Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-08-31

Various Theories Of tho Origin Of the oily
Staple.

The casual visitor to the Pennsylva-
MIA oil region, as he views the grease
fluid gushing from its rich reservoirs,
1000 feet below the surface, finds him
self involuntarily asking the primal
question, Where does it come from
and how and where was it formed
A puzzling question, surely, and if
propounded to any competent and
thorough geologist would only elicit a
shake of the head and the brief reply
that he didn't know. But however
careful the scientific man may be about
advancing theory that the discover
les Of tomorrow may knock higher
than kite, the average Yankee never
allows a conundrum of this kind to be
propounded to him without making
several attempts at guessing it. The
difficult question Of the origin Of pc
troleum has not seemed to his prolific
mind too big to be grappled with, and
at present two popular theories exist
in regard to this interesting subject,
each Of which has its strenuous advo-
Gates.
The first of these theories holds that
the rock in which the oil is now found
is the parent rock ia which it originat-
ed. The Pennsylvania oil rocks are a
series Of sand rocks Of varying thick
Enesses, scattered somewhat irregularly
over the northwestern part of the
State and prolific in oil at depths below
the surface varying from 500 to 1000
feet. Originally they were deposited by
the action of the water, either as long
stretches Of sea-beach or immense
sand-bars formed by eddying and
whirling currents. The advocates of
the parent-rock theory maintain that
along with this sand was deposited or
ganic vegetable or animal matter,
which, by the chemical action of the
succeeding ages, has been transformed
into oil and gas and kept stored in
these hermetically sealed reservoirs
until the searching drill of the enter
prising oil operator should penetrate
its hidden chambers and bring it forth
to light an inquiring and busy world.
In confirmation of this theory its ad-
vocates point to the coal deposits,
which are now generally conceded to
have originated from vast deposit Of
vegetable matter, which grew and de-
composed for ages, and then, BY the
combined action Of heat and enormous
pressure, were packed away in solid
masses to provide for the future fuel
Of the world. A chemical analysis Of
the two articles, coal and petroleum,
discloses the fact that they contain
nearly the same elemental ingredients,
in slightly different proportions, per-
haps, but practically the same, the only
real difference consisting in the fact
that one is now a solid and the other a
fluid. As the Oil is found at distance
Of from 1000 to 1000 feet below the
prolific coal measures, and, if deposited
along with the sand-rock in which it is
now found. must be many ages older
than the coal deposits, it is argued that
the immensely longer period since its
original deposit and the higher temper
ature to which it is subjected by its
greater depth below the surface may
easily account for the chemical action
necessary to make it a fluid instead of
solid, as in the case of coal.
The second and more generally ac-
cepted theory is that the petroleum is
formed by the constant distillation Of
gas from the underlying carbonacecus
shales of the silurian period, which in
the Pennsylvania oil region are sup
posed to lie at sufficient depth to be
subjected to high temperature, and
to be constantly generating gases.
Il this theory is accepted the condi-
tions necessary for the formation Of
petroleum deposits are threefold:
First, a geological horizon deep enough
below the surface to generate gases
BY the operations Of internal heat;