1 / 11

FRACKING, FLOCCING, AND FRACK-SAND MINING

FRACKING, FLOCCING, AND FRACK-SAND MINING. Kelvin S. Rodolfo, Professor Emeritus Department of Earth & Environmental Science University of Illinois at Chicago. Topics What is “ fracking ”? Where is fracking done? What are frac sands?

bern
Download Presentation

FRACKING, FLOCCING, AND FRACK-SAND MINING

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. FRACKING, FLOCCING, AND FRACK-SAND MINING Kelvin S. Rodolfo, Professor Emeritus Department of Earth & Environmental Science University of Illinois at Chicago

  2. Topics What is “fracking”? Where is fracking done? What are frac sands? How did the Driftless area’s frac sands form? Environmental consequences of frac-sand mining Fracking won’t happen here, so is it OK for us to provide sand for fracking elsewhere? INTERMISSION Environmental consequences of fracking Groundwater pollution Methane leakage and global warming Does fracking cause earthquakes? Consequence or staying hooked on natural gas and other fossil fuels

  3. TRADITIONAL OIL AND GAS SITUATION Most traditional oil/gas traps are now empty; fracking extracts oil and gas DIRECTLY from the source shales Natural gas Impermeable cap rock Oil Reservoir rock, porous sandstone Source rock: fine-grained clay shale holding tiny dispersed oil droplets and/or bubbles of natural gas clinging to clay grains. Over millions of years, the gas and oil migrates up to traps.

  4. Unlike traditional production from oil traps in very rare places under small areas, fracking operations are very widespread and involve many more drilling rigs. So many more people are affected.

  5. Hydraulic fracturing; induced hydraulic fracturing; hydrofracturing; hydrofracking. Wells drilled 1-2 miles deep into fine-grained shales, then horizontally as much as 10,000 feet. Fracking fluid forced under high pressure (5,000 PSI) to fracture the shale. Fluid consists mostly of water and many chemicals, plus strong, round sand grains (“proppants”) to keep fractures propped open so gas or oil can escape and be collected.

  6. Sand grains prop fractures open for gas and oil to flow through to the well. 1-2 miles 5,000 psi 10,000 feet Each fracking well can use 2 to 3 million US gallons of water. Typical well uses 100,000 gallons of chemical additives of varying toxicity

  7. Oil and Gas Drilling in the U.S. Since 1950 U.S. Oil Production, Millions of Barrels per Day Despite greatly increased drilling, oil production continues to decline . . . 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Fracking boom 2011 Active Drilling Rigs Sources: Baker Hughes, Inc., Energy Information Administration, and Green Econometrics Research http://greenecon.net/wp-content/uploads/w2008/2009/us_oil.jpg

  8. . . . But U.S. Natural Gas Production is Booming! Fracking produces much more gas than oil. http://peakwatch.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452403c69e20133ecc4d8ef970b-800wi

  9. Oil/Gas shale prospect areas None in WI, IA, MN, but frac sand is abundant!

  10. Proposed Caledonia MN New Albin IA

  11. Kickapoo Watershed geology Best frack sands: Formations and their ages in millions of years Platteville Limestone, 468-466 ORDOVICIAN SYSTEM St. Peter Sandstone, 472-466 Prairie du Chien Dolomite, 488-472 CAMBRIAN: Mainly sandstones including the Jordan and Wonewoc formations 488+ Mining these sands will pollute the Kickapoo

More Related