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Fracking Research Paper

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CShale Gas Exploration and the Risks Associated With Hydro-Fracturing
Natural gas is a fossil fuel trapped in between rocks and water bodies underground. Natural gas is formed underground from the deposit of organic matter over millions of years. Natural gas from the release of energy trapped in plants and animals. Plants and animals store energy from the sun in the form of carbon in the molecules of the plant or an animal. Once the plants and animals die they release energy from the accumulation of matter and heat. The varying amount of heat and pressure from the different types of biomass results in the formation of different fossils fuels and gas. Fossil fuels and gas move in between the rocks where they are trapped before extraction (Curtis …show more content…

Most fracking extraction used about 2 million cubits of water mixed with proppant materials like sand and thickening agents (Montgomery 26). Proppant materials such as sand are resistant to the hydraulic pressure of the fracking process. It is because sand is made from quartz and silica which is durable and its grains are rounded which makes is ideal for the fracking process. Ceramic beads made from aluminum or sintered bauxite is also used as proppant materials in the fracking process. Sand and ceramic beads make the perfect fracking materials since they can hold the fractures created open. Other materials crush from the pressure of the hydraulic process and from the pressure of the fractures created after the fracking process (Curtis …show more content…

Earthquakes have been mostly undetected by humans and the Richter scale; the frequency and magnitude of these seismic movements is on the increase. In the United Kingdom, two earthquakes measuring 1.5 and 2.3 on the Richter scale were reported in 2011. Most of these quakes are reported around the coal bed methane gas producing areas of the world. It is because most of these areas have pre-existing fault lines in the stratosphere (Bennett, O’Brien and Hulbert 27). The hydraulic pressure of the fracturing process on these weak lines causes a seismic shift in the tectonic plates which causes an

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