Breaking Fuel From the Rock
Geologists long knew there was natural gas in the Marcellus shale formation, but thought it impossible to unlock. But producers in the last decade learned to mine this huge resource by drilling horizontally to reach a large surface area, then fracturing the rock with high-pressure water, sand, and lubricant chemicals.
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[[180,90],[395,125],[132,170],[145,360],[186,590],[370,670]]
Illustrations by Stephen Rountree
Design by Stefan Estrada
Illustration Not to Scale
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