THE EFFECTS OF JOINTING ON NATURAL GAS DRILLING, HYDRAULIC FRACTURING, AND GROUND WATER QUALITY IN CENTRAL UPSTATE NEW YORK

Directional drilling and associated hydraulic-fracturing have become a controversial issue in NE Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The main concerns are related to drinking-water contamination associated with deep reservoir methane, fracturing fluids, and deep saline waters brought to and handled at the surface. Here we document outcrop data for the purpose of predicting the orientation of major joint sets at depth and compare these data to geomorphic lineations in the region. This comparison provides a way to distinguish between unloading joints formed near the surface as geomorphic lineations, and joints formed at or near maximum burial depth. The preliminary data presented here will enable us to evaluate the potential for near surface methane and contaminant flow associated with directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Devonian rocks of the western portion of the Catskill Delta in central New York. The current phase of this study concentrates on the jointing patterns along the I-88 corridor from Oneonta to Cobleskill, New York. Several characteristics of the joint sets are common along the transect. First, four trends are identified as: 023°, 339°, 054°, and 297°. Secondly, the 054° orientation is near the modern tectonic stress field (059°-069°) for the eastern USA. Furthermore, the orientation of the 054° and 339° joint directions are similar to the J₁ and J₂ directions of Engelder and Geiser (1980), respectively. In addition, major geomorphic lineations determined from topography appear to correlate with the identified joint orientations. Once all the data is collected and plotted, a statistical analysis will be performed to determine if the data is internally consistent and not random. The success of directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing depends on how environmental and ecological concerns are addressed. The information about jointing will provide constraints on fluid and gas flow pathways and allow gas drilling companies to locate appropriate sites where the impact on local groundwater wells are reduced. This will also help in monitoring environmental and ecological effects, and answer questions pertaining to the drilling and hydraulic-fracturing process.