Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-18
PETROLEUM'S SOURCE.
Another Plausible Theory Advanced
As to How 1t Originated.
LIMESTONE ROCKS AND HYDROGEN
We're All That Was Needed to Produce the
Subterranean Supply.
INCONCElVABLE LIMITS TO THE SUPPLY

and continues problem for philosophers.
In 1889 the total production, says Light, Heat
and Pouer, exceeded 1900, 100000 gallons,
or about 10, ,000 900 tons, and at pence per
gallon, was worth about 944 ,0O0, 900, while
the recognition of its superior utility as an
economical source of light, heat and power
steadily increases.
Notwithstanding its Importance in in
dustry, the increasing abundance of the
foreign supply, and the ever widening area
of production, practical men in England
continue to distrust its permanence, and
owing to the mystery surrounding its
origin, and the paucity of indications where
and how to undertake the boring of
wells, they hesitate to seek for it,
or even to extend the use of it whenever
that would involve alterations of existing
machinery. The object of this paper is to
suggest an explanation of the mystery
which seems calculated to dissipate that
distrust, since it points to very abundant
stores, both native and foreign, yet undis-
covered, and even in some localities to daily
renovated provisions of this remarkable oil
How the Records Should BE Read.
The theories of its origin suggested by
Reichenbach, Berthelot. Mendeleef, Peck
ham, and others, made no attempt to &C,
count for the exceeding variety in its chem
ical composition, in its specific gravity, it
boiling points, and are all founded on some
hypothetical process which differs from any
with which we are acquainted, but modern
biologists are agreed that, as a rule, the
records of the earth's history should be read
in accordance with those laws of nature
which continue in force at the present day,
e. e., the decomposition of fish and cetaceous
animals could not now produce oil contain
ing paraffin. Hence we can hardly believe
it was possible thousands or millions of
wears ago, if it can be proved that any of the
processes Of nature with which we are
familiar are calculated to produce it.
The chief characteristics of Of petroleum
strata are enumerated as:
First-The existence of adjoing beds of
limestone, gypsum, etc.
Second-The existence of volcanic action
IN close proximity to them.
Third-The presence of salt water in
the wells.
All writers have noticed the presence of
limestone close to petroleum fields in the
United States and Canada, in the Caucasus,
in Burma ETC., but they have been most
impressed by its being 'fossiliferous," or
shell limestone, and have drawn the err
roneous inference that the animal matter
once contained in those shells originated
parafin. On the other hand, the fossil
shells are carbonate of lime, and, as such,
capable of producing petroleum under con
ditions such as many limestone beds have
been subjected to in all ages of