# Fracking or missile silos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460 "2017-02-10T13:43:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bobohula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@bobohula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobohula)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/1 "2017-02-10T13:43:57Z")
When you fly over the USA you often see strange patterns, little white circles or squares all connected by little white lines in a large maze. What are these? I just flew over Texas by way of Dallas, and the countryside there is littered with them. What am I looking at, fracking maybe? Or missile silos? Tom Ft. Lauderdale ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/2 "2017-02-10T13:50:09Z")
Like [these](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@32.3005256,-97.5318014,6985m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)? They mostly seem to have tanks, something to do with oil? Looking on Street View one of them has a sign saying “Well Services”. Others just seem to be truck lots. There are lots of trucking companies around there by the look of it! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/3 "2017-02-10T13:51:41Z")
Irrigated fields? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/4 "2017-02-10T13:55:32Z")
They mostly seem to be cleared lots, with a fenced enclosure containing a tank or tanks. Any Texas locals? [Example 1](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@32.4359935,-97.491983,3a,15.1y,285.86h,83.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2dnfcaX1oXSB_DTg6jqHxA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en) [Example 2](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/R+J+Services+Inc/@32.5171258,-97.5839887,3a,60y,161.42h,77.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7daS6LNzvAyCrqe0OGVxkA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xd3294fd828f22961!8m2!3d32.3006991!4d-97.4864309!6m1!1e1?hl=en) If you look at the entrances there are lots of warning signs. I’m going to guess they are oil or gas storage areas, where tankers load and unload? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/5 "2017-02-10T14:04:33Z")
They are almost certainly irrigated fields, especially if you saw them in a dry part of the country. See a Google image search: [https://www.google.com/search?q=irrigated+fields+aerial&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=irrigated+fields+aerial&tbm=isch) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/6 "2017-02-10T14:06:59Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > They are almost certainly irrigated fields, especially if you saw them in a dry part of the country. > > See a Google image search: > [irrigated fields aerial - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=irrigated+fields+aerial&tbm=isch) Those aren’t white areas, though, they are green areas in desert. If you look at aerial imagery of the Dallas area, the prominent white dots are these things: [Google Maps](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@32.3923569,-97.5378599,3370m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en) A Facebook friend who lives in Dallas tells me they are gas wells. The [Barnett Shale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_Shale) area has loads of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/7 "2017-02-10T14:21:45Z")
Yes. Gas, oil, or both, depending on where exactly the OP was flying. I usually notice them over southeastern NM. Look east or Carlsbad. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/8 "2017-02-10T14:42:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > They mostly seem to be cleared lots, with a fenced enclosure containing a tank or tanks. Any Texas locals? > … They certainly look like fracking operations. Especially the second. You can see three well heads, three gas separators and associated storage tanks, all inside a berm. The tanks will store liquids separated from the gas I would guess. Water and possibly a little oil. Gas would be piped away, and the storage tanks emptied as needed. I doubt the tanks hold anything of value, but the contents probably need careful treatment. The size of the lots reflects the space needed when fracking is done - you get a dozen or so fracking trucks all connected up to the well. [https://angolafieldgroup.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/fracking-6.jpg](https://angolafieldgroup.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/fracking-6.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fracking-or-missile-silos/779460/9 "2017-02-10T20:12:45Z")
**Colophon** ’s google link in post #6 is definitely oil and/or gas wells. There has long been lots of wells in west Texas, but in the last 10 years it’s spread all over half of Texas & NM. Wind farms have also spread all over the place in the Midwest, plains, and southwest, but they lack the prominent concrete pads. It’s usually easy to see the windmills themselves.