Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

Stephen E. Ragone

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen E. Ragone.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1978

Hydrochemistry and hydrodynamics of injecting an iron-rich pickling liquor into a dolomitic sandstone: A laboratory study

Waste pickling liquor containing high concentrations of iron salts was injected into cores of quartzite, sandstone, and dolomite in a laboratory study to determine what effect this procedure might have on the permeability of these rock types. Experiments were performed at field conditions 40°C and 13.8 MPa (megapascals) in a high-pressure triaxial chamber similar to that used in rock-mechanics testing but modified to allow downstream sample collection of effluent liquids and direct visual monitoring at in-situ conditions. Five samples were tested, ranging in effective porosity from 2.9 to 13 percent and in lithology from a quartzite to a dolomite. Hydraulic conductivity of the quartzitic samples remained unchanged during injection of over 50 pore volumes of pickling liquor, but significant decreases in the hydraulic conductivity of dolomitic samples were observed. Chemical analyses of effluents from a dolomitic sample suggest that carbonate minerals were dissolving and iron was precipitating. Clogging of pore space by CO 2 entrapment or by CaCl 2 precipitation did not seem to play a role in decreasing hydraulic conductivity because injection into a dolomitic core of more than 140 pore volumes of HCl at a concentration similar to that of the pickling liquor caused only a slight decrease in hydraulic conductivity compared with the decrease observed when an additional 30 pore volumes of pickling liquor were subsequently injected.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Nitrogen in water in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Long Island, New York, in 1971

The concentration of inorganic nitrogen was measured in samples from 521 wells in the upper glacial and Magothy aquifers and from 46 streams in Nassau and Suffolk Counties during May 1971. The predominant form of dissolved nitrogen was nitrate. Nitrate concentrations (as N) in the upper glacial aquifer in both counties ranged from 0 to 20 milligrams per liter (mg/L) ; those in the Magothy aquifer ranged from 0 to 20 mg/L but were generally much lower in Suffolk County than in Nassau County. Nitrate concentrations (as N) decreased with depth in both counties; below 400 feet, concentrations ranged from 0 to 0.2 mg/L. Nitrate concentrations (as N) of streams ranged from 0 to ii mg/L, which is an indication of the general quality of water in much of the upper glacial aquifer, the source of most of the streamflow. Generally, concentrations of total nitrogen in streams draining the sewered area of Nassau County were lower than those in streams draining the unsewered area. Median concentrations of total inorganic nitrogen (as N) were 1.3 mg/L for the sewered area and 7.5 mg/L for the unsewered area. About 5,500 pounds of nitrate (as N) was estimated to be discharged daily in surface flow to tidewater from Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1975

Mobilization of iron in water in the Magothy aquifer during long-term recharge with tertiary-treated sewage, Bay Park, New York

Tertiary-treated sewage (reclaimed water) has been recharged by well into the Magothy aquifer at Bay Park, N. Y., intermittently since 1968. The longest of 13 recharge tests, the subject of this report, lasted 84.5 days. This was sufficient time for the reclaimed water to reach an observation well 200 ft (61 m) from the recharge well. Although the iron concentrations of the reclaimed water and the native water were less than 0.4 mg/l, the iron concentrations of samples from observation wells 20, 100, and 200 ft (6, 30, and 61 m) from the recharge well at times approached 3 mg/l. Source of the ii'on is pyrite that is native to the aquifer.

New York↗
USGS1975

Changes in concentration of certain constituents of treated waste water during movement through the Magothy Aquifer, Bay Park, New York

Approximately 7 million gallons (27 million litres) of tertiary-treated sewage (reclaimed water) was injected by well into the Magothy aquifer and was subsequently pumped out. As the reclaimed water moved through the aquifer, concentrations of certain dissolved constituents decreased as follows: Total nitrogen, 7 percent; methylene blue active substances, 49 percent; chemical oxygen demand, 50 percent; and phosphate, more than 93 percent.

New York↗