Charles A Cravotta, III, PhD, PG (Former Employee)
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 89
Radium attenuation and mobilization in stream sediments following oil and gas wastewater disposal in western Pennsylvania
Centralized waste treatment facilities (CWTs) in Pennsylvania discharged wastewater from conventional and unconventional oil and gas (O&G) wells into surface waters until 2011, when a voluntary request from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) encouraged recycling rather than treating and discharging unconventional O&G wastewater. To determine the effect of this request
Authors
Katherine Van Sice, Charles A. Cravotta, Bonnie McDevitt, Travis L. Tasker, Joshua D. Landis, Johnna Puhr, Nathaniel R. Warner
Hydrologic characteristics and water quality of headwater streams and wetlands at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Summit area, Blair and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania, 2014–16
The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (ALPO) in Blair and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania, protects historic features of the first railroad portage over the Allegheny Front and the first railroad tunnel in the United States. This report, which was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service, summarizes water resources in the headwaters of th
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Daniel G. Galeone, Kathy A. Penrod
Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Pike County, Pennsylvania, 2015
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, which have the potential for natural gas development, underlie Pike County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pike County Conservation District, conducted a study that expanded on a previous more limited 2012 study to assess baseline shallow groundwa
Authors
Lisa A. Senior, Charles A. Cravotta
Groundwater quality for 75 domestic wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 2014
Groundwater is a major source of drinking water in Lycoming County and adjacent counties in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, which are largely forested and rural and are currently undergoing development for hydrocarbon gases. Water-quality data are needed for assessing the natural characteristics of the groundwater resource and the potential effects from energy and mineral extraction,
Authors
Eliza L. Gross, Charles A. Cravotta
Hydrological and geophysical investigation of streamflow losses and restoration strategies in an abandoned mine lands setting
Longitudinal discharge and water-quality campaigns (seepage runs) were combined with surface-geophysical surveys, hyporheic-temperature profiling, and watershed-scale hydrological monitoring to evaluate the locations, magnitude, and impact of streamwater losses from the West Creek subbasin of the West West Branch Schuylkill River into the underground Oak Hill Mine complex that extends beneath the
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Laura Sherrod, Daniel G. Galeone, Wayne G. Lehman, Terry E. Ackman, Alexa Kramer
Enhanced Al and Zn removal from coal-mine drainage during rapid oxidation and precipitation of Fe oxides at near-neutral pH
Net-alkaline, anoxic coal-mine drainage containing ∼20 mg/L FeII and ∼0.05 mg/L Al and Zn was subjected to parallel batch experiments: control, aeration (Aer 1 12.6 mL/s; Aer 2 16.8 mL/s; Aer 3 25.0 mL/s), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to test the hypothesis that aeration increases pH, FeII oxidation, hydrous FeIII oxide (HFO) formation, and trace-metal removal through adsorption and coprecipitatio
Authors
Jill E. Burrows, Charles A. Cravotta, Stephen C. Peters
Dissolution of fluorapatite by Pseudomonas fluorescens P35 resulting in fluorine release
Chemical weathering of fluorine-bearing minerals is widely accepted as the main mechanism for the release of fluorine (F) to groundwater. Here, we propose a potential mechanism of F release via microbial dissolution of fluorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3F), which has been neglected previously. Batch culture experiments were conducted at 30°C with a phosphate-solubilizing bacteria strain, Pseudomonas fluoresce
Authors
Jianping Zhou, Hongmei Wang, Charles A. Cravotta, Qiang Dong, Xing Xiang
Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage (AMD) consists of metal-laden solutions produced by the oxidative dissolution of iron sulfide minerals exposed to air, moisture, and acidophilic microbes during the mining of coal and metal deposits. The pH of AMD is usually in the range of 2–6, but mine-impacted waters at circumneutral pH (5–8) are also common. Mine drainage usually contains elevated concentrations of sulfate,
Authors
Jerry M. Bigham, Charles A. Cravotta
Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2014
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, geologic formations which have potential for natural gas development, underlie Wayne County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wayne Conservation District, conducted a study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in bedrock aquifers in Wayne
Authors
Lisa A. Senior, Charles A. Cravotta, III, Ronald A. Sloto
Monitoring, field experiments, and geochemical modeling of Fe(II) oxidation kinetics in a stream dominated by net-alkaline coal-mine drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Watershed-scale monitoring, field aeration experiments, and geochemical equilibrium and kinetic modeling were conducted to evaluate interdependent changes in pH, dissolved CO2, O2, and Fe(II) concentrations that typically take place downstream of net-alkaline, circumneutral coal-mine drainage (CMD) outfalls and during aerobic treatment of such CMD. The kinetic modeling approach, using PHREEQC, acc
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta
Temporal geochemical variations in above- and below-drainage coal mine discharge
Water quality data collected in 2012 for 10 above- and 14 below-drainage coal mine discharges (CMDs), classified by mining or excavation method, in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, USA, are compared with data for 1975, 1991, and 1999 to evaluate long-term (37 year) changes in pH, SO42−, and Fe concentrations related to geochemistry, hydrology, and natural attenuation processes. We hypothesiz
Authors
Jill E. Burrows, Stephen C. Peters, Charles A. Cravotta
AMDTreat 5.0+ with PHREEQC titration module to compute caustic chemical quantity, effluent quality, and sludge volume
Alkaline chemicals are commonly added to discharges from coal mines to increase pH and decrease concentrations of acidity and dissolved aluminum, iron, manganese, and associated metals. The annual cost of chemical treatment depends on the type and quantities of chemicals added and sludge produced. The AMDTreat computer program, initially developed in 2003, is widely used to compute such costs on t
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Brent P Means, Willam Arthur, Robert M McKenzie, David L. Parkhurst
