Discourses and values underpin public debate on fracking in Spain: a case study at the crossroad

In the EU context extraction of shale and oil gas by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) differs from country to country in terms of legislation and implementation. While fossil fuel extraction using this technology is currently taking place in the UK, Germany and France have adopted respective moratoria. In between is the Spanish case, where hydrocarbon extraction projects through fracking have to undergo mandatory and routine environmental assessment in accordance with the last changes to environmental regulations. Nowadays Spain is at the crossroad with respect to the future of this technology. We presume a social conflictt in our country since the position and strategy of the involved and confronted social actors -national, regional and local authorities, energy companies, scientists, NGO and other social organization- are going to play key and likely divergent roles in its industrial implementation and public acceptance. In order to improve knowledge on how to address these controverted situations from the own engineering context, the affiliated units from the Higher Technical School of Mines and Energy Engineering at UPM have been working on a transversal program to teach values and ethics. Over the past seven years, this pioneering experience has shown the usefulness of applying a consequentialist ethics, based on a case-by-case approach and costs-benefits analysis both for action and inaction. As a result of this initiative a theoretical concept has arisen and crystallized in this field: it is named Inter-ethics. This theoretical perspective can be very helpful in complex situations, with multi-stakeholders and plurality of interests, when ethical management requires the interaction between the respective ethics of each group; professional ethics of a single group is not enough. Under this inter-ethics theoretical framework and applying content analysis techniques, this paper explores the articulation of the discourse in favour and against fracking technology and its underlying values as manifested in the Spanish traditional mass media and emerging social media such as Youtube. Results show that Spanish public discourse on fracking technology includes the costs-benefits analysis to communicate how natural resources from local communities may be affected by these facilities due to environmental, health and economic consequences. Furthermore, this technology is represented as a solution to the "demand of energy" according to the optimistic discourse while, from a pessimistic view, fracking is often framed as a source "environmental problems" and even natural disasters as possible earthquakes. In this latter case, this negative representation could have been influenced by the closure of a macro project to store injected natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea using the old facilities of an oil exploitation in Amposta (Proyecto Cástor). The closure of this project was due to the occurrence of earthquakes whose intensity was higher than the originally expected by the experts in the assessment stage of the project.

Low-temperature concentration of tellurium and gold in continental red bed successions

Acknowledgements This research was supported by NERC grants (NE/L001764/1, NE/M010953/1). We are grateful to J. Still and A. Sandison for technical support and to the gypsum mines and C. Brolley for access and sampling. Critical comments from Cristiana Ciobanu, Eric Gloaguen and Georges Calas are gratefully acknowledged. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare

Advanced interpretation of subsidence in Murcia (SE Spain) using A-DInSAR data – modelling and validation

Subsidence is a natural hazard that affects wide areas in the world causing important economic costs annually. This phenomenon has occurred in the metropolitan area of Murcia City (SE Spain) as a result of groundwater overexploitation. In this work aquifer system subsidence is investigated using an advanced differential SAR interferometry remote sensing technique (A-DInSAR) called Stable Point Network (SPN). The SPN derived displacement results, mainly the velocity displacement maps and the time series of the displacement, reveal that in the period 2004–2008 the rate of subsidence in Murcia metropolitan area doubled with respect to the previous period from 1995 to 2005. The acceleration of the deformation phenomenon is explained by the drought period started in 2006. The comparison of the temporal evolution of the displacements measured with the extensometers and the SPN technique shows an average absolute error of 3.9±3.8 mm. Finally, results from a finite element model developed to simulate the recorded time history subsidence from known water table height changes compares well with the SPN displacement time series estimations. This result demonstrates the potential of A-DInSAR techniques to validate subsidence prediction models as an alternative to using instrumental ground based techniques for validation.

