Previously we wrote DB for some articles. You need to use 2 DB for Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes and 2 Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes (I attached DB and links at the bottom, combine two for writing one paragraph)
1) Concise 2) Double spaced 3) Times New Roman 12pt font 4)At least five (5) pages total, but not to exceed eight (8)Followed instructions on the template. Includedall the following paragraphs: 1) Introduction 2) Why Some Agree That HydraulicFracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes 3) Why Some Agree That HydraulicFracturing IS causing earthquakes 4) Discussion Board Forum Teamwork Reflection5) Summary
Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes 1:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-sci…
As stated by Becky Oskin, “Fracking is not the cause of quakes. The real problem is wastewater” Fracking is not the reason why Earthquakes are happening in states that were less likely to have an earthquake. Some experts believe disposal of wastewater into deep wells is to blame. Fracking occurs when drillers drill fluids under high-pressure underground and the rocks crack and release oil and gas that come to the surface. But this process produces billions of gallons of wastewater where drillers have no choice but to inject water underground at high pressure and triggers earthquakes. For example, Oklahoma was one of the states that were highly affected. Billions of water were injected in Oklahoma and the state was experiencing earthquakes. Furthermore, this article will be a good source for the essay because it gives a different point of view about fracking. Wastewater is the main topic in the article and provides readers with detailed information on how the disposal of water can be the reason for earthquakes occurring. The article provides a map where readers can observe Oklahoma’s increase in earthquakes throughout the years. Additionally, this article can also be helpful because it provides a gallery of photos of real-life people that were affected by fracking and gives the readers an idea of how the fracking process can damage people’s lives.
Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes 2:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2016/09/16/desp…
According by this article, “Despite claims to the Contrary, Science Says Fracking Not Causing Increased Earthquakes,” fracking is not a direct cause for the increase of earthquakes in Oklahoma. Banning fracking will not stop the shaking. What is causing the earthquakes are wastewaters in wells. Yes, fracking does produce wastewaters, but most of the wastewater is not caused by hydraulic flowback water. I feel that this article may be helpful to my essay. By this article, fracking is not the cause of increase earthquakes. Earthquakes are a natural phenomenon, and wastewater can cause shaking. If fracking could find a better way to dispose of the wastewater it produces, then there would be no doubt that hydraulic fracking is not the cause of increased earthquakes.Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes 1: Earthquakes have been on the rise throughout areas of Texas due to the required process to access oil and gas below the earth’s surface. To access these resources, companies have to utillize a process called fracking, which consists of injecting fluid, sand and chemicals at a high pressure into the earth to release oil and gas. Many claim that fracking does not cause earthquakes as it revolves more around the disposal of wastewater created from fracking. Sceintist have set up sensitivie seismic arrays to detect seismic movement; during the fracking process they are able to provide data showing the increase of earthquakes during this timeframe. Financial impact seems to the be the scale that tips the hand toward fracking not causing earthquakes. If one benefits from the process to obtain the oil and gas, they are typcically going to take the stand and let you know that as long as the Railroad Commission is good with it then so are they. This article was published on November 11, 2019 in The Dallas Morning News by Anna Kuchment. Not only does Anna Kuchment cover science for The Dallas Morning New and Scientific American, she holds a Master of Science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Not only was the artical written by an educated individual but it also discuss locations in the State of Texas where fracking is occuring. It references both positive and negative situations that have taken place in communities along the West Texas Permian Basin. It touches on how fracking has impacted communities financially and how members of these communities are willing to turn a blind eye as long as their palms are greased. This article was written with just the perfect balance of positive and negative about fracking. This requires the reader to dig deeper about fracking and whether or not it causes earthquakes. Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes 2:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drillin…In the US since 2008, an unprecedented surge in the amount of earthquakes has hit several states. Most scientists now agree the surge is being triggered by fracking, or wastewater injections being shot into deep wells for oil and gas production. Since 2008, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and three other states have experienced many more earthquakes than they had previously. Strikingly, Oklahoma’s earthquake rate increased from one or two each year to more than 800. In the same time period, Texas has seen a sixfold surge in quakes.The researchers took the 300 million-year time span, and calculated the maximum amount of small to medium sized earthquakes it would take to produce a cumulative offset just short of 15 meters. The answer the researchers got fell into the range of 3,800 to 6,000 earthquakes, or roughly, an earthquake every 50,000 to 79,000 years. Running head: ABBREVIATED TITLE OF PAPER IN CAPITAL LETTERS
Is Hydraulic Fracturing Responsible for Earthquakes? (or similar title)
Submitted by
Name of Student
El Centro College
GEOL 1401, Section 5_____, Semester 20__
1
ABBREVIATED TITLE OF PAPER IN CAPITAL LETTERS
2
Full Title of Paper in Upper and Lower Case Letters
Introduction to the Controversy
Write the introduction to the controversy section here. Please see the “GEOL 1401
Research Paper Instructions” (specifically page 4) for detailed instructions as to what to include
here.
Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes
Please see the “GEOL 1401 Research Paper Instructions” (specifically page 4) for
detailed instructions as to what to include here.
Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes
Please see the “GEOL 1401 Research Paper Instructions” (specifically pages 4-5) for
detailed instructions as to what to include here.
Discussion Board Forum Teamwork Reflection
Please see the “GEOL 1401 Research Paper Instructions” (specifically page 5) for
detailed instructions as to what to include here.
Summary
Please see the “GEOL 1401 Research Paper Instructions” (specifically page 5) for
detailed instructions as to what to include here.
ABBREVIATED TITLE OF PAPER IN CAPITAL LETTERS
3
References
Fields, N. (2015). How to write your papers in APA formatting: A quick reference. Journal of
Professional Geology 4(2). 123-153. (This is an example. Please delete!) Please see the
following website for help completing your reference page: www.citefast.com
GEOL1401 Research Paper Instructions
STEP 4: Read Through the Sources and Write Your Paper (80 points)
Read through all the threads for both ‘hydraulic fracturing IS NOT responsible for
causing earthquakes’, and ‘hydraulic fracturing IS responsible for causing
earthquakes’ discussion board forums.
Select 2 articles from each forum for a total of 4 articles (2 articles from the IS NOT, 2
from the IS).
Detailed instructors of what to write about within your individual paper.
•
The correct margins and fonts (Times New Roman) are already set up in the template.
•
Header titles: Type in an abbreviated name of your paper in ALL CAPS on page 1 (leave
the words “Running head” as shown on page 1 only) and again on page 2.
•
Page 1 title page: Type in a title for your paper, your name, and section and semester
information (ie. Spring 2020).
•
Type in your title again at the top of page 2 in upper and lower case letters.
•
Include the bold words of all the SUBTITLES (ie. “Introduction to the Controversy”).
•
Indent each paragraph and use double spacing for all text in the paper.
•
Do not add any extra spacing between paragraphs or between sections.
•
Cite your sources throughout your paper by using in-text citations as needed (APA
format is the author’s last name, year). Here is an example of a sentence with an in-text
citation (Fields, 2015). In-text citations should be used in Sections 1, 2, and 3.
(Introduction to the Controversy, Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT
causing earthquakes, and Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing
earthquakes.)
•
If you use a direct quote, add the page number where the quote is located (Fields, 2015,
p125). No more than 2 quotes total for this paper should be used.
•
What to include in the “Introduction to the Controversy” section:
o
o
o
This should be at least two 5-sentence paragraphs.
Write in 3rd person. (Please do not use any 1st or 2nd person statements such as
“you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
Explain the purpose of writing this paper.
o
o
•
What to include in the “Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing
earthquakes” section:
o
o
o
o
o
o
•
It should include both a detailed description of what hydraulic fracturing is, and a
description of the current debate over whether hydraulic fracturing is causing
earthquakes. Important: stay away from the actual argument pros and cons as
these belong in the next two sections.
Include an in-text citation(s).
This should be at least two 6-sentence paragraphs.
Write in 3rd person. (Please do not use any 1st or 2nd person statements such as
“you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
Read every synopsis thread in the ‘Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing
earthquakes’ discussion board. Choose at least two (2) articles as sources to
write this section of the paper. Read the full Word doc article for any sources you
choose. Using the information from the articles put together an argument for why
Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes.
Please remember you are not citing any of your classmates, as they are not
experts, but you need to download each article (source) you choose to use in
your paper, read the article yourself to choose how you are going to summarize
each article and what you want to include as evidence for this section.
It is important that you WRITE CRITICALLY ABOUT THIS VIEWPOINT, be
precise regarding why the articles are directly and indirectly making a case for
fracking being the cause of earthquakes. To obtain full credit for this section, look
for specific viewpoints in the sources that might be inaccurate. In the articles you
read, did you spot any assumptions made by the author or ‘experts’ quoted in the
article?
Include in-text citations.
What to include in the “Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing
earthquakes” section:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Like the directions above: This should be at least two 6-sentence paragraphs.
