Geoscience Currents transmit snapshots of the many facets of the geoscience profession, in-depth case studies of how geoscience is applied, factsheets that provide rigorous introductions to a range of geoscience topics, workforce trends, and career paths.
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Displaying 171 - 180 of a total of 350 items
June 01, 2018
Introduction
All energy production requires land. Reducing the land-use “footprint” of the energy industry is an important part of limiting environmental impacts while meeting our energy needs. Advanced exploration technologies such as 3D seismic imaging, and drilling technologies such as...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Hundreds of thousands of people work in oil and gas extraction in the United States;1 ensuring their health and safety is a major concern for employers, regulators, trade associations, industry groups, and local communities. Work in this industry involves physical labor, 24/7...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Crude oil and natural gas are complex chemical mixtures that are generally unsuitable for direct use. Oil refining and gas processing turn these mixtures into a wide range of fuels and other products while removing low-value and polluting components.
Refining and processing have both...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Many of the world’s oil and gas resources lie beneath the oceans. Advances in exploration, drilling, and production technologies allow production in water more than 10,000 feet deep and more than 100 miles offshore. Major spills are rare but damage sensitive ocean and coastal...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Drilling for oil and gas is expensive. A single well generally costs $5-8 million onshore and $100-200 million or more in deep water.1 To maximize the chances of drilling a productive well, oil and gas companies collect and study large amounts of information about the Earth’s...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Oilfield spills can harm wildlife and pose a risk to human health if they reach fresh water sources or contaminate soil or air. The enormous size of the oil and gas industry and the huge volumes of oil and produced water that are handled, stored, and transported result in thousands of...
June 01, 2018
Overview
Regulation of oil and gas operations has existed in various forms for over 100 years.1 Regulation has several objectives: protecting the environment (including air and water quality), protecting cultural resources, protecting workers’ and the public’s health and safety, and reducing...
June 01, 2018
Opportunities and Concerns in Using Produced Water
Produced water is natural groundwater that is extracted along with oil and gas. It is commonly salty and mixed with oil residues,1 so it must be either disposed of or treated and reused. About 2.5 billion gallons of produced water are extracted...
May 01, 2018
Online courses and programs in higher education have been a growing phenomenon for the past two decades. In recent years, geoscience programs have increasingly been adding online components to their curricula. During the survey in preparation for the 2018 Directory of Geoscience Departments, we...
April 24, 2018
The Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates 2017 report examines the prior five years of data and explores a number of emerging trends. In particular, the trends of employment of recent graduates in the geosciences and of the recent graduates planning to attend graduate school are showing new...
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