DRILLING QUIETLY GOING ON

not all cracks have slippage or movement at all. Joints and cleavage are teeny cracks that dont show any appreciable movement. They are like tension cracks in modelling clay, ares elf healing but do provide paths of preferred "bustage". Joints that are most famous are the columnar ones of The Devils Tower or sheet joints in sandstones and limestones.When these joints are present in large amounts they impart a preffered crack structure onto rocks that everyone calls "cleavage" .All these are helpful in determining which way forces have acted and which way fluids would have moved .

Yeh the MArcellus is present past the Appalachian front and is present from near surface (part of the rock group called the Hamilton Shale group and the Mahantango) there are subunits of which the Marcellus is but one. There are publications from the PA Geological Survey about the Marine Devonian (maps, reports etc). The PA Survey is in Middletown PA , with an oil and gas office near Pittsburgh. These reports are available for purchase, and sometimes they are even free.

I beleive that the going rate for Pa gas exploration leasing is about 2500 $ an acre. In louisiana and TExas its much higher (12 K an acre) because theyve already found gas there . If your friend has a lot of land its best to get some advice re: what payments would be realized if gas is struck in marketable amounts. Otherwise, it may be submarketeable but enough to serve a housing compound or farm.

Stereo nets are a tool for visualizing and computer plotting forces acting on folded and fractured rocks. ANy good field structural geology book or geo field manual has information about them, if you are interested I can get you some good intro urls on plotting and using stereo nets. (called Wulf and SChmidt nets)

Well, the drilling has just as quickly shut down with no new leaseholds being acted on. This is troublesome because , when the price of oil rebounds (And IT WILL) we will be behind in the cycling for new gas finds

I can't believe the short sightedness of some industries:

I can never understand why long range planning is not practiced in so many vital endeavers.

actually its the resolve of investor and they are a remarkeably conservative lot. When we drill, its always with other peoples money.

free market economics is having a rough time at the mo, due to the bank debacle: I think central plannning on energy might be advisable: prehaps Sarah Palin was right.

nothing good comes of 300% swings in energy prices over a 365 day span, it is impossible to consider long term investments of capital.

I understand sheet joints in sedimentary rocks and cleavage in crystals, but still can't quite see why cracks would be so straight in limestone. Tension cracks in Plasticine (I don't have any clay) aren't like the ones in the stream bed, but maybe it's a matter of scale.

I looked up pictures of the Devil's Tower, which reminded me of a picture I saw recently of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. When I looked for it I found reference to an experiment that had been done using cornstarch and water in a glass dish to model crack propagation in cooling lava. Of course I had to try it and never realized that cornstarch has such amazing properties!

My friend only got $500 for leasing her gas rights, and it doesn't look like she'll get royalties any time soon with the price of gas so low.

I would appreciate the urls on stereo nets. Sorry I haven't been back here in a while.

The AGI "GEosciences HAndbook (4th ed) is a good intro handbook for anything field related. I carry one for a quick reference for stuff I should know but quickly forget. (sines, net plot rules,conversions, GPS use, etc).
Also, the U of Wisconsin Green Bay has a good page for structural geology. It includes a section on Stereonets and plotting structural features and contouring etc. The plotting is all done with assist programs so any PC can become a powerful analytical tool for regional rock fabric and tectonics. Heres the site, enjoy

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/structge/labman.htm

The market has recently crashed but it will become more active by April or so. I understand that theyre doing some hard negotiating for gas rights. For 500$, Id just as soon sit on em and , if they hit gas nearby, your friend would be in a catbird seat. If they dont, she lost 500$.

PS, many minerals impart a crystal cleavage on the sedimentary rock they make up. Limestone takes a ctrong crystal cleavage from its minerals (calcite and dolomite), Salt beds will develop cubic cleavage and gypsum develops a tabular cleavage. In large deposits of limestone the common leavage is for 3 sides to meet at angles around 30 to 60 degerees. The stereonet plots show these patterns of cleavage wrt the bedding planes (plotted as a separate stat symbol on the same nets.
Stereonets are a good way to understand regional rock patterns and lineations, cleavage, foliation etc. I use this tool a lot to get mining geology students to think in 4 dimensions, and make this tool second nature when theyre out in the field..