Surface Disposal of Waste Drilling Fluids, Ellef Ringnes Island, N.W.T. : Short-Term Observations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic2148Keywords:
Bioassays, Drilling mud disposal, Environmental impacts, Heavy metals, Industrial waste disposal, Leaching, Oil well drilling, Permafrost, Stratigraphy, Sumps, Tundra ecology, Water quality, Ellef Ringnes Island, Nunavut, Hoodoo River region, Meteorologist PeninsulaAbstract
An experimental procedure by which waste drilling fluids were placed upon the tundra was undertaken at the Panarctic Dome et al. Hoodoo N-52 wellsite on Ellef Ringnes Island during the early winter of 1981-82. Preliminary site investigations indicated ice-rich permafrost conditions and the potential for extensive terrain disturbance if a sump were constructed. During the summer of 1982 seepage of waste effluent away from the disposal area occurred, and a quantity of muds and supernatant waters entered an adjacent creek. Water-quality analyses indicated that leaching of heavy metals was slow in the short term and soluble components were quickly diluted to background levels. The major toxicity threat posed by drilling wastes is primarily one of high salinity. The low level of terrain disturbance associated with a sumpless operations is a major advantage of such a procedure.
Key words: drilling fluids, permafrost, tundra, land use regulations, terrain disturbance
