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Geneviève Bordeleau

Areas of expertise

Isotopic geochemistry , Adaptation to climate change , Contaminant transport and degradation , Emerging energies in the subsurface , environment , Groundwater quality , Hydrogeology

Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre

490 de la Couronne Street
Québec City, Quebec  G1K 9A9
CANADA

See the research centre

Research interests

Professor Bordeleau’s work focuses on groundwater geochemistry, particularly isotope geochemistry. Whether used to understand regional water flow, to track contaminants in groundwater and surface water, or to understand the interactions between deep geological units and shallow aquifers, isotope geochemistry can provide concrete answers to complex environmental problems. Professor Bordeleau uses her expertise to characterize the quality of drinking water and groundwater in both natural and disturbed environments, with a view to protecting this precious resource. More specifically, her research focuses on the following areas:

  1. Geochemical and environmental implications of emerging energies and other subsurface activities (geothermal, green hydrogen, natural hydrogen, CO2 sequestration, legacy hydrocarbon wells)
  2. Impacts of flooding on groundwater quality in the context of climate change
  3. Upward flow of deep-seated fluids (brines, gases) towards surface aquifers, along geological discontinuities

 

Prospective students

I invite students interested in my research and wishing to pursue graduate studies to contact me. You may also consult the directory of projects currently offered at INRS.

Team

Emma Mamifarananahary

Research professional

Maria Luisa Moreira dos Santos

PhD candidate

Silvère Ramanantoanina Tsaravola

PhD candidate – cosupervision (sup. S. Homayouni)

Charis Wong

PhD candidate – cosupervision (sup. J. Comte)

Manon Sayag

PhD candidate

Yachar Ben Arous

MSc candidate

Mariana Goldoni de Souza

MSc candidate

Maria Alejandra Taborda Ortiz

MSc candidate – cosupervision (sup. J. Raymond)

Maxime Fortin Faubert

Postdoc – cosupervision (sup. L Hénault-Ethier)

     

Academic background

  1. Postdoctoral Fellow, Natural Resources Canada (Geological Survey of Canada)
  2. PhD. Water sciences, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
  3. MSc, Earth sciences, INRS
  4. BSc Agronomy, McGill University

 

Biography

After studying agronomy, Geneviève Bordeleau chose to focus her career on the environment. She completed a MSc in hydrogeology and a PhD in contaminant geochemistry. This field of research became a passion that she pursued as a researcher at the Geological Survey of Canada before joining the Centre Eau Terre Environnement at INRS as a professor in the fall of 2019.

                 

Current projects

Multi-isotope approaches : towards taking into account cumulative impacts of contaminants on groundwater. Funding : NSERC Discovery Grant (2021-2026)

Modern-day dowsers: what possible contributions to the field of groundwater research? Funding: FRQNT Engagement program (2022-2024)

Spatial assessment of the risk of consuming contaminated (drinking) water during floods. Funding: RIISQ-Ouranos (2022-2024)

Rano Madagasikara : Improving the resilience of communities in the Ikopa sub-basin (Madagascar) with regards to contamination of drinking water sources due to flooding. Funding: PCCI, Government of Quebec (2020-2024)

 

Past projects

Development of tools for sampling and interpretation of gas isotope analyses useful for hydrogeological study in the context of hydrocarbon closure operations. Funding: Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) (2022-2023)

The effects of flooding on groundwater quality: preliminary investigation. Funding: Eco Canada grant (2021)

 

Projects in collaboration

From pore space to well scale: a multi-scale assessment of porous media heterogeneity to reduce risk when selecting promising sites for CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy production. Natural Resources Canada project, lead Christine Rivard (2023-2028)

State of knowledge on natural hydrogen. INRS project, principal investigator Jasmin Raymond. Funding: Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie (MEIE) (2023)

Geothermal energy: a second life for mines. INRS project, lead Jasmin Raymond. Funding: FRQNT Sustainable Development of the Mining Sector program (2021-2024)

CommunoSerre: Socio-technological integration of community and solidarity greenhouses in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods affected by the pandemic. INRS project, co-leads Jasmin Raymond and Nathan McClintock. Funding: INRS Covid-19 initiative (2021-2023)

