Science Stats Environment

Fracking doesn’t always go to great depths

Shallow wells raise possibility of drinking water contamination

U.S. oil and gas wells

GOING DEEP?  A surprising number of U.S. oil and gas wells, similar to this one, are hydraulically fractured at shallow depths, a new study finds. 

Lilsqueaky/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Beth Mole

- More than 2 years ago

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the rock-cracking method to release trapped oil and natural gas, always takes place thousands of meters below Earth’s surface — or so many people assume.