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Extensive review of shale gas environmental impacts from scientific literature (2010–2015)

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Abstract

Extensive reviews and meta-analyses are essential to summarize emerging developments in a specific field and offering information on the current trends in the scientific literature. Shale gas exploration and exploitation has been extensively debated in literature, but a comprehensive review of recent studies on the environmental impacts has yet to be carried out. Therefore, the goal of this article is to systematically examine scientific articles published between 2010 and 2015 and identify recent advances and existing data gaps. The examined articles were classified into six main categories (water resources, atmospheric emissions, land use, induced seismicity, occupational and public health and safety, and other impacts). These categories are analyzed separately to identify specific challenges, possibly existing consensus and data gaps yet remained in the literature.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to acknowledge IBRASIL (Inclusive and Innovative Brazil project, an Erasmus Mundus Action 2 programme funded by European Commission) for the PhD grant.

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  1. Daniele Costa and João Jesus both contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Natural Resources and Environment (CERENA), Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Daniele Costa, João Jesus, Anthony Danko & António Fiúza

  2. Energy Planning Program, Graduate School of Engineering, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Tecnologia, Bloco C, Sala 211, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-972, Brazil

    David Branco

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  1. Daniele Costa
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Correspondence to António Fiúza.

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Costa, D., Jesus, J., Branco, D. et al. Extensive review of shale gas environmental impacts from scientific literature (2010–2015). Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 14579–14594 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8970-0

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