Central Energy Resources Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, P.O. Box 25046 MS 939, Denver, CO 80225, United States.
Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 2317 University Way St. 2, Bozeman, MT 59715, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Mar;616-617:355-362. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.280. Epub 2017 Nov 8.
Understanding long-term implications of energy development on ecosystem function requires establishing regional datasets to quantify past development and determine relationships to predict future development. The Piceance Basin in western Colorado has a history of energy production and development is expected to continue into the foreseeable future due to abundant natural gas resources. To facilitate analyses of regional energy development we digitized all well pads in the Colorado portion of the basin, determined the previous land cover of areas converted to well pads over three time periods (2002-2006, 2007-2011, and 2012-2016), and explored the relationship between number of wells per pad and pad area to model future development. We also calculated the area of pads constructed prior to 2002. Over 21million m has been converted to well pads with approximately 13million m converted since 2002. The largest land conversion since 2002 occurred in shrub/scrub (7.9million m), evergreen (2.1million m), and deciduous (1.3million m) forest environments based on National Land Cover Database classifications. Operational practices have transitioned from single well pads to multi-well pads, increasing the average number of wells per pad from 2.5 prior to 2002, to 9.1 between 2012 and 2016. During the same time period the pad area per well has increased from 2030 m to 3504 m. Kernel density estimation was used to model the relationship between the number of wells per pad and pad area, with these curves exhibiting a lognormal distribution. Therefore, either kernel density estimation or lognormal probability distributions may potentially be used to model land use requirements for future development. Digitized well pad locations in the Piceance Basin contribute to a growing body of spatial data on energy infrastructure and, coupled with study results, will facilitate future regional and national studies assessing the spatial and temporal effects of energy development on ecosystem function.
了解能源开发对生态系统功能的长期影响，需要建立区域数据集来量化过去的开发情况，并确定关系以预测未来的开发。科罗拉多州西部的皮斯恩泽盆地有着丰富的天然气资源，历史上一直是能源生产和开发的中心，预计在可预见的未来还将继续开发。为了便于分析该地区的能源开发，我们对该盆地科罗拉多州部分的所有井场进行了数字化处理，确定了过去三个时期（2002-2006 年、2007-2011 年和 2012-2016 年）转换为井场的区域的先前土地覆盖情况，并探讨了每个井场的井数与井场面积之间的关系，以建立未来的开发模型。我们还计算了 2002 年前建造的井场面积。已有超过 2100 万平米的土地被转换为井场，其中自 2002 年以来就有 1300 万平米被转换。自 2002 年以来，灌木/灌木丛（790 万平米）、常绿林（210 万平米）和落叶林（130 万平米）的土地转换最大。根据国家土地覆盖数据库的分类，运营实践已经从单个井场过渡到多个井场，每个井场的平均井数从 2002 年前的 2.5 口增加到 2012 年至 2016 年之间的 9.1 口。在此期间，每口井的井场面积从 2030 平米增加到 3504 平米。核密度估计被用来模拟每个井场的井数和井场面积之间的关系，这些曲线呈现出对数正态分布。因此，核密度估计或对数正态概率分布都可能被用来模拟未来开发的土地利用需求。皮斯恩泽盆地的数字化井场位置为不断增长的能源基础设施空间数据做出了贡献，再加上研究结果，将有助于未来进行区域和国家研究，评估能源开发对生态系统功能的空间和时间影响。