Write in 3rd person. (Please do not use any 1st or 2nd person statements such as
“you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
Read every synopsis thread in the ‘Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes’
discussion board. Choose at least two (2) articles as sources to write this section
of the paper. Read the full Word doc article for any sources you choose. Using
the information from the articles put together an argument for why Hydraulic
Fracturing IS causing earthquakes.
Please remember you are not citing any of your classmates, as they are not
experts, but you need to download each article (source) you choose to use in
your paper, read the article yourself to choose how you are going to summarize
each article and what you want to include as evidence for this section.
It is important that you WRITE CRITICALLY ABOUT THIS VIEWPOINT, be
precise regarding why the articles are directly and indirectly making a case for
fracking being the cause of earthquakes. To obtain full credit for this section, look
for specific viewpoints in the sources that might be inaccurate. In the articles you
read, did you spot any assumptions made by the author or ‘experts’ quoted in the
article?
Include an in-text citations.
•
What to include in the “Discussion Board Forum Teamwork Reflection” section:
o
o
o
•
You need to discuss how well you and the other students assigned to your
discussion board forum worked together.
Please write in 1st person.
This paragraph should be at least 10 sentences long that carefully describes how
well the group worked together based on the following five (5) categories:
▪ Contributes to the discussion: Did the students in your assigned
discussion board all contribute a synopsis? Did everyone contribute to the
discussion comments?
▪ Group Encouragement: Did you notice any students encouraging others
to contribute to the discussions?
▪ Deadlines: Did everyone seem to post their synopsis and add to the
comments by the assigned deadlines? Did you notice any posts
encouraging and motivating everyone to get the work done on time?
▪ Communication: How did your group seem to do as far as treating each
other respectfully by being polite and constructive in communication.
▪ Conflict: If conflict arose within the discussion, did anyone respond to the
conflict? Did they help to manage/resolve it in a way so that the work of
the group could be completed peaceably and well?
What to include in the “Summary” section:
o
o
o
This should be at least two 5-sentence paragraphs.
Please write in 1st person.
This is a “critical thinking paragraph”. Answer the following questions inside of
this paragraph, but DO NOT include the questions:
▪ What preconceived ideas about hydraulic fracturing-earthquake debate
did you have BEFORE reading the articles that you cited in this paper?
▪ How have your ideas changed after reading the cited articles? For
example, what is YOUR opinion/position on whether or not hydraulic
fracturing is causing earthquakes? Explain what specifically influenced
your position and any items that limit your understanding and ability to
form an opinion on this topic.
▪ Why do you believe that continued research by experts on this subject is
important? (Explain the relevance and complexity of the research
findings.)
▪ What question(s) has this research paper raised for you? What are you
still wondering about? (NOTE: nothing is not an acceptable answer.)
•
As you type, the “References” page will always make itself your last page. You don’t
have to do anything for this to happen. Double-check that you do not have any blank
pages at the end, and that your reference page is its very own last page.
•
Do not delete the word “References” at the top last page (your reference page).
•
The “References” page (last page of paper) is a list of all the sources you used and got
your information from to write your paper. The sources must be properly cited using APA
style format.
•
Please use the following website for help completing this step: www.citefast.com
•
Save your paper as a Word doc or PDF and submit in our course in eCampus (see
directions above on page 3 on how to submit your paper).
Fracking may indeed be causing earthquakes in Texas,
according to UT study
By Anna Kuchment
Nov 11, 2019; The Dallas Morning News
Rates of earthquakes in West Texas have grown dramatically over the past decade. Now, for the first
time, studies from SMU and UT track the rise and suggest fracking could be to blame.
Since Texas earthquake rates first picked up in 2008, academic scientists, regulators and oil and gas
companies have publicly agreed on one thing: fracking was not to blame. Instead, studies tied the
quakes to the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production.
Now, a new study suggests for the first time that some Texas earthquakes — specifically, those in West
Texas — may indeed be connected to hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting fluid, sand and
chemicals underground at high pressure to release oil and gas.
“However, it’s not the only cause,” said Alexandros Savvaidis, a research scientist at the University of
Texas at Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology.
Savvaidis, who manages TexNet, the state-funded seismic network, identified the connection as he and
colleagues worked to better pinpoint earthquake locations in the region, which is home to one of the
world’s hottest oil plays. By 2023, oil production from West Texas’s Permian Basin is expected to double,
surpassing the production of every OPEC nation except Saudi Arabia, according to at least one estimate.
