Question

Marcellus Shale: What is it? Where is it located? Why is it important? What are the issues surrounding it? 

Answer 1

During the early times, the  ocean waters were filled with microscopic plankton, tiny plants and animals, which provided food for prehistoric fish and other creatures. As plankton sank to the sea floor, they were covered with sediment (sand and soil) and began to decay. Compressed under the weight of the water and sediments above, the decaying plankton was transformed into natural gas, filling the many cracks and fractures that naturally occurred in the shale rock.This is the Marcellus Shale. The Shale formation spans along six states including: Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Maryland in the United States. Russia, Iran & Qatar has large natural gas reserves too.  It is important because of the natural gas reserve which could be extracted to supply the US for the next ten to twenty years.

Answer 2

Marcellus sedimentary rock could be a rock buried thousands of feet at a lower place the surface. It stretches from upstate big apple south through Pennsylvania to WV and west to components of Ohio.
The Marcellus sedimentary rock play runs through the northern geographical area, primarily in Pennsylvania, WV, New York, and Ohio. it's a part of the geological period black sedimentary rock and therefore the thickness of the gas-producing rock is the maximum amount as 900 feet.
Farmlands and forests area unit compact once gas is extracted from the Marcellus sedimentary rock.
The transportation of serious instrumentation impact municipal roadways. The horizontal drilling techniques use less land surface than would be required for vertical drilling.
Horizontal wells will scale back the number of access roads, well pads, pipelines, and production facilities required.