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Open-File Report 2013–1126

Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Somerset and Westmoreland Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010

By L.E. Milheim, E.T. Slonecker, C.M. Roig-Silva, and A.R. Malizia

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (4.25 MB)Abstract

Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau, is currently undergoing extensive drilling and production. The technology used to extract gas in the Marcellus Shale is known as hydraulic fracturing and has garnered much attention because of its use of large amounts of fresh water, its use of proprietary fluids for the hydraulic-fracturing process, its potential to release contaminants into the environment, and its potential effect on water resources. Nonetheless, development of natural gas extraction wells in the Marcellus Shale is only part of the overall natural gas story in this area of Pennsylvania. Conventional natural gas wells, which sometimes use the same technique, are commonly located in the same general area as the Marcellus Shale and are frequently developed in clusters across the landscape. The combined effects of these two natural gas extraction methods create potentially serious patterns of disturbance on the landscape. This document quantifies the landscape changes and consequences of natural gas extraction for Somerset County and Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2010. Patterns of landscape disturbance related to natural gas extraction activities were collected and digitized using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery for 2004, 2005/2006, 2008, and 2010. The disturbance patterns were then used to measure changes in land cover and land use using the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) of 2001. A series of landscape metrics is also used to quantify these changes and is included in this publication.

First posted June 18, 2013

For additional information contact:
E.T. Slonecker
Telephone: 703-648-4289

or

Eastern Geographic Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
521 National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192

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Suggested citation:

Milheim, L.E., Slonecker, E.T., Roig-Silva, C.M., and Malizia, A.R., 2013, Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Somerset and Westmoreland Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2013–1126, 34 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1126. (Available only online.)



Contents

Abstract

Introduction: Natural Gas Extraction

Landscape Metrics and a Landscape Perspective

Methodology: Mapping and Measuring Disturbance Effects

Results: Summary Statistics and Graphics

Conclusion

References Cited


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