U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2006–3113

December 2006

Monitoring for Methane Gas in

Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1995–2003

Printed on recycled paper

Prepared in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining

Substantial production of methane gas has come from 

coal beds in central Utah (fig. 1) since the early 1990s. 

Methane is generated as a byproduct during formation of 

coal and released when ground water is pumped from geologic formations that contain coal beds. 

Methane gas in Carbon and 

Emery Counties is produced 

from coal beds and sandstone in 

buried geologic formations that 

extend along the western edge of 

the San Rafael Swell in an 

area commonly referred 

to as the Ferron 

coal trend. 

San Rafael Swell

CARBON COUNTY

Great

Salt

Lake

U T A H

Price

Huntington

Castle Dale

Ferron

Emery

Ferron coal

trend

Gas field

39°

30'

39°

111°30' 110°30'

0

0

10

10

20 MILES

20 KILOMETERS

Salt Lake City

SEVIER COUNTY

EMERY COUNTY

SANPETE COUNTY

The coal trend extends underneath the towns of Price, 

Huntington, Castle Dale, Ferron, and Emery. Depth to 

the geologic formations from land surface ranges from 

1,000 to 4,500 feet (Tabet and others, 1995; Stevens, 

1993). Methane gas is recovered through boreholes that 

are drilled into the formations with a variety of different 

drilling, completion, and extraction technologies (Stevens, 

1993). Gas is released when the hydrostatic pressure created by overlying water is reduced by pumping water out 

of the formations. Almost all of this water is currently 

(2006) disposed of by injecting it back into even deeper 

geologic formations.

Methane gas is a fuel commonly burned in 

furnaces and water heaters. It is released 

when water is pumped from coal beds.

Diagram of coal-bed gas well

Cement

Direction

of gas

movement

Gas Water and gas

Potentiometric

surface of

ground water

Land surface

Fractures

Not to scale

Surface casing

and cement

Gas-producing

sandstone

Gas-producing

coal bed

Alluvium

Shale

Shale

Sandstone

Gas-producing

coal bed

When water pressure is reduced, methane gas 

flows from the coal into the well bore. Methane is 

lighter than air and rises through the well to land surface where it is gathered into a pipeline system. This 

diagram shows one possible type of well construction.

Figure 1. Generalized area of coal-bed methane development, Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1985–2003.
Figure 2. Location of sites where samples were collected and analyzed for methane concentration 

in Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1995–2003.

Monitoring Program

Release of methane gas from 

coal beds creates the potential for it 

to move into near-surface environments through natural and humanmade pathways. Natural pathways 

include fractures through the rock 

layers and voids between the grains 

of rock. Human-made pathways can 

be created when various types of 

wells are drilled. To help ensure the 

safety of communities and to determine the potential impact from development of coal-bed resources, the 

U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah 

Department of Natural Resources, 

Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, 

cooperated in a program to monitor 

methane gas concentration in soils 

and ground water in areas of coalbed methane production. Monitoring 

took place from 1995 through 2003. 

Monitoring results and techniques for 

the period from 1995 through April 

1997 are discussed in an initial fact 

sheet by Naftz and others (1998). 

This fact sheet summarizes information for the entire monitoring period. 

Data and the interpretations generated by the monitoring program are 

published in Stolp and others (2006).

Monitoring focused on established 

production-well sites and methanegas production fields near residential 

areas. A priority was to identify and 

quantify trends and establish baseline 

methane concentrations in the soil 

and (or) ground water for future comparison. A core of twenty perimeter 

sites was established around Price, 

Huntington, Orangeville, and Ferron 

(fig. 2). These sites were monitored 

annually to determine whether methane concentrations were increasing 

near populated areas. Additional sites 

were established to monitor expanding areas of production and newly 

drilled production wells. A total of 

420 soil-gas and ground-water samples were collected at 189 sites and 

analyzed during 1995–2003 (fig. 2).