Forensic analysis of buildings affected by mining subsidence based on Differential Interferometry (Part III)

This work presents a forensic analysis of buildings affected by mining subsidence, which is based on deformation data obtained by Differential Interferometry (DInSAR). The proposed test site is La Union village (Murcia, SE Spain) where subsidence was triggered in an industrial area due to the collapse of abandoned underground mining labours occurred in 1998. In the first part of this work the study area was introduced, describing the spatial and temporal evolution of ground subsidence, through the elaboration of a cracks map on the buildings located within the affected area. In the second part, the evolution of the most significant cracks found in the most damaged buildings was monitored using biaxial extensometric units and inclinometers. This article describes the work performed in the third part, where DInSAR processing of satellite radar data, available between 1998 and 2008, has permitted to determine the spatial and temporal evolution of the deformation of all the buildings of the study area in a period when no continuous in situ instrumental data is available. Additionally, the comparison of these results with the forensic data gathered in the 2005–2008 period, reveal that there is a coincidence between damaged buildings, buildings where extensometers register significant movements of cracks, and buildings deformation estimated from radar data. As a result, it has been demonstrated that the integration of DInSAR data into forensic analysis methodologies contributes to improve significantly the assessment of the damages of buildings affected by mining subsidence.

Atacama Desert and Puna de Atacama Region, Chile and Argentina, 1892 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carta jeogràfica del desierto i cordilleras de Atacama, levantada por la Comisión Esploradora de Atacama ; dibo. N. Boloña ; grabo A. Németh ; Lit. Alemana, Santiago. It was published by Dirección General de Obras Públicas. Seccion de Jeografia y Minas in 1892. Scale 1:1,000,000. Covers the Atacama Desert and Puna de Atacama region, Chile and Argentina. Map in Spanish. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the 'Mercator' projection. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, human settlements, roads, railroads, mines and mineral location, water lines, points of triangulation, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, ports, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes 5 insets depiciting mountain ranges entitled : Royeccion Vertical, vista Panorámica ; 2 plans entitled: Rada de Antofagasta -- Plano de la ciudad de Copiapó. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection and the Harvard University Library as part of the Open Collections Program at Harvard University project: Organizing Our World: Sponsored Exploration and Scientific Discovery in the Modern Age. Maps selected for the project correspond to various expeditions and represent a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.

Tunisia and Libya, 1853 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: North Africa or Barbary : III Tunis and part of Tripoli, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; engraved by J. & C. Walker. This is map 3 of a 5 map set published by George Cox Jan. 1st, 1853. Scale [ca. 1:2,000,000]. Covers portions of Tunisia and Libya, and Malta. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to a modified 'Europe Lambert Conformal Conic' projection with a central meridian of 12 degrees East. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, aqueducts, cities, villages and other human settlements, roads, trails, territorial boundaries, tribes, mines, and more. Relief shown by hachures. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection as part of the Open Collections Program at Harvard University project: Islamic Heritage Project. Maps selected for the project represent a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes. The Islamic Heritage Project consists of over 100,000 digitized pages from Harvard's collections of Islamic manuscripts and published materials. Supported by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and developed in association with the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.

Geological character and mineral resources of south central Lake Erie /

"October 1982."

Sierras mexicaines, mines et mineurs.

Mode of access: Internet.

Food supply and raw materials in Japan : an index of the physical volume of production of foodstuffs, industrial crops, and minerals, 1894-1927 /

Published in 1929 under title: Agricultural and mineral production in Japan.

Agricultural and mineral production in Japan,

Mode of access: Internet.

Mineral resources and international strife.

Mode of access: Internet.

Notes on the occurrence of lead, zinc and antimony ores in Mysore,

Mode of access: Internet.

Proposed contract and specifications for the sinking of a shaft, etc.

Mode of access: Internet.

Bibliography of New Mexico geology and mineral technology.

First vol. (through 1950) compiled by M.R. Burks and J.H. Schilling; 1951-55 and 1956-60 by C.F. and J.H. Schilling: 1961-65 by T. Ray; 1966-70 by M.A. and H.H. Koehn; 1971-75 by J.R. Wright and J.A. Russell; 1976-80 by Dana M. Adkins-Heljeson and Candace L. Holts.

Technical paper.

a At head of title 453, 457-461, 463, 465- :U.S. Department of commerce ... Bureau of mines ...; 455, United States Department of commerce. Bureau of mines; 456, 462, 464, United States Department of commerce ... Bureau of mines ...