Marcellus Shale Assignment 1

SUMMARY

The Marcellus Shale is located in Pennsylvania where the Appalachian Mountains stand. It's a sedimentary rock formation deposited over 350 million years ago. The article discussed the new technologies of drilling, the importance of the shale, and concerns about drilling and water waste. Overtime the shale formed Hydrocarbons including natural gases. Disposal and water waste is one of the main concerns of Marcellus Shale. The Marcellus Shale is being developed now based on two things. One being the low price and second because of the interest in devonian shale was not existent. The large drilling site allowed the reader to decide if they agree with drilling or not. All in all, the article was filled with a lot of facts and data, which was very informative.

QUESTIONS

1. There are some arguments for the support of the opposition of gas drilling. Mainly to avoid hurting local water resources while drilling, and the destruction of moving supplies and machinery.

2. I felt the references were cited fine and gave enough credibility. In a way they showed more of the support of drilling. Besides that, I felt they were fine.

3. I found that Figure 7 can be misleading to many. We as the readers aren't positive of what the substance is in the scientist hand.

QUESTIONS
Why would they want to risk contaminating the water?
What does the U.S department of energy do mainly?
Where does the U.S department stand on the drilling topic?

UNKNOWN WORDS
permeability- the property of something that can't be pervaded by a liquid
borehole- a narrow shift drill found in the ground
Hydrofrac- method used to create fractures that extend from a borehole into rock formations