10

River

Price

Gordon Creek

Helper

Price

Creek Willow

Scofield

Reservoir

Electric

Lake

Wellington

Coal

Creek

Soldier Creek

Miller Creek

Price River

Desert Seep Wash

Desert

Lake

Desert Lake Wash

Elmo

Huntington

Huntington

Lake

Huntington

Creek

Ferron Creek

Cottonwood Creek

Castle Dale

Orangeville

Millsite

Reservoir

Ferron

33

10

6

Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, 1:100,000, 1980 and 1981

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 12

Pinnacle Peak

111°7'30" 110°37'30"

39° 45'

39°

00'

0 5 10 KILOMETERS

0 5 10 MILES

Soil-gas site where concentration exceeded

100,000 parts per million

Ground-water site

Perimeter soil-gas site

Other soil-gas site

EXPLANATION

Willow Creek area

Price/Helper area

South of Price

area

Huntington area

Orangeville/

Ferron

area

Methane gas concentration is reported in parts per million 

by volume (ppmv). As an example, an air sample with a 

methane concentration of 1,000 ppmv would contain 1,000 

molecules of methane for every 1,000,000 molecules of air.

Inside buildings, methane 

concentrations above 1 

percent (10,000 ppmv) are 

considered dangerous. 

Outside air can catch on 

fire if methane concentration exceeds 5 percent 

(50,000 ppmv). 
Figure 3. Long-term trend at monitoring sites at which 

the highest concentrations of soil-gas methane 

were measured, Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 

1995–2003.

Presence of methane gas

On the basis of spatial and temporal 

methane concentration data collected during the 1995–2003 monitoring 

period, there does not appear to be an 

obvious, widespread, or consistent migration of methane gas into populated 

areas. The average measured methane concentration for the monitoring 

period was 2,740 parts per million by 

volume (ppmv); the median concentration was less than 10 ppmv. Two 

hundred and ten samples (50 percent 

of the sample set) had concentrations 

that were less than 10 ppmv. Twenty 

samples (5 percent of the sample set) 

had concentrations above 10,000 

ppmv. Air can catch on fire if methane concentration exceeds 50,000 

ppmv. Inside buildings, a concentration above 10,000 ppmv is potentially 

dangerous. At a concentration of less 

than 5,000 ppmv, methane poses no 

immediate threat (Eltschlager and others, 2001, p. 34–37).

Summary statistics of methane concentration for five areas of coal-bed production (fig. 

2) are listed in table 1. None of 

the production areas had average concentrations that are considered to be dangerous (greater 

than 5,000 ppmv). The median 

concentration for all areas is less 

than the average value, indicating that most values in the sample set are less than the average 

value. Twenty samples from 11 

sites had methane concentrations 

that exceeded 10,000 ppmv. 

Those sites are scattered across 

the entire area and do not indicate specific locations of high 

concentrations.

At 75 sites, soil-gas samples 

were collected multiple times 

during the monitoring period. 

These data show a general trend 

of decreasing methane concentration over time. At sites where 

concentrations of 10,000 ppmv 

or greater were measured at 

some time during the monitoring 

period, the most recent repeat measurements averaged 23 ppmv methane. Methane concentrations over 

time at sites with the highest concentrations (greater than 100,000 ppmv) 

are shown in figure 3. These high 

concentrations might be associated 

with disturbances to the geohydrologic conditions that occur during drilling of coal-bed gas wells or problems 

with well maintenance. It is common to see high methane concentrations shortly after drilling. If wells are 

properly constructed and maintained, 

concentrations that result from drilling generally decrease and remain 

low over time.

Monitoring of methane concentrations in ground water was limited. 

An initial inventory of coal-bed methane production areas in 1995 resulted 

in sample collection from 14 sites that 

included springs, drains, and ponds. 

The average methane concentration 

was 20 ppmv. Multiple samples were 

collected at a single spring site during 

2000–2002. Methane concentration at 

that site decreased from 26,200 ppmv 

in 2000 to 160 ppmv in 2002.

199519961997199819992000200120022003

METHANE CONCENTRATION, IN PARTS PER MILLION BY VOLUME

Ferron MRC 27,

Orangeville/Ferron area

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

Utah Power and Light 24-57,

Orangeville/Ferron area

Utah 36-3-4, South of Price area

Helper Federal A-1, Price/Helper area

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

On the basis of samples 

collected, there does not 

appear to be an obvious 

or consistent migration of 

methane into populated 

areas.

