In a report published in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, Prof Davies found that in the UK the possibility of fracking causing rogue fractures that would allow methane gas to contaminate water was a fraction of 1%.

BBC: Fracking: Untangling fact from fiction

It aims to clarify the geology of the seabed and samples will be used by marine scientists and geologists to better inform the company of its make-up.

BBC: Marine Minerals