Talk:Fracking/Archive 3

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Removal of Colorado School of Public Health reference

I have removed this section from the entry as it cites an unpublished study. In addition, the reference cited says that there disagreements over the conclusion of the study. --Writer1502 (talk) 12:52, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Deletion of Seismic Image

I have deleted this image as it deals with seismology ans seismic activity, which have been associated with water disposal and geothermal production - not hydraulic fracturing. It also implies a number of possible pathways for contamination that are not associated with hydraulic fracturing. --Writer1502 (talk) 19:56, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

I have wondered about this image for some time. The primary concern I have is that it is a user created image which is designed to present a certain point of view. It likely violates WP:OR Arzel (talk) 20:17, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

This image was contributed by MikeNorton and is used by some industry reps at public talks, but more importantly, here is the source that says that seismic activity can be induced by both fracking and disposal wells if they are near existing faults:

"...In northwestern England, however, an independent report commissioned by a drilling company, Cuadrilla Resources, concluded that two quakes of magnitude 1.5 and 2.3 near the city of Blackpool last spring were related to a fracking well. The report suggested several ways to avoid further quakes, including monitoring and limiting the pressures and volumes of fluid used. Fracking is known to cause very slight tremors — far weaker than even the Youngstown quakes — when the fluid is injected into the shale under high pressure. Drilling companies often send sensitive instruments called geophones into the drill holes to analyze these tiny tremors because they indicate whether the rock is fracturing as expected.

But the larger earthquakes near Blackpool were thought to be caused the same way that quakes could be set off from disposal wells — by migration of the fluid into rock formations below the shale. Seismologists say that these deeper, older rocks, collectively referred to as the “basement,” are littered with faults that, although under stress, have reached equilibrium over hundreds of millions of years. “There are plenty of faults,” said Leonardo Seeber, a seismologist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Conservatively, one should assume that no matter where you drill, the basement is going to have faults that could rupture.”

Drilling and disposal companies do not usually know that those faults exist, however. Seismic surveys are costly, and states do not require them for oil or gas wells (although larger companies routinely conduct seismic tests as part of exploration). Regulations for disposal wells are concerned about protecting aquifers, not about seismic risk. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates oil- and gas-related disposal wells unless its cedes its authority to the states, has no seismic requirements for its disposal wells, an agency spokeswoman said. "

Fracture Monitoring

I just wanted to sort the types of monitoring based on the use.

1. Measurement of rate and pressure. Will never do a hydraulic fracturing job without meters for these two and backups reading.

2. Density Measurement With either a radioactive density meter or Coriolis density meter. Almost always use these in line. Primarily used for measuring the concentration of the sand going into a well.

3. Tracers is the next most common form of monitoring a well. Historically the fluid has been radioactive. The highest frequency I have seen this done was one well out of every 10 wells. I currently have not seen this done in about 4 months or about 20 wells. There are some newer methods that don't even use radioactive fluids. The latest one which I'm not sure if it is just a sales pitch sounded similar to RFID in a ways. It was an inert fluid until a particular sound frequency was sent out and the fluid naturally sent back a frequency allowing the fractures to be monitored that way.

4. Microseismic is the most advanced method and involves monitoring for seismic activity and mapping it. This allows them to understand the path the fractures are progressing. I only tend to see this method about once a year.

Do you have sources that you can cite to verify the information above (e.g., published manuals, newspaper or journal articles, etc.)? You'll need them to meet WP requirements, or someone will delete your stuff. Smm201`0 (talk) 02:27, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

208.180.246.209 welcome. Can I suggest that you sign your posts by typing four tildes (like this ~~~~ ) at the end. This makes clear who has said what.

You seem to know a lot about this subject so your contributions will be very welcome. Do you have any reliable sources to support what you say above, if so that would be great, you could than edit the article to show actual fracture monitoring practice rather than someone's guess at what happens. Martin Hogbin (talk) 08:36, 18 May 2012 (UTC)