Table 1. Summary statistics of methane concentration for five areas of coal-bed production, 

Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1995–2003.

[ppmv, parts per million by volume; <, concentration is less than the minimum detection limit of the 

analytical equipment; >, concentration is greater than the maximum detection limit of the analytical 

equipment]

Area Average

conventration

(ppmv)

Median

conventration

(ppmv)

Minimum

conventration

(ppmv)

Maximum

conventration

(ppmv)

Number of

samples

Willow Creek 800 <10 <10 6,390 15

Price/Helper 2,260 10 <1 >100,000 75

South of Price 1,750 <10 <1 >100,000 152

Huntington 15 4 <1 160 24

Orangeville/Ferron 4,920 <10 <1 >100,000 137
Figure 4. Number of coal-bed methane gas-production 

wells, Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1985–2003.

Well-Field History and Development

Pilot development of coal-bed methane resources began near Price, Utah, in 1985. By 

1991, methane production had spread south to 

Orangeville and Ferron, and as of November 

2003, there were 772 coal-bed methane wells 

(fig. 4). Regulatory agencies continue (2006) to 

receive applications to drill additional coal-bed 

methane wells in the area, however, at a much 

slower pace than in the past. The eventual number of wells will be determined primarily by the 

physical and economic limitations of the gas resource.

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1985198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003

YEAR-END WELL COUNT

Number of wells

Collection and 

Analysis of 

Methane Samples

Soil-gas samples are 

collected by inserting a 

perforated steel pipe 2 

to 4 feet into the ground. 

Air is pumped from the 

pipe and tested for methane by using a gas chromatograph equipped 

with a flame ionization 

detector. A detailed description of the sampling 

process is provided in 

Stolp and others (2006).

Total methane produced from the Ferron coal 

trend from 1992 to 2003 is approximately the 

amount needed to heat 500,000 Utah homes for 8 

years.

Portable gas chromatograph with a flame 

ionization detector.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes 

only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

References Cited

Eltschlager, K.K., Hawkins, J.W., Ehler, 

W.C., and Baldassare, Fred, 2001, 

Technical measures for the investigation and mitigation of fugitive methane hazards in areas of coal mining: 

Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S. Department of 

the Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 

Appalachian Regional Coordinating 

Center, 124 p. accessed May 22, 2006, 

at http:// www.osmre.gov/rep.htm

Naftz, D.L., Hadley, H.K., and Hunt, 

G.L., 1998, Determination of methane concentrations in shallow ground 

water and soil gas near Price, Utah: 

U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS191-97, 4 p.

Stevens, S.H., 1993, Exploration and 

development, Uinta Basin, Utah: 

Quarterly Review of Methane from 

Coal Seams Technology, v. 11, no. 1, p. 

38–42.

Stolp, B.J., Burr, A.L., and Johnson, 

K.K., 2006, Methane gas concentration 

in soils and ground water, Carbon and 

Emery Counties, Utah, 1995–2003: 

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific 

Investigations Report 2006–5227, 19 p.

Tabet, D.E., Hucka, B.P., Sommer, S.N., 

1995, Maps of total Ferron coal, depth 

to top, and vitrinite reflectance for the 

Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale, central Utah: Utah Geological Survey Open-File Report 329, 3 

pls., scale 1:250,000.

Sources of Additional Information

Hydrologic and additional methane 

concentration data in Carbon and Emery 

Counties, Utah, may be obtained from:

U.S. Geological Survey

Utah Water Science Center

2329 Orton Circle

Salt Lake City, Utah 84119–2047

(801) 908-5000

Utah Department of Natural Resources

Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining

1594 West North Temple, Suite 1210

Box 145801

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114–5801

(801) 538-5297

—By Andrew L. Burr, Bernard J. Stolp, 

and Kevin K. Johnson—U.S. Geological 

Survey; and Gilbert L. Hunt—Utah 

Department of Natural Resources, 

Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining