Fracking: The Basics!

Fracking is a topic of great controversy in today's society but how much do we really know about it and how much of the information that we are told is actually true? So I present here some of the facts about fracking to try and uncover the truth around this taboo subject.

Fracking is another term used for hydraulic fracturing. The BBC say that fracking is 'the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside'. This is true but let's add a bit more detail. A fracturing fluid (such as water), chemicals and an added proppant (a solid used to keep a fracture open such as glass beads) is pumped under high pressure into a hole. This causes rocks deep beneath the surface to fracture and the hydrocarbons stored to be released. The proppant keeps the fracture open so that the hydrocarbons can migrate to the well and travel to the surface.

The illustration above shows broadly how the process works. 

So I bet you're wondering what the big deal is? There are several issues that people have with fracking

One major concern hit the media in 2011 when some minor earthquakes occurred in Blackpool after a fracking company started drilling some test wells in the area. The company then said that these tremors were likely caused by fluids being injected into a fault zone and the rocks subsequently fracturing, as expected by the process. One of the worries this stems in people is whether this puts them in danger, as earthquakes can cause structural damage to buildings which has the potential to destroy homes and families. This brought around anti-fracking groups  who believe that fracking poses more consequences than positives. 

Another concern is what is actually in the fracturing fluid? Many companies refuse to disclose what is actually used in the fluid, but Cuadrilla, a fracking company which operates in the UK have been very open with what chemicals they use and why they use them. They explain that one of their key chemicals; polyacrylamide, makes up only 0.04% of the fluid and is a non-hazardous, non-toxic substance used only to reduce friction between water and the pipe wall. More information can be found at :

http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/what-we-do/hydraulic-fracturing/fracturing-fluid/

The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act) was proposed in America to federally regulate fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This act requires companies to disclose the chemical make up of their fracture fluid, however as yet this bill has not been passed.

Despite these concerns it is important to remember that fracking allows access to previously unreachable reserves of hydrocarbons, which (according to the BBC) has the potential to offer gas security to the US and Canada for the next 100 years.

My opinion is that fracking has the potential to be a very useful and effective source of hydrocarbons and as technology improves the consequences of the process will reduce in effect. So maybe right now fracking is a bit risky, but in the future when hydrocarbon reserves are running low and technology to extract them has improved, fracking is a definate lace to turn too. 

So what do you think? I only hope that this post has presented you with some basic knowledge about fracking, and if you want to know more simply type 'Fracking' into google and your will be swept away in floods of results. Remember though to always consider who is writing it to ensure that your opinion is build on facts and not fiction. If you have any comments or questions, please comment below. Happy reading! 

Mud volcano appears off the coast of Pakistan

So last Friday a news article on the BBC caught my eye about a major earthquake in Pakistan, which in itself is not that different from any other earthquake, but from this earthquake a new island appeared just offshore Pakistan. Its no small island either, measuring around 80 meters across and now around 20 meters above sea level.

So how did this happen?

The map above shows some of the larger tectonic plates in the world and the location of this new island. The island is located on a major plate boundary where the Arabian plate is being pushed under the Eurasian plate.

The Arabian plate is oceanic crust which is denser than the continental crust of the Eurasian plate. This weight different is what forces the oceanic plate to sink beneath the continental one. In this case, the Arabian Sea is being forced beneath Pakistan. The island has been forced up due to the movement which occurred at the place where the two plates meet. Scientists call these islands mud volcanoes.

The new island is in fact the ocean floor so has a rough surface and is covered with sand and rocks, but is also giving off gas. This gas was naturally produced beneath the ocean floor and was compressed over time because of sediment building up in layers on top of it. The sudden movement of the earthquake released the gas causing it to explode to the surface and bring up some of the sea floor with it. Unfortunately though, as time goes by the forces which pushed the island to the surface will run out and the island will gradually return to the sea floor. As well as this the power of erosion from the effect of the sea waves crashing against it will wear away the island and so it will decrease in size this way too.

The ocean floor will never look the same again at this location, and scientists in the future will be able to tell that there was a mud volcano here from the rocks that are left on the sea floor.

If you have a question you would like answered or want to know more, here are some links to the BBC and Telegraph reports of this event which can give more information:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10333384/Pakistan-earthquake-island-is-a-mud-volcano.html#
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24272552

From the start...

When two people know the same facts it is easy to talk about a topic because they both understand the information. But what about the people who don't know the topic in the same detail but do share interest and passion for the subject?

Communication is sharing information, and doing this well means that everyone can understand the same topic to the same level. As Laurance Donnelly wrote in 2008; to transfer knowledge well requires the use of non-technical language because otherwise the message may get misunderstood. It may also put people off   the topic because they will remember it as some boring conversation that they had once about something that didn't at all relate to them. Donnelly's suggestion to change this is to provide undergraduates with the tools for effective communication to improve the understanding of geology between scientists, the media and the general public. And so that is what this blog will be.

The overall aim is to provide regular commentary on academic articles, media reports and  internet posts to communicate geoscience issues to the general public. I hope that the end result will be a better understanding and appreciation of communication in geoscience, and you the reader will enjoy what you read here and it might even fuel an interest in geology which you will further in the future.