Shale Rocks

The word “Lyons” in the Lyons Sandstone originates from the abundant red quartz formation that can be seen near the town of Lyons Colorado. This sandstone is used primarily for building walls in the area. The Lyons Sandstone formation has a thickness ranging from 0 to 200 ft. It was deposited in an aeolian (windborne) and shallow water environment in the Permian period. The cementation process in the Lyons sandstone plays an important factor in preserving the migration and preservation of hydrocarbon in the formation. The Lyons sandstone originally started as a quartz sand with mixture of clay and iron oxide matrix. Then it was deposited by the anhydrite rich Satanka unit creating an impermeable cap for the Lyons formation. Accumulation of oil from the nearby basin carbonates and shales migrated into the Lyons and was trapped inside the formation. Further deposition above the Lyons sandstone created an overburden pressure that eventually displaced sulfate bearing waters upwards and outwards of the basin. This process creates an anhydrite and carbonate cementation in the Lyons formation. At the oil-water contact, oil and sulfate ions in the waters react and produce carbonate materials. This carbonate and sulfate materials became the cement (lower trap) that preserves the existing oil to migrate further the formation. (Levandowski, 2234) Well SHABLE AB11-04P is located in Township 7N Range 64W Section 11. The

What is Marcellus Shale? It is a marine sedimentary rock buried thousands of feet beneath the earths surfaces. Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock groups and is formed in four main ways: by the deposition of the weathered remains of other rocks; by the accumulation and the consolidation of sediments; by the deposition of the results of biogenic activity; and by precipitation from solution. Marcellus Shale is found throughout the Allegheny Plateau region of the northern Appalachian basin of North America. It stretches from upstate New York south through Pennsylvania to West Virginia and west to parts of Ohio. Marcellus shale was named after a town in upstate New York, the rock itself is millions of years old, formed from mud and other natural materials. Its made up of the formation of black shale that may contain lime stone beds and concentrations of iron pyrite and siderite. The Sedimentary beds and structure is very well developed. Lighter colored shales in the upper portion of the formation tend to split into small thin edged fragments after exposure. The fragments may have and leave rust stains from exposure of pyrite to air, and tiny gypsum crystals from the reaction between both of the fragments pyrite and the limestone particles. Fresh exposures of the pyriteiferous shale may develop the secondary mineralization of orange limonite and the pale yellow efflorescence or bloom of sulfur, associated with acid

Fissures created by high pressure fracking fluid to increase gas flow to the well also create pathways for leakage and consequent contamination of groundwater (Yu et al. 2014). Boreholes drilled for well access must pass through shallower strata, which may contain groundwater aquifers, before reaching target natural gas reservoirs (Davies et al. 2014). Passing through shallow layers of strata introduces a potential source of contamination to groundwater resources (Davies et al. 2014). Leakage into groundwater wells can occur due to poor well completion practices, the corrosion of steel casing, and the deterioration of cement during production of shale gas (Davies et al. 2014). Therefore, shale gas well integrity is important in reducing contamination events.

Natural gas began to be extracted from the Marcellus shale formation in the mid-2000s’, and now well pads and their associated infrastructures are now well known fixtures in the Appalachian Mountain regions. Marcellus Shale is an organically rich black shale which is currently being explored by drilling as a source of natural gas. The region in question encompasses most of the relatively uninhabited Appalachian basin, which is located within the Appalachian mountain range. The basin is comprised of sedimentary rocks which stretch from Ontario, Canada all the way down through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a process that fractures rock formations in the earth’s surface in order to release hydrocarbons. When these hydrocarbons are released, they flow more freely through the rocks and up to the wellbore, were oil and gas are extracted to (Suchy, 2012). Not all rock formations require a hydraulic fracturing operation to be done because the fluids move freely through rocks that have been naturally fractured. Shale gas reservoirs on the other hand are not permeable and have very few natural fractures; therefore the trapped gas and oil must be extracted by fracking only.

other materials used to fracture the rocks. Sources for fracking assure there are multiple layers

The water mixture used to break the shale rock contains sand as well as over 600 different chemicals. The amount of water needed just for one gas well to take place is over eight million gallons. Not only do these natural gas wells use up so much water, the methane gas and chemicals in the water contaminate nearby groundwater, causing the people who drink it to become very ill and suffer serious mental and physical injuries. Most of these companies who are in the business of drilling gas wells do not show what really goes on behind the scenes. The leftover fracturing fluid, which are retrieved after the fracking, is only half of what first went down the well. Not only is this a problem because the chemicals that are left sink further down into the ground but they are also not biodegradable, which could go on to contaminate more

One of the most highly debated topics in the gas industry is hydraulic fracking. News about it is on the radio, tv and all over the internet. The truth about hydraulic fracking can be hard to find but is imperative to know the truth. The U.S Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States has 2,119 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. They predict that 60% of this gas is “unconventional gas” that is stored in low permeability formations such as shale, coalbeds, and tight sands (Jackson, 2011).

