Density of unplugged orphaned wells in the continental U.S.

Map of the continental United States indicating the well density per 100 square mile grid cell of 117,672 unplugged orphaned wells in the 27 states included in the documented orphaned oil and gas well (DOW) dataset. Note the exponential scale of the coloring scheme used to preserve detail across both lower and higher well densities. (Figure 2 in Merrill, M.D., Grove, C.A., Gianoutsos, N.J., and Freeman, P.A., 2023, Analysis of the United States documented unplugged orphaned oil and gas well dataset: U.S. Geological Survey Data Report 1167, 10 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/dr1167.)