An example of the level of the intensity of oil and gas development in the form of wells

High-resolution imagery from the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) was used to digitize the landscape disturbance related to hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and other forms of hydrocarbon extraction activity throughout the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2010.  Specific topological features such as well pads, pipelines, and roads were extracted and developed into a temporal Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database to characterize the spatial footprint of unconventional (hydraulic fracturing) and conventional oil and gas development.