Geo News Articles: ND Sand For Fracking; And, Duperow / Birdbear Updates -- July 31, 2018

Don sent me these links from current issue of Geo News. I haven't read them closely yet, but readers may find them interesting. I will get to them later today / this evening / overnight.

Depending upon how your system is configured, these links may "open up" on your desk top. They are PDF files. 

First: ND's Eolian sands for fracking?

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/documents/newsletter/2018Summer/Evaluation_of_Eolian_Sands_in_North_Dakota_for_Proppant_Use.pdf

Second: update on the Birdbear / Duperow formations

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/documents/newsletter/2018Summer/Continued_Petroleum_Exploration_of_the_Birdbear_Duperow_Formations.pdf

Comments:

Quick scan of the Birdbear / Duperow article fails to mention type of oil. I assume sweet, light. The Duperow is tracked here / linked at the sidebar at the right. The Birdbear is tracked here / also linked at the sidebar at the right.

A quick look at the "sands" article garners these comments:

• not gonna happen in ND
• too little
• this is just an update by the NDGS; more to follow
• largest deposit in agriculturally-rich area southwest of Fargo -- and that's why it's not gonna happen

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Notes to the Granddaughters

Highlight of the day for me: spotting a pair of woodpeckers in our backyard this morning.

I was unable to identify the specific type, but based on the huge amount of redness on the crown, they did not appear to be the "usual" Texas variety. If I'm wrong, they were ladder-backed woodpeckers, but I really don't think so. They most closely resembled pileated woodpeckers. It is said that pileated woodpeckers like huge sturdy trees, and these birds were only on the huge, sturdy trees in the back yard. But pileated woodpeckers are a northeastern USA bird, not Texan. Maybe on vacation? Pileated woodpeckers are found in eastern Texas piney forests, apparently.

Possibly the ivory-billed woodpecker, considered extinct, no verified sighting in over 50 years,

I remember reading about the ivory-billed woodpecker in The New Yorker many years ago -- here's the link. Wow, that was in 2001 -- eighteen years ago. We were still in the USAF -- moving from Virginia to Texas about that time.