNA concentrations in FPW after 20 days inadequate for sequencing. Comparing the two wells, the start time of Halanaerobium enrichment was considerably shortened in well 1 relative to well 2. Our results suggest that subsurface environmental parameters primarily drive the rapid enrichment of sulfidogenic and halotolerant bacteria and current recycling strategies can facilitate the growth of these bacteria, whereas biocide seems to be a less important factor in this shift.
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