Python Scripting

Intoduction:

This script was used along with exercise 8. Different criteria was set during the exercise, but they were all looked with the same importance. In a more specific setting, different factors would have a higher importance than others when building a suitability model. This script was written for that purpose. It weighed a particular factor higher than all of the others. The student was able to choose which factor that they wanted to use. For this particular script, prime farmland was used as the more important factor. Figure 3.1 show the completed script.

Figure 3.1 The script showing which factor is more important than the others.

Introduction:

This particular script was used to help find the specific mines that the class needed for analysis. The end product had 41 one mines left. It made sense because of the limitations that were set while writing the script. Only active mines that were farther than 1.5 kilometers away from a railroad were mapped. The results will be used to to analyze the effects on county roads. Figure 2.1 shows the completed script used to complete the task.

Figure 2.1 A script written to select active mines within a certain distance from rail road terminals.

Introduction: 

Python scripting is the language used for ArcGIS programming. It can be very helpful executing different tasks in ArcGIS. This particular script was used to clip all of the downloaded data to Trempealeau County, WI. Figure 1.1 shows the final product.

Figure 1.1 A script used to clip all of the data downloaded to Trempealeau County, WI

Data Gathering

Introduction:

This lab is the first step in the semester long project involving the suitability/risk of frac sand mining in western Wisconsin, specifically Trempealeau County. The main goal of this assignment was to become familiar with downloading data from many different sources. It also provided the base data that will be needed to complete the rest of the project throughout the semester.

Methods:

The first site used to obtain data was from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The railway network was downloaded from this particular site. It was not needed in this particular assignment but will be used in the future to display the location of sand mines in relation to current railways. The next two data sets came from the USGS National map viewer. The first one downloaded was the land cover data set. The second data set to be downloaded was the elevation. Since this is a national database, the assignment called for only Trempealeau County data to be downloaded.

The next file to be obtained was the Trempealeau County geodatabase. This was obtained directly from the Trempealeau County website. The final piece of information that was needed was the soil survey. This was obtained from the USDA NRCS website.

Once all this data was downloaded, it had to be unzipped in order to be used. Since most of the datasets were at a national scale, the data had to be manipulated. A python script needed to be written in order to complete this task. The script was written to create multiple images clipped to Trempealeau County from the multiple data sets that were downloaded.

Data

Figure 1.1 shows the results of the different data sets that were downloaded. They are all clipped to Trempealeau County.

Figure 1.1

Each one of the data sets has metadata associated with it. Certain sets of data have more metadata than others. This is very important information for the user. It shows how accurate the data is and how reliable it may or may not be. For each data set we had to find the scale, effective resolution, minimum mapping unit, planimetric coordinate accuracy, lineage, temporal accuracy and attribute accuracy. Below (Figure 1.2) shows the results of this. 

Figure 1.2

Conclusion: 

So far we have downloaded most of the data that will be needed to complete this project. It is all being stored in a geodatabase for this project. It will be interesting to see what the final results show about the suitability of frac sand mining in Trempealeau County.

Sources: 

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_atlas_database/index.html http://nationalmap.gov/viewer.html http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx http://nationalmap.gov/viewer.html http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GDGOrder.aspx

Frac Sand Mining

Introduction:

For many years frac sand has been used for multiple things such as glass manufacturing. With new developments in technology, there are now more advanced ways to extract oil from the earth. That is where the frac sand boom comes into play. This new process used for extracting oil is called hydraulic fracturing. It splits rock and then sand is then used to keep the cracks open underground.   The sand that is needed has to meet very specific criteria. It has to be nearly pure quartz and rounded in shape. Wisconsin has an abundant amount of this particular type of sand. Many of the deposits range from the northwest part of the state all the way to the south central part of the state near Marquette and Adams counties. 

With the recent demand for frac sand, Wisconsin has been a hot spot for sand to be obtained. It has the highest amounts of sand necessary for hydraulic fracturing. With all of this sand available, there has been a need for many frac sand mines. According to the Wisconsin DNR, as of May 1^st, 2014, there were 121 sand mines in the state. Of those 121 mines, 63 were currently actively mining.  The figure below (1.1) shows where the sand is located in the state of Wisconsin. It also details where different frac sand mines were located. This map is from 2011 so it is slightly dated, but it gives a good outline of the locations of where all the sand deposits are positioned.

Figure 1.1 shows the locations of Wisconsin's frac sand mines as of 2011.
Source:http://wcwrpc.org/frac-sand-factsheet.pdf 

The figure below (2.1) shows why frac sand mining is so popular in the state of Wisconsin. Out of the whole United States, Wisconsin has the highest percentage of the sand that is needed for hydraulic

fracturing.

Figure 2.1 This map is showing where the best frac sand is located. Wisconsin has a large amount of this type of sand.
Source: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf

Consequences:

These sand mines benefit the local area in many different ways.  They help to provide jobs for many different people. It will also help to boost the local economy. Since technology has allowed for different ways to extract oil from the earth, this sand is beneficial to help extract this resource from many new places. 

Although this sand allows for more oil to be extracted, it comes with a price. Frac sand mining has many negative environmental impacts. Some of the most prominent are the impact on soils and air quality. Since the sand is below the surface of the earth, topsoil has to be displaced. This causes acres of productive farmland to be taken out of production. With the soil being disturbed, it can also cause erosion. The loose soil is not held together by anything anymore, so if a strong rain falls, erosion can easily occur. The transportation of the sand also causes lots of dust to blow around the locations of the mines. This dust contains crystalline silica, which can cause cancer at elevated levels. This is an area of concern with more mines being built and more sand being hauled away.

GIS technologies can be extremely helpful in the future implementation of frac sand mines. Since sand mining involves many different industries, such as railways, roadways and the locations of the different mines, GIS will help tremendously. It will allow for the best transportation routes to be made from the mine to its destination determined by different parameters. 

Sources:

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/ISMMap.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fracking-debate-turns-to-wisconsin-as-sand-mining-for-drilling-booms/