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Cause of unnecessary unrest among residents

Land subsidence due to gas

extraction does not cause any damage
In recent decades, land subsidence has led to damage to the above-
ground infrastructure in our country. Gas extraction regularly
appears in the public and political debate as an alleged cause of
damage to houses and buildings due to land subsidence. Roughly
speaking, two types of subsidence due to human actions can be
distinguished, with their own underground processes and consequences.

By: Maarten Huijgen, Gijs Remmelts and Joost Roholl

CLAY MATURATION AND PEAT OXIDATION

About the authors: First of all, we naturally think of the processes in the soil itself. In
Maarten Huijgen, Gijs Remmelts and Joost Roholl work as geologists and the Netherlands we keep the groundwater level artificially low.
researchers at TNO Advisory Group on Economic Affairs.
After all, we don't want to get our feet wet and it also allows us to
increase the load-bearing capacity of the soil. As a result of these
activities, organic material in peat layers oxidizes and clay
The ground is subsiding in large parts of the Netherlands. And maturation occurs, a chemical and mechanical process that
with consequences: roads, dikes and buildings, among other results in clay compaction.
things, can (partly) subside and the groundwater level can
change. In some areas, subsidence even leads to significant Together these two make the upper soil layers more compact,
damage. The causes of land subsidence occur at different depths. resulting in the soil sinking. The speed of this type of subsidence
This article will discuss soil subsidence due to 1) clay maturation can be significant: parts of Flevoland have sunk up to 1.5 meters
and peat oxidation close to the surface, and 2) compaction of in fifty years, which amounts to three centimeters per year.1,2
sandstone due to gas extraction at great depths.

FIGURE 1A: FOR SHALLOW SOIL SUBSIDIATION. FIGURE 1B: AFTER SHALLOW SUBSIDIATION.

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TABLE: OVERVIEW OF THE CAUSE OF DAMAGE, RATE OF LAND SUBSIDIATION,

Plans for gas extraction: predicting and measuring THE DISTRIBUTION AND SKIPPING OF LAND SUBSIDIATION CAUSED BY

Before a gas company can start production from a gas field, the Minister of SHALLOW CAUSES AND GAS EXTRACTION

Economic Affairs and Climate must first approve the extraction plan. This
plan includes, among other things, a calculation of the maximum expected Land subsidence Land subsidence
subsidence. The soil subsidence is monitored in accordance with the legally shallow causes gas extraction
required measurement plan (Industrieleidraad, 2011).5 To this end, the gas
Cause of damage Uneven Does not apply
company first measures the ground level before production starts to record the initial situation.
settlements
The actual subsidence is then measured periodically during gas production.
This is usually done with leveling, but also increasingly with GPS and InSAR Speed Up to centimeters Millimeters to

satellite measurements (NAM, 2015; Vermilion 2019).6,7 subsidence per year centimeter per year
State Supervision of Mines checks the subsidence predictions and the Spread (Very) local (meters) Regional (kilometers)
measurement plan based on the measurement data. The gas company updates
Skew Relatively big Relatively small
the forecasts and the measurement plan if necessary. If the subsidence is
higher than originally permitted in the extraction plan, the extraction plan will
also have to be adjusted and submitted to the minister for approval. The Rock salt at two to four kilometers depth also leads to subsidence of
measurement plans and measurements are publicly accessible via www.nlog.nl.8 the shallow soil. In the political and public debate, subsidence due to
gas extraction regularly emerges as an alleged cause of above-
ground damage. The idea may arise from the fear of damage from
TENSION earthquakes caused by gas extraction, such as in Groningen.
The Dutch soil does not have a homogeneous composition: sand, clay
and peat can occur at small distances from each other (figure 1a).
Subsidence due to peat oxidation is stronger than that due to the Natural gas in the Netherlands is stored in reservoir rocks, usually
ripening of clay, while subsidence due to the dewatering of sand is sandstone in the Netherlands. Such a sandstone is made up of packed
negligible (figure 1b). sand grains, with space in between (the pores) in which the natural
gas is located. This gas is under high pressure, which keeps the pores
In this way, differences in shallow land subsidence arise side by side. open. When gas is extracted,
For example, if a structure is partly on sand and partly on peat,
subsidence can occur to different degrees and at different rates

In the Netherlands we keep

the groundwater level artificially low

speeds take place. This leads to tension in the building and possibly to
cracks in the structure.

