@proceedings {271, title = {Arsenic in central Massachusetts bedrock and groundwater}, volume = {42}, year = {2010}, note = {Accession Number: 2011-044094; Conference Name: Geological Society of America, 2010 annual meeting; Denver, CO, United States; Conference Date: 20101031; Language: English; Coden: GAAPBC; Collation: 2; Collation: 216-217; Publication Types: Abstract Only; Serial; Conference document; Updated Code: 201125; Monograph Title: Geological Society of America, 2010 annual meeting; Monograph Author(s): Anonymous; Reviewed Item: Analytic}, month = {2010/11/01/}, pages = {216 - 217}, publisher = {Geological Society of America (GSA) : Boulder, CO, United States}, address = {United States}, abstract = {Across the New England "arsenic belt," groundwater arsenic (As) concentrations often exceed the EPA{\textquoteright}s 0.01-mg/L drinking water standard. In overburden groundwater at a site within this belt in north-central Massachusetts, As has been reported at levels up to 7.6 mg/L. Bedrock at the site consists of Silurian Central Maine Terrane metasediments intruded by the Devonian Ayer granodiorite and Chelmsford granite. Exchange of hydrothermal fluids between these lithologies during intrusion and later deformation, faulting, and metamorphism resulted in crystallization of arsenic-bearing minerals, including arsenopyrite. Quaternary deglaciation and unloading dilated joint systems in the bedrock, allowing increased exposure of the mineralogy to meteoric water. Several arsenopyrite alteration products (e.g., scorodite), of varying solubilities, precipitated on fracture surfaces and along grain boundaries between major phases. In the emerging conceptual model for this site, groundwater is recharged in bedrock uplands and moves downgradient through the fracture network, becoming increasingly reducing as it moves along a flow path. Arsenic dissolved from arsenopyrite and arsenic-bearing alteration phases in bedrock remains in solution until the groundwater discharges to lowland areas hydraulically downgradient. In these adjacent lowlands, glacial sand and gravel overburden lies above the bedrock. When the reducing water reaches more oxidizing conditions, As-sorbing hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) precipitate out on the aquifer solids, resulting in accumulation of As in the deep overburden aquifer. A large landfill at this site, now closed and capped, imposed reducing conditions, and As is mobilized into groundwater by reductive dissolution of the HFO. The presence of elevated As in groundwater is consistent with arsenic-bearing phases generated in granitoids at depth during regional metamorphism, which were subsequently altered, and are being solubilized at present by the circulation of shallow groundwater through varying redox environments. This scenario is supported by geochemical and petrographic studies of the granitoids and the occurrence of the highest groundwater and soil arsenic concentrations in the adjacent deep overburden.}, keywords = {$\#$StaffPubs, alteration, arsenic, arsenides, arsenopyrite, Ayer Granodiorite, BEDROCK, central Massachusetts, chelmsford granite, Devonian, dilation, discharge, dissolved materials, drinking water, Eh, fractures, General geochemistry 02A, geochemistry, granites, ground water, igneous rocks, joints, massachusetts, metals, metamorphism, meteoric water, overburden, Paleozoic, petrography, plutonic rocks, pollutants, reduction, solubility, solution, sulfides, theoretical models, United States}, isbn = {00167592}, url = {https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/finalprogram/abstract_182430.htm}, author = {McTigue, David F. and Stein, Carol L. and Brandon, William C. and Joseph P Kopera and Keskula, Anna J. and Koteas, G. Christopher} } @proceedings {300, title = {Identifying and examining potential geothermal resources in non-traditional regions, examples from the northeastern U.S.}, volume = {43}, year = {2011}, note = {Accession Number: 2012-083486; Conference Name: Geological Society of America, 2011 annual meeting; Minneapolis, MN, United States; Conference Date: 20111009; Language: English; Coden: GAAPBC; Collation: 1; Collation: 40; Publication Types: Abstract Only; Serial; Conference document; Updated Code: 201244; Monograph Title: Geological Society of America, 2011 annual meeting; Monograph Author(s): Anonymous; Reviewed Item: Analytic}, month = {2011/10/01/}, pages = {40 - 40}, publisher = {Geological Society of America (GSA) : Boulder, CO, United States}, address = {United States}, abstract = {The search for geothermal resources is rapidly expanding into tectonic regions that have not been previously considered to be suitable for exploitation. Many of these regions, such as the northeastern U.S., have never been the site of extensive geophysical investigations and have few deep borehole temperature measurements. Nevertheless, large portions of the northeastern U.S. are underlain by granitic bedrock that may be a productive energy source by applying enhanced geothermal technologies. In the absence of traditional reconnaissance data, we utilize field studies and sampling together with geochemical analysis to develop models of geothermal resources that can be tested against data from deep boreholes. Heat production is calculated from the measured density of the samples, the concentrations of K, U, and Th from whole-rock geochemical analysis via X-ray fluorescence, and established radiogenic heat production values. Models for a particular area can then be generated by calculating depth-specific temperatures using heat production, measured thermal conductivity for each sample, and assumptions related to local stratigraphy and regional heat flow. Mapping and structural extrapolation are used to establish the subsurface characteristics at a study site and are combined with the thermal and chemical characteristics of contact rocks and overburden materials. Two examples of the application of this technique are the Fall River granite at the margin of the Narragansett Basin in southeastern Massachusetts and the Andover Granite in northeastern Massachusetts. Thermal models of the Fall River Pluton indicate average temperatures of 71 degrees C at depths of 4 km and 97 degrees C at 6 km. Average temperatures increase to 107 degrees C and 132 degrees C, respectively, when a 2 km thick sediment package is modeled overlying the granite. The Andover Granite, which is not associated with a sedimentary basin and is in a more structurally complex configuration, yields an average temperature of 74 degrees C at a depth of 4 km and 101 degrees C at 6 km. While this approach to modeling temperature-depth profiles requires some regional heat flow assumptions, the application of mapping and structural analysis with geochemistry and thermal conductivity studies can be an important reconnaissance tool for identifying non-traditional geothermal resources.}, keywords = {$\#$StaffPubs, Andover Granite, Eastern U.S., Economic geology, geology of energy sources 29A, exploitation, exploration, Fall River Granite, field studies, geochemistry, geothermal energy, identification, mapping, massachusetts, models, Northeastern U.S., overburden, resources, sampling, southeastern Massachusetts, spectra, structural analysis, technology, temperature, United States, whole rock, X-ray fluorescence spectra}, isbn = {00167592}, author = {Koteas, G. Christopher and John Michael Rhodes and Stephen B Mabee and Goodhue, Nathaniel and Adams, Sharon A.} }