4. Alaska: periglacial landscape used by humans

Question 1

How much oil is around Prudhoe Bay in Alaska?

Answer 1

3000 million barrels

Question 2

How much oil did the US consume in 2014?

Answer 2

6.95 billion barrels

Question 3

How much oil is imported to US + why is this a concern?

Answer 3

40% is imported

Concern as grave political implications of not having energy security

Question 4

Exploration of Alaska’s oil fields has been permitted, describe the area of interest:

Answer 4

Area 1002 in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains an estimated 16 billion barrels

Question 5

Describe the Alyeska pipeline:

Answer 5

• 1300km long
• From Prudhoe Bay to Valdez
• Transports up to 1.4million barrels per day

Question 6

Benefits of extracting oil from Area 1002:

Answer 6

Increased employment opportunities

Can use the existing Alyeska pipeline

Question 7

How are material flows affected by extraction and transportation? x2

Answer 7

• Gravel extracted from river beds and used as insulating base layer for road construction
  Loss of gravel = alters rate at which gravel is transported and deposited downstream and affects equilibrium between erosional and depositional processes
• Hydrological processes affected as glacial outwash aquifer near Palmer found that ground water levels fell by more than a metre over 2km from extraction site

Question 8

How are energy flows affected?

Answer 8

• Release/burning of gas during drilling releases CO2 and methane into atmosphere = significantly contribute to enhanced greenhouse effect with higher levels of terrestrial radiation being trapped in lower atmosphere, raising temperatures
• Production of heat from extraction and transportation processes and poorly insulated buildings has led to urban heat island effect in Barrow where mean temp on avg 2.2 degrees higher than in rural areas surrounding (maximum of 6 measured) Affects geomorphic processes with 9% fewer days of fluctuation around 0 degrees since drilling began