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Chapter 14: Squeezing Power from a Stone: Energy Resources

Geotours

Download Geotours.

Getting Started :

If you haven’t done it already, download Google Earth™ and install it on your computer.
If you haven’t done it already, download the Geotours.kmz file and save a copy to your desktop. (The Geotours.kmz file contains the Geotours for all chapters, so you only need to download this once!)
By downloading Geotours.kmz you acknowledge that it was created solely to accompany Steve Marshak's Earth: Portrait of a Planet and Essentials of Geology and is limited to use with only Steve Marshak's Earth: Portrait of a Planet and Essentials of Geology and may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means for any other purpose without the written permission of the publisher.
Double-click the Geotours.kmz file and Google Earth™ will open automatically.
In the left-hand sidebar you will see a Places menu, and in the Temporary Places folder you will see an EARTH_3e.kmz file. Double-click the file and you will see a list of Geotours for each chapter.
Then open the Geotour folder you want to explore! If you’d like to read more about the features of Geotours see Using Geotours, or go to our Helpful Resources section.

STOPS ON GEOTOUR 14: Sources of Energy

Ackerly Oil Field near Lamesa, Texas

See also Worksheet Problem 1

Ghawar Oil Field, Saudi Arabia
Offshore Well, Gulf Coast USA

See also Worksheet Problem 2
"What a Geologist Sees" Geofeature: Sigsbee Escarpment; Polygon Outline: Region of Most Intense Salt Deformation

Alaska Pipeline

See also Worksheet Problems 3-4

Coal Mine, Farmersburg, Indiana

See also Worksheet Problem 5

GEOTOUR 14 WORKSHEET

The geologic features associated with energy resources are not all visible at the ground surface, but you can see evidence of where resources are being extracted and of how they are being transported.

Ackerly Oil Field near Lamesa, Texas
1. Double-click on Image G14.1 to fly to the oil field in west Texas. Use the Measuring Tool to determine the 1 mile × 1 mile grid of roads referred to in the Geotour. Zoom in so you can see the individual well sites more clearly.

(a) How many wells per square mile occur in the field of view? (Hint: Repeat the calculation at several locations and average your results to obtain a better answer.)

(b) Which of the following factors may determine the well spacing? (List which factors you think could be important.)
• land-owner choice
• rock permeability
• drilling cost
• government regulations
• all of the above

Offshore Well, Gulf Coast USA
2. Movement of subsurface salt produces complex structures. In some places salt flows up to form salt domes. When this happens, the salt that flows into domes must be withdrawn from somewhere else. In places where the salt is withdrawn, the overlying beds sink down to form a basin. Oil gets trapped beneath the margins of domes, so oil company geologists focus on finding domes.

(a) The placemarks labeled Problem 2a and b highlight two salt features. Match the placemark with either a dome or a basin.

(b) What is the diameter of the highlighted basin?

A measure of the diameter of a basin gives a sense of the distance that salt moves as it flows into a nearby dome.

Alaska Pipeline
3. As you will learn in Chapter 17, streams that carry large quantities of coarse sediment across broad floodplains tend to become braided. During floods, the entire floodplain (the broad, flat region surrounding the stream channel) may be submerged, whereas during non-flood times the stream subdivides into many streams that flow around gravel bars, like strands of a braid.

(a) At the location highlighted by the placemark for Problem 3a, you can see that the Alaska pipeline crosses the floodplain of a braided stream. The light gray area is the water surface in the stream at the time the photograph was taken. What does the pattern of brown areas (lighter) and greenish brown areas (darker) west of the pipeline at the placemark for Problem 3a indicate?

(b) Considering the location of the pipeline, engineers had to design its anchor towers to be sturdy enough to withstand flooding. Why did engineers choose to run the pipeline through the area of Problem 3a as opposed to a locality far away that doesn't cross the floodplain—because the distant locality would add many kilometers to the length of the pipeline? (Hint: Think about cost.)

4. Near the location of Image G14.7, the Alaska Pipeline crosses the Denali Fault, an active strike-slip fault. To accommodate for movement on the fault, engineers placed the pipeline on sliding pedestals—the pipeline can move without breaking if faulting offsets the ground surface beneath the fault. Considering the nature of slip on the Denali Fault, are the sliding pedestals designed to allow the fault to move up-and-down, or sideways?

(e) With this in mind, what would be the consequence of a similar-sized impact at the site of New York today?

Coal Mine, Farmersburg Indiana
5. Double-click on the Image G14.10, and you will be able to see some of the ways in which surface mining changes the landscape.

(a) What is the length and width of the active pit?

(b) Miners refill the active pit after coal has been extracted, then spread topsoil over the area and replant it. Nevertheless, reclaimed land will not look like unmined land for quite some time. Does the reclaimed area associated with this location lie to the north or to the south of the active pit?

What was the key contrast between the reclaimed land and the unmined land that led you to this conclusion?

(c) Extracting coal in open-pit mines may lead to unwanted consequences. When water reacts with minerals in excavated rock, the runoff into lakes and streams contains elements that affect water quality. Click on the placemark for Problem 5c and you will zoom in on a pond on the border of the reclaimed area. What is the difference in color between this pond and the numerous ponds in lands farther away from the reclaimed area? (You will need to zoom out and find other ponds to answer this question.)

Present a hypothesis to explain the color change of the ponds in response to mining.

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StudySpace: Chemistry 2e.