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 89
Radium attenuation and mobilization in stream sediments following oil and gas wastewater disposal in western Pennsylvania
Centralized waste treatment facilities (CWTs) in Pennsylvania discharged wastewater from conventional and unconventional oil and gas (O&G) wells into surface waters until 2011, when a voluntary request from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) encouraged recycling rather than treating and discharging unconventional O&G wastewater. To determine the effect of this request
Authors
Katherine Van Sice, Charles A. Cravotta, Bonnie McDevitt, Travis L. Tasker, Joshua D. Landis, Johnna Puhr, Nathaniel R. Warner
Hydrologic characteristics and water quality of headwater streams and wetlands at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Summit area, Blair and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania, 2014–16
The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (ALPO) in Blair and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania, protects historic features of the first railroad portage over the Allegheny Front and the first railroad tunnel in the United States. This report, which was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service, summarizes water resources in the headwaters of th
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Daniel G. Galeone, Kathy A. Penrod
Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Pike County, Pennsylvania, 2015
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, which have the potential for natural gas development, underlie Pike County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pike County Conservation District, conducted a study that expanded on a previous more limited 2012 study to assess baseline shallow groundwa
Authors
Lisa A. Senior, Charles A. Cravotta
Groundwater quality for 75 domestic wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 2014
Groundwater is a major source of drinking water in Lycoming County and adjacent counties in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, which are largely forested and rural and are currently undergoing development for hydrocarbon gases. Water-quality data are needed for assessing the natural characteristics of the groundwater resource and the potential effects from energy and mineral extraction,
Authors
Eliza L. Gross, Charles A. Cravotta
Hydrological and geophysical investigation of streamflow losses and restoration strategies in an abandoned mine lands setting
Longitudinal discharge and water-quality campaigns (seepage runs) were combined with surface-geophysical surveys, hyporheic-temperature profiling, and watershed-scale hydrological monitoring to evaluate the locations, magnitude, and impact of streamwater losses from the West Creek subbasin of the West West Branch Schuylkill River into the underground Oak Hill Mine complex that extends beneath the
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Laura Sherrod, Daniel G. Galeone, Wayne G. Lehman, Terry E. Ackman, Alexa Kramer
Enhanced Al and Zn removal from coal-mine drainage during rapid oxidation and precipitation of Fe oxides at near-neutral pH
Net-alkaline, anoxic coal-mine drainage containing ∼20 mg/L FeII and ∼0.05 mg/L Al and Zn was subjected to parallel batch experiments: control, aeration (Aer 1 12.6 mL/s; Aer 2 16.8 mL/s; Aer 3 25.0 mL/s), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to test the hypothesis that aeration increases pH, FeII oxidation, hydrous FeIII oxide (HFO) formation, and trace-metal removal through adsorption and coprecipitatio
Authors
Jill E. Burrows, Charles A. Cravotta, Stephen C. Peters
Dissolution of fluorapatite by Pseudomonas fluorescens P35 resulting in fluorine release
Chemical weathering of fluorine-bearing minerals is widely accepted as the main mechanism for the release of fluorine (F) to groundwater. Here, we propose a potential mechanism of F release via microbial dissolution of fluorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3F), which has been neglected previously. Batch culture experiments were conducted at 30°C with a phosphate-solubilizing bacteria strain, Pseudomonas fluoresce
Authors
Jianping Zhou, Hongmei Wang, Charles A. Cravotta, Qiang Dong, Xing Xiang
Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage (AMD) consists of metal-laden solutions produced by the oxidative dissolution of iron sulfide minerals exposed to air, moisture, and acidophilic microbes during the mining of coal and metal deposits. The pH of AMD is usually in the range of 2–6, but mine-impacted waters at circumneutral pH (5–8) are also common. Mine drainage usually contains elevated concentrations of sulfate,
Authors
Jerry M. Bigham, Charles A. Cravotta
Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2014
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, geologic formations which have potential for natural gas development, underlie Wayne County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wayne Conservation District, conducted a study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in bedrock aquifers in Wayne
Authors
Lisa A. Senior, Charles A. Cravotta, III, Ronald A. Sloto
Monitoring, field experiments, and geochemical modeling of Fe(II) oxidation kinetics in a stream dominated by net-alkaline coal-mine drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Watershed-scale monitoring, field aeration experiments, and geochemical equilibrium and kinetic modeling were conducted to evaluate interdependent changes in pH, dissolved CO2, O2, and Fe(II) concentrations that typically take place downstream of net-alkaline, circumneutral coal-mine drainage (CMD) outfalls and during aerobic treatment of such CMD. The kinetic modeling approach, using PHREEQC, acc
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta
Temporal geochemical variations in above- and below-drainage coal mine discharge
Water quality data collected in 2012 for 10 above- and 14 below-drainage coal mine discharges (CMDs), classified by mining or excavation method, in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, USA, are compared with data for 1975, 1991, and 1999 to evaluate long-term (37 year) changes in pH, SO42−, and Fe concentrations related to geochemistry, hydrology, and natural attenuation processes. We hypothesiz
Authors
Jill E. Burrows, Stephen C. Peters, Charles A. Cravotta
AMDTreat 5.0+ with PHREEQC titration module to compute caustic chemical quantity, effluent quality, and sludge volume
Alkaline chemicals are commonly added to discharges from coal mines to increase pH and decrease concentrations of acidity and dissolved aluminum, iron, manganese, and associated metals. The annual cost of chemical treatment depends on the type and quantities of chemicals added and sludge produced. The AMDTreat computer program, initially developed in 2003, is widely used to compute such costs on t
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Brent P Means, Willam Arthur, Robert M McKenzie, David L. Parkhurst
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government