GIS II Lab 5: Semester Project Database

Earlier this semester, we were given a task to think up an independent research topic to complete as our final project. This project would utilize GIS skills that we obtained in this advanced class and in our earlier introduction class.

After weeks of thought and research I came up with the topic I wanted to explore further:

Does fracking impact earthquake occurrence in Texas? How many people could be affected by these disasters?

In my initial research I found that it has been proven with geophysical and hydrologic studies that fracking does cause earthquakes in these basins. However, I want to see if using GIS analysis will support or refute these claims.

To begin this analysis data needed to gathered and collected. Most of this data came from the USGS, the Texas Natural Resource Information System. Supplemental data was obtained from several other sites. Once gathered, the data was compiled into a file geodatabase. This type of geodatabase was used as it has a larger storage capacity and it can be worked on by different individuals, in-case this research was continued. This geodatabase also includes metadata for many of the different downloaded data in a metadata file.

The most important data in this geodatabase includes an earthquake occurrence table which was created into a feature class, the Texas county shapefile, the shale basins shapefile which was then clipped to only represent those in Texas, the Texas cities, and the Texas rivers. It is this data that will be most utilized in analysis. There is supplementary data that may or may not be used.

Figure 1. The completely expanded file geodatabase for my spring 2018 GIS II research project. Note the metadata folders as well as the different shapefiles and feature classes.

The complete project and analysis will be later presented in a final blog post.