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Hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – is an area of unending controversy. From it's potentially ruinous impact on the environment to it's excessive price tag. While huge deposits have been found in the United States, the UK's shale gas future remains uncertain. Now, according to one expert, there might not be much worth fracking.
John Underhill, a geologist at Heriot-Watt University, claims there may not have as much shale gas underground as we first thought. Underhill argues that the amount of natural gas we have in the UK may have been "hyped" by fracking businesses. Quelle surprise?
In response to this, fracking firms such as Cuadrilla have said that estimates from the British Geological Survey (BGS) indicate a large potential gas reserve. So, who to believe? Let's examine the science to get a clearer picture.
Shale rock needs to be at the right temperature in the ground to have gas in its pockets. The rock must be around two kilometres below ground in order for it to be in the "Goldilocks Zone" – not too hot and not too cold. If it's any closer to the Earth's surface, the rocks cool. If this happened there would no longer be the pressure or temperature conditions in which shale rock would be able to convert organic matter into gas and oil.
55 million years ago the oceanic crust began to form and America split apart from Europe creating the Atlantic Ocean.
Read more: What is fracking? Your need-to-know guide to fracking in the UK
This seismic shift of tectonic plates had a dramatic effect on the geology of the UK, according to petroleum geologist professor Richard Davies of Newcastle University, who specialises in fracking. The movement effected a lot of potential shale gas reserves by changing the temperature of the shale rock under the Earth's surface. The tilt of the geological layers pushed the rock upwards meaning it was no longer in the critical depth range where maturation of the rock occurs.
Consequently, the UK no longer has a uniform layer of shale that is simple and unbroken. Unlike the United States, which was largely unaffected by this geological shift, the UK has more complicated basins in which shale gas could be reserved, making it harder to know how much potential shale gas is stored.
John Underhill's research focuses on this seismic data from the movement of this tectonic shift, collected from sound waves.
There's currently no academic consensus. In 2012, the British Geology Society published a report on Bowland shale in the UK, which is around 2050 million years old. The report demonstrated that there are lots of places in northern England that potentially have the correct conditions for shale gas to be found. The report had a resource estimate of around 1,327 trillion cubic feet, suggesting a vast amount of potential shale suitable for fracking.
Davies agrees with the basic conclusions of Underhill's research. The movement of the plates 55 million years ago wasn't helpful for Britain, although it left the United States largely unaffected. But there are still areas of the UK where fracking could be a success. Ultimately, Davies argues, most geologists and fracking firms recognise that wells need to be drilled to discover our potential shale resources.
Davies concludes that the tectonic, seismic shift would have had an impact but there is still huge amounts of rock that could be at the right conditions. For now, the argument around the UK's fracking future will remain unresolved.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