He linked earthquakes to hydraulic fracturing by matching earthquake times and locations with those of
fracking operations.
Earthquake rates near Pecos, a city of 10,000 in Reeves County, soared from about two per year in 2008
to more than 1,400 in 2017, according to another new study led by researchers at the University of
Texas Institute for Geophysics. The vast majority have been too small to feel, and several residents
reached by phone in the Pecos area said they had never felt one.
“It very much mirrors how production spread across the Permian Basin,” said Heather DeShon, a
seismologist at Southern Methodist University and a co-author of the second study.
The second paper was published Nov. 4 in the same journal as Savvaidis’s. In it, scientists led by UT
senior research scientist emeritus Cliff Frohlich, examined data from one of the world’s most sensitive
seismic arrays. The TXAR system in Lajitas was set up by SMU researchers and is used to detect nuclear
explosions as far away as North Korea. By sorting earthquakes from quarry blasts and other
disturbances, researchers were able to identify when quakes started near Pecos: in 2009, well before
TexNet began operations in 2017.
Since 2008, Texas has seen a surge of small to moderate tremors. Scientists have linked those in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area to the disposal of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, but none in North Texas
have been linked to fracking itself. Researchers believe that differences in the geology of West Texas
and North Texas account for the different triggers.
While the earthquakes in West Texas have been small — the largest near Pecos registered 3.7magnitude, just intense enough to feel, but not strong enough to cause damage — they could grow
larger as production accelerates, researchers said.
To reduce the risk of larger earthquakes, operators should “be mindful of their rates of injection,” said
Michael Brudzinski, a seismologist at Ohio’s Miami University who studies human-induced quakes. To
help reduce the risk of earthquake damage, some companies have deployed their own seismic stations
and implemented monitoring systems that quickly alert operators when small quakes take place.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates oil and gas, has been monitoring wells
more closely since implementing new rules governing disposal wells in 2014. In areas of historic
seismicity, the commission has required operators to reduce maximum daily injection volumes and
pressures, and to record that data daily instead of monthly.
“Commission staff work closely with academic researchers and industry professionals to ensure RRC
policies and procedures are based upon the best available science,” Railroad Commission seismologist
Aaron Velasco said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, companies, regulators and federal and academic scientists will gather at an
industry-sponsored workshop in Dallas to share the latest research on human-induced earthquakes.
Researchers are still puzzling out how fracking triggers earthquakes large enough to be felt. Fluid
pressure from the injections can travel to nearby faults and cause them to slip. That same pressure can
physically alter rocks, pushing and pulling them like rubber bands. That “elastic stress” can travel
through rocks until it reaches a fault and gives one side of it enough of a push to make it rupture. A
similar mix of factors lies behind earthquakes caused by wastewater injection.
In North Texas, operators inject wastewater deeper into the ground than in West Texas, below the layer
of rock that bears oil and gas. In West Texas, it’s often the opposite: operators dispose of wastewater
above where hydraulic fracturing takes place. This difference may account for the different earthquake
triggers, since deeper faults in older rocks can accumulate more stress and release more energy,
Brudzinski said. He added that wastewater disposal and other factors likely also contribute to the
earthquakes in West Texas.
Scientists say they believe that fracking poses less of an earthquake hazard than wastewater injection.
The largest earthquake tied to fracking in the United States has been in the 3-to-4 magnitude range, said
Brudzinski, while the largest earthquake tied to wastewater disposal was a 5.8-magnitude quake that
struck Pawnee, Okla., in 2016, causing significant damage to buildings.
Residents in the Pecos area reached by phone and Twitter on Thursday said they were not troubled by
the quakes. Joel Chavez, a former middle school teacher from Pecos, said he was initially concerned by
the quakes but felt better once scientists like Savvaidis came and set up monitoring stations. “Most
people felt at ease after the researchers came in,” he wrote in a Twitter direct message. “Over time,
economic development continued and the town is getting so much better that it’s not that big of a
concern.”
Joel Madrid, owner of the El Oso Flojo Lodge in Balmorhea, about 40 miles south of Pecos, said in a
telephone interview that he hadn’t felt any earthquakes and equated the phenomenon with fake news.
“I’ve heard on the radio about people feeling earthquakes,” he said. “In my book, that’s hearsay unless I
feel it, hear it, and see it.”
He added that oil and gas development has been a boon to his area.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m a businessman. The more activity, the more money I make, the more business to
my little city, to my little town. I wish there was more of it.”