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Data from Methane in Aquifers Used for Public Supply in the United States

Metadata Updated: October 30, 2025

In 2013 to 2015, 833 public supply wells in 15 Principal aquifers in the United States (U.S.) were sampled to identify which aquifers contained high methane concentrations (>1 mg/L) and determine the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical conditions associated with high concentrations. This study represents the first national assessment of methane in aquifers used for public supply in the U.S. and, as such, advances the understanding of the occurrence and distribution of methane in groundwater nationally. Methane concentrations >1 and >10 mg/L occurred in 6.7 and 1.1% of the samples, respectively. Most high concentrations occurred in aquifers in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain regions and upper Midwest. High methane concentrations were most commonly associated with Tertiary and younger aquifer sediments, old groundwater (>60 years), and concentrations of oxygen, nitrate-N, and sulfate <0.5 mg/L. Concentrations of methane were also positively correlated (p<0.05) with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ammonium. Case studies in Florida, Texas, and Iowa were used to explore how regional context from this data set could aid our understanding of local occurrences of methane in groundwater. Regional data for methane, Br/Cl ratios, sulfate, and other parameters helped identify mixing processes involving end members such as wastewater effluent-impacted groundwater, saline formation water, and pore water in glacial till that contributed methane to groundwater in some cases and supported methane oxidation in others.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-593ee94ae4b0764e6c61bb33
Data Last Modified 2020-08-26T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 50451bde-fb7a-41a0-97b5-4f003ceb3bc4
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -125.15624999859, 24.486750386054, -66.972656250913, 49.123932917695
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 0177742ad3244e7f817753d715b4e83a720b70bb5bf90b90d2f7d4dddcc51f1f
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -125.15624999859, 24.486750386054, -125.15624999859, 49.123932917695, -66.972656250913, 49.123932917695, -66.972656250913, 24.486750386054, -125.15624999859, 24.486750386054}

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