One purpose of fracking fluids is to help the sand flow into newly formed fissures and keep them propped open.

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Some federal officials have cautioned that dredging and spraying the sand could permanently alter the water flow along the coast and endanger animals that live on the beaches.

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Planned tasks for the shovel brigade include reinforcing the spring and diverting its flow by using boulders, sand, downed trees and other flood debris.

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The chemicals facilitate the flow of hydrocarbons, while the sand keeps the pores of the rock open.

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On reaching the shale, the mixture of water and fracking fluid bursts open the rock and the sand keeps the fractures open, allowing the gas to flow to the surface.

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Fields of bright green vegetation sway lazily in the flow, while underwater springs kick up miniature plumes of sand.

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Rather, as a consequence of injecting water and sand into the shale formation to crack the rocks so gas and oil will flow, massive amounts of waste water comes back to the surface with significant amounts of contaminants as a result of leaching out salt, heavy metals and trace amounts of radioactive materials from the rock formation itself.

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Another early beneficiary might be Carbo Ceramics, which sells ceramic pellets the size of grains of sand that are pumped into the rock surrounding the wells to prop open the tiny cracks through which oil and gas flow.

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