Unconventional hydrocarbon exploitation in Fox Creek, Alberta: towards considering cumulative impacts on the groundwater resource. Natural Resources Canada project, lead Christine Rivard (2019-2024)

Quantification of diffuse contaminant fluxes: multi-method approach to optimise enviromnental management of mining sites. Université du Québec au Témiscamingue (UQAT) project, lead Vincent Cloutier. Funding: FRQNT Sustainable Development of the Mining Sector program (2020-2023)

Aquifers, a natural infrastructure for eco-energetic cooling. INRS project, lead Jasmin Raymond. Funding: NSERC Advancing Climate Change Science in Canada program (2019-2022)

Assessing impacts of shale gas production on groundwater quality in an active production area (McCully gas field and Elgin prospective field near Sussex, New Brunswick). Natural Resources Canada project, lead Christine Rivard (2015-2019)

Assessing aquifer vulnerability to hydraulic fracturing in the prospective region of Saint-Édouard-de-Lotbinière. Natural Resources Canada project, lead Christine Rivard (2012-2016)

Member of the Intersectorial flood network of Québec (RIISQ)

Member of the International Association of Geochemistry (IAGC)

Member of the Canadian chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH-CNC)

Member of the France-Québec Associated International Laboratory, Resources and Society

Graduates

Boucheda, Abdelaziz (M. Sc. UQAT, 2023)

Colléau, Élise (M. Sc.,  2020)

 

Former research trainees

ben Youssef, Aya (MSc trainee from Université Tunis El-Manar (Tunisia), 2023)

Rihab, Brik (MSc trainee from Ecole Supérieure des Ingénieurs de Medjez El Bab (Tunisia), 2023)

Yu, Lisa (Undergraduate trainee from University of Waterloo, 2023)

Somera, Reginald (Undergraduate trainee from University of Waterloo, 2023)

ben Arous, Yachar (MSc trainee from Université Tunis El-Manar (Tunisia), 2022)

                

Teaching

  • Environmental isotopes (ETE424)
  • Characterization methods for the subsurface (GEO1502, teaching of the hydrogeology and surface water – groundwater interaction modules)
  • Field course in water sciences (ETE102, teaching of the groundwater module)
  • Climate change adaptation (ETE6054, teaching of the saltwater intrusion module)

Publications

Bordeleau, Geneviève, Lavoie, Denis, Rivard, Christine, Pinet, Nicolas, Barton, D., Hinds, Steve & Tom, Al (2024). Saline and hydrocarbon-bearing fluids detected in shallow aquifers of southern New Brunswick, Canada: Natural occurrence, or deep migration along faults and industrial wellbores?. Science of The Total Environment, 933: art. 172999.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172999

Séjourné, Stéphan, Comeau, Félix-Antoine, dos Santos, Maria Luisa M., Bordeleau, Geneviève, Claprood, Maxime, Mulliez, Valentin, Malo, Michel, Giroux, Bernard, Gloaguen, Erwan & Raymond, Jasmin (2024). Potential for natural hydrogen in Quebec (Canada): a first review. Frontiers in Geochemistry – Section Mineral Geochemistry, 2: art. 1351631.
DOI: 10.3389/fgeoc.2024.1351631

Boumaiza, Lamine, Walter, Julien, Chesnaux, Romain, Zahi, Faouzi, Huneau, Frédéric, Garel, Émilie, Stotler, Randy L., Bordeleau, Geneviève, Johannesson, Karen H., Vystavna, Yuliya, Drias, Tarek, Re, Viviana, Knöller, Kay & Stumpp, Christine (2022). Combined effects of seawater intrusion and nitrate contamination on groundwater in coastal agricultural areas: A case from the Plain of the El-Nil River (North-Eastern Algeria). Science of the Total Environment, 851 (Part 1): Art. 158153.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158153

Marcotte, Pascal, Neculita, Carmen Mihaela, Cloutier, Vincent, Bordeleau, Geneviève & Rosa, Éric (2022). Tracing the sources and fate of nitrogen at a Canadian underground gold mine. Applied Geochemistry, 142: Art. 105238.
DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2022.105238

Roy, James W., Bordeleau, Geneviève, Rivard, Christine, Ryan, Cathryn M., Malet, Xavier, Brown, Susan J. & Tremblay, Vincent (2022). Continual long-term monitoring of methane in wells above the Utica Shale using total dissolved gas pressure probes. Hydrogeology Journal, 30 (3): 1005-1019.
DOI : 10.1007/s10040-022-02452-1

Bordeleau, Geneviève; Rivard, Christine; Lavoie, Denis & Lefebvre, René (2021). A systematic multi-isotope approach to unravel methane origin in groundwater: example of an aquifer above a gas field in southern New Brunswick (Canada)Appl. Geochem., 134: Art. 105077.
DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2021.105077

Ladevèze, Pierre; Rivard, Christine; Lavoie, Denis; Séjourné, Stéphan; Lefebvre, René & Bordeleau, Geneviève (2019). Fault and natural fracture control on upward fluid migration: insights from a shale gas play in the St. Lawrence Platform, CanadaHydrogeol. J., 27 (1): 121-143.
DOI: 10.1007/s10040-018-1856-5

Rivard, Christine; Bordeleau, Geneviève; Lavoie, Denis; Lefebvre, René; Ladevèze, Pierre; Duchesne, Mathieu J.; Séjourné, Stéphan; Crow, Heather; Pinet, Nicolas; Brake, Virgina; Bouchedda, Abderrezak; Gloaguen, Erwan; Ahad, Jason M. E.; Malet, Xavier; Aznar, Jean-Christophe & Malo, Michel (2019). Assessing potential impacts of shale gas development on shallow aquifers through upward fluid migration: A multi-disciplinary approach applied to the Utica Shale in eastern CanadaMar. Petrol. Geol., 100: 466-483.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.11.004

Bordeleau, Geneviève; Rivard, Christine; Lavoie, Denis; Lefebvre, René; Ahad, Jason M. E.; Xu, Xiaomei & Mort, Andy (2018). A multi-isotope approach to determine the origin of methane and higher alkanes in groundwater of the St. Lawrence Platform, Saint-Édouard area, eastern Canada. Environ. Geosci., 25 (3): 75-100.
DOI: 10.1306/eg.04121817020

Bordeleau, Geneviève; Rivard, Christine; Lavoie, Denis; Lefebvre, René; Malet, Xavier & Ladevèze, Pierre (2018). Geochemistry of groundwater in the Saint-Édouard area, Québec, Canada, and its influence on the distribution of methane in shallow aquifersAppl. Geochem., 89: 92-108.
DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.11.012

Rivard, Christine; Bordeleau, Geneviève; Lavoie, Denis; Lefebvre, René & Malet, Xavier (2018). Can groundwater sampling techniques used in monitoring wells influence methane concentrations and isotopes?Environ. Monit. Assess., 190: Art. 191.
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-018-6532-7

Rivard, Christine; Bordeleau, Geneviève; Lavoie, Denis; Lefebvre, René & Malet, Xavier (2018). Temporal variations of methane concentration and isotopic composition in groundwater of the St. Lawrence Lowlands, eastern CanadaHydrogeol. J., 26 (2): 533-551.
DOI: 10.1007/s10040-017-1677-y

Ladevèze, P., Rivard, C., Lefebvre, R., Lavoie, D., Parent, M., Malet, X., Bordeleau, G. & Gosselin, J. S., (Eds). (2016) Travaux de caractérisation hydrogéologique dans la plateforme sédimentaire du Saint-Laurent, région de Saint-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, Québec. 112 pp. Ressources naturelles Canada / Natural Resources Canada.

Lavoie, Denis; Pinet, Nicolas; Bordeleau, Geneviève; Ardakani, Omid H.; Ladevèze, Pierre; Duchesne, Mathieu J.; Rivard, Christine; Mort, Andy; Brake, Virgina; Sanei, Hamed & Malet, Xavier (2016). The Upper Ordovician black shales of southern Quebec (Canada) and their significance for naturally occurring hydrocarbons in shallow groundwaterInt. J. Coal Geol., 158: 44-64.
DOI: 10.1016/j.coal.2016.02.008