The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Geology, Issue 8Johns Hopkins Press, 1927 |
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accumulation active Alps Amer American geologists analyses anticlinal anticlinal theory Appalachian applied areas beds Brögger Bull century character chemical chemistry composition conclusions contributions crystalline crystallization Decken deformation deposits discussion drill early economic geology Emmons eutectic experimental fact faults field Finland folds Foraminifera formation gas-wells genesis Geological Survey geologists Geophysical gneisses granite Heim Hopkins igneous rocks important investigation Jour laboratory later Loewinson-Lessing magmas magmatic differentiation metamorphic metasomatism meteoric waters microscope minerals mining mountains nature nomenclature observed occur oil and gas origin outcrop papers petrog petrographic petroleum geology petrologists petrology plastic porous porphyritic present pressure principles problems production progress recently region relation reservoir Rosenbusch's salt domes sand schists scientific sedimentary sediments shale silicate solution Spindle Top strata stratigraphy structure subsurface Suess suggested synclines tectonic temperature terranes texture tion torsion balance types U. S. Geol volcanic rocks Williams
Popular passages
Page 85 - ... had been bored in the synclines on either side furnished little or no gas, but in many cases large quantities of salt water. Further observation showed that the gas wells were confined to a narrow belt, only one-fourth to one mile wide, along the crests of the anticlinal folds. These facts seemed to connect gas territory unmistakably with the disturbance in the rocks caused by their upheaval into arches, but the crucial test was yet to be made in the actual location of good gas territory on this...
Page 85 - ... gas territory on this theory. During the last two years, I have submitted it to all manner of tests, both in locating and condemning gas territory, and the general result has been to confirm the anticlinal theory beyond a reasonable doubt.
Page 85 - In a theory of this kind, the limitations become quite as important as, or even more so than the theory itself ; and hence I have given considerable thought to this side of the question, having formulated them into three or four general rules (which include practically all the limitations known to me, up to the present time, that should be placed on the statement that large...
Page 85 - Probably very few or none of the grand arches along mountain ranges will be found holding gas in large quantity, since in such cases the disturbance of the stratification has been so profound that all the natural gas generated in the past would long ago have escaped into the air through fissures that traverse all the beds.
Page 85 - After visiting all the great gas wells that had been struck in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and carefully examining the geological surroundings of each, I found that every one of them was situated either directly on or near the crown of an anticlinal axis, while wells that had been bored in the synclines on either side furnished little or no gas, but in many cases large quantities of salt water. Further observation showed that the gas wells were confined to a narrow belt, only one-fourth...
Page 101 - We have in the Huron shale a vast repository of solid hydro-carbonaceous matter, which may be made to yield ten to twenty gallons of oil to the ton by artificial distillation. Like all other organic matter, this is constantly undergoing spontaneous distillation, except where hermetically sealed deep under rock and water. This results in the formation of oil and gas, closely resembling those which we make artificially from the same substance, the manufactured differing from the natural products only...
Page 92 - The porous rocks into which the oil and gas enter may be dry, or they may be completely saturated with water. In most cases it is prooable that a combination of these two conditions exists — that the porous rocks are completely saturated with water up to a certain level, but above that point they are dry. The movement of the hydrocarbons through the rocks will not be the same in the two cases, and therefore each condition must be considered separately. "If small quantities of oil and gas enter...
Page 92 - Whether the petroleum comes from within or below the shales, it must pass through them, and to do this it must pass through the very small pores existing in those relatively impervious beds. The nature and cause of this movement are not understood. Capillary action and great rock pressure may be suggested as causes which aid in forcing the petroleum out of the shales, but there are not sufficient data on this subject to justify any scientific explanation.
Page 115 - The hypothesis is as follows: The oil and salt pockets of the Texas Coastal Plain are probably not indigenous to the strata in which they are found, but are the resultant products of columns of hot saline waters which have ascended, under hydrostatic pressure, at points along lines of structural weakness, through thousands of feet of shale, sand, and marine littoral sediments of the Coastal Plain section, through which oil and sand are disseminated in more or less minute quantities. The oil, with...
Page 85 - The arch in the rocks must be one of considerable magnitude. (b) A coarse or porous sandstone of considerable thickness or, if a fine-grained rock, one that would have extensive fissures, and thus in either case rendered capable of acting as a reservoir for the gas, must underlie the surface at a depth of several hundred feet (500 to 2,500).