UAlberta geophysicist Mirko van der Baan is part of a research team working to help the energy industry minimize the unintended consequences of fracking.
UAlberta geophysicist helped develop technique to monitor effects of "miniature earthquakes" generated by hydraulic fracturing. University of Alberta geophysicist Mirko van der Baan is a great listener. For 15 years, he's been eavesdropping on oil and gas production deep beneath the ground. Now, he's part of a research team working to help industry minimize the unintended consequences of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. Fracking has been lauded for opening up unconventional gas reservoirs to development—the reason that some are predicting the United States will achieve energy independence in about 20 years. But it has also been criticized for negative environmental effects—chemical compounds being pumped into the ground where they could be affecting groundwater reservoirs. When energy companies use hydraulic fracturing, they inject large quantities of highly pressurized water and chemicals into the earth to shatter the rock, creating permeable pathways for gas to trickle back to the well.
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