COMPACT OF SANDSTONE
We have to look much deeper for the other cause of land subsidence:
the extraction of minerals such as natural gas, oil and minerals FIGURE 2A: FOR DEEP SOIL SUBSIDIATION.

FIGURE 2B: AFTER DEEP GROUND SUBSIDIATION.

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ren, the reduced pressure in the gas field. As a result, soil

Adjust water management subsidence due to gas extraction not only occurs very gradually
Deep subsidence will not immediately lead to damage, but it will cause a change in water and evenly over a large area, it also takes place over a relatively
levels, which could lead to damage without adjustment. If the total drop is more than long period. The typical rate of subsidence is of the order of a
approximately five centimeters, it may be necessary to adjust the water management, few millimeters to a centimeter per year for the subsidence at the
including by lowering the level, installing weirs or raising dikes. This is done at the deepest point, with the caveat that most gas is produced during
request of the water board, whereby the perpetrator, or the company that produces the first few years, which increases the pressure in the reservoir will
the gas, bears the costs. The Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate asks the water therefore decrease slightly faster in that initial phase and the
boards for advice when approving an extraction plan and involves the water boards at an ground will subside slightly faster.
early stage in this planning process.

UNNECESSARY UNTIL
With an objective view, the effect of land subsidence due to gas
the pressure in the pores drops, causing the reservoir rock to extraction on infrastructure is negligible compared to land subsidence
compact: it is slightly (0.1 to 0.2 percent) compressed (figure 2a). due to shallow activities. That minimal share of gas extraction on
As a result, the layers above and around the reservoir also partly the tilt of the soil does not cause any significant tensions in roads,
sink, which at the surface, about three kilometers above the gas buildings and dikes that could lead to damage. Architectural
reservoir, results in a shallow, bowl-shaped drop in the bottom research from, among others, TU Delft (2018)3 and the Nedmag
(figure 2b). working group (2012)4 also confirms this.

Lobby groups, residents and other stakeholders regularly wrongly

point to Dutch gas extraction as the cause of damage due to land
subsidence. With this article we expect to be able to provide
Land subsidence due to gas some nuance to the cause and consequences of land subsidence
due to gas extraction, because this discussion time and again
extraction occurs gradually and evenly causes unnecessary unrest among citizens.

The drop due to compaction depends on the depth, pressure drop, NUTS
thickness, surface area and type of the reservoir rock. In the small 1. Fokker et al, 2019; Land subsidence, Deltafact, Stowa, 2020, https://www.cam-
gas fields in the Netherlands - which includes all fields except the bridge.org/core/journals/netherlands-journal-of-geosciences/article/diffe-rential-
Groningen field - the deepest point varies from less than one subsidence-in-the-urbanised-coastaldeltaic-plain- of-the-netherlands/
centimeter to approximately 30 centimeters at Harlingen and 463F541AA9C00D5B4EA8108D53261AFE .
Tietjerksteradeel, for example, due to soil subsidence. 2. Subsidence Stowa. Deltafact, Stowa, 2020: https://www.stowa.nl/delta-facts/ruimtelijke-
adaptatie/adaptief-deltamanagement/gronddaling.
THE FACTORS OF SUBSIDIATION AND TIME 3. TU Delft. Investigate causes of structural damage Groningen - TU Delft
But what impact does that actually have? Two factors influence CITG-CM-2018-01 July 11, 2018.
this. Firstly, the spread of the subsidence on the surface, the 4. Nedmag Working Group 2012. Literature study into the effects of salt and gas extraction
subsidence basin. The diameter of such a subsidence basin is on buildings, Nedmag Land Subsidence Working Group, August 30, 2012.
approximately twice the depth of the underlying gas field and in
the Netherlands, with gas extraction at two to four kilometers depth, 5. Industry Guideline 2011. Industry Guideline for Geodetic determination of soil
it therefore extends over four to eight kilometers on the surface. The movement as a result of mining activities. https://www.tcbb.nl/file/
basin therefore slopes very gradually from the edge to the deepest download/57087332/Industrial guidance%20Geodetic%20basic%20
point in the center: the decline is ultimately less than one to two for%20mining%20-%20V1.pdf.
millimeters per 100 linear meters at all locations. 6. NAM 2015. Land subsidence due to natural gas extraction, status report 2015 and prog-
nose 2080.
7. Vermilion 2019. Land Subsidence Status Report 2019 - Drenthe Overijssel
In addition, there is the time factor. Land subsidence generally Friesland, Version 1.0, 15-Oct-19.
follows, with a delay of several months to a few years. 8. NLOG, www.nlog.nl.

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