In 1848, James Marshall discovered a single nugget of gold in the American River in California, setting off a massive migration west as hundreds sought to capitalize upon the Gold Rush. Today, a similar situation is playing out. In the late 2000s, new technology enabled workers to extract natural gas from previously inaccessible shale deposits through horizontal hydraulic fracturing. This “shale boom” has had companies racing to capitalize upon the potential of vast natural gas and promises of energy independence and cheap energy. Yet, as the miners during the Gold Rush found upon arriving to California, scientists today are finding that many of the initial claims are not as they seemed. Companies are recklessly continuing, prospecting for natural gas deposits. Hydraulic fracturing is a means of extracting natural gas from deep, previously inaccessible shale deposits. It involves injecting a fracking cocktail mixture of water, sand, and various other chemical fluids into the ground at very high pressures to literally fracture the ground, releasing natural gas that can then be collected. Natural gas is a finite fossil fuel, yet due to the recent fracking boom, many people in the United States have heralded it as the future of America’s energy, the way to energy security.

The natural resource industry continues to improve, providing the world with energy that fuels machines and keep homes warm. Drilling is the way the world has been getting oil from the ground due to the efficiency. A certain process can only work for so long and the output continues to decrease. Due to the high demands oil and natural gases, the world has turned to alternative ways retrieve these resources. Hydraulic fracturing is now the most effective way to retrieve oil and natural gas from the ground. Recently, the number of earthquakes have increased near hydraulic fracturing sites. Hydraulic fracturing is both beneficial and destructive at the same time. Several examples of seismic activity linked to fracking

In 2000, shale beds where the number one source of America’s constant need for gas. Most of that production increase has come about to the growing need of hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, which is a process used to release oil or gas from underground formations that are otherwise too hard to mine with other tools. Over the past few years, advances in fracking technology have made huge reserves of natural gas in America economically recoverable. According to the Energy Information Administration, shale gas plays, or fields, in the United States, most notably the Marcellus, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York, and the Barnett, in Texas, are said to contain enough natural gas to give power to the country for a hundred and ten years. With the everlasting specter of energy independence, some have argued that such efforts to recover natural gas need to be expanded. Activists concerned with fracking’s potential environmental hazards view the new process as a serious threat to our environment. There are many different opinions on wether or not fracking is a safe way to gain our gasoline, and to meet the growing demands of gasoline around the world. The process of fracking creates cracks that come from wells into oil and gas formations by pumping highly pressurized fluids, ceramic beads, sand, and a mixture of chemicals, into the gas formation. As this fluid holds the underground fissures open, oil and gas fly up the well to the surface where they are

Gothic literature, specifically that created by renowned author Edgar Allan Poe, contains common themes, symbols and structures that make his work easily recognizable as this specific type of literature. Poe’s writing often incorporates many gothic elements, and especially puts emphasis on elements leading to madness and downfall in the lives of his characters. Through the use of suspense provoking gothic elements, Poe is able to captivate and intrigue his readers, which attributes to his widespread popularity. In his short stories, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, along with his poem “Annabel Lee”, author Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates both perversity and fear through the use of literal and figurative imprisonment, freakishness, and obsessive love, as factors causing violence and destruction in the lives of his characters.

It is the firm belief and position here that committing such a crime as murder is punishable by death. Americans should take a position for anyone on death row, to be executed sooner rather than later.

Depending on what the sedimentary rock is formed by, determines whether is known as clastic or chemical. Clastic rocks are composed of particles from weathering. They are then sorted by grain size, gravel being the largest and clay being the smallest. A few examples would be sandstones and shales. Chemical sedimentary rocks are biochemical, and contain ions in the solution from weathering. These are also further classified. First you have limestone, which can be either organic or inorganic. An example would be fossiliferous or chalk. Next is dolostone, and it is formed from dolomite. Chert is next; and can be organic or inorganic also. Flint and jasper are some examples of chert. Rock salt and gypsum are what are known as evaporites. These form from the evaporation of saline waters in an arid environment. Finally there is coal, which is organic and forms from buried plant remains and carbon. There is one more type of rock that is classified the same way as the previous two.

What is the (next accessible) scale of new physics? We do not have a clear answer. We are living through a challenging and exciting era, in sharp contrast to the situation of the past (half) century in physics. The discovery of the Higgs boson, the determination of the non-zero θ13 neutrino mixing parameter, the first detection of gravitation waves, and many greatly improved experimental probes for new physics beyond the standard model mark the great triumphs of our understandings of nature. Profound puzzles of nature, such as hierarchy problem, dark matter, neutrino properties, matter-antimatter asymmetry, strong CP, flavor structure, etc., are actively being explored but yet remain to be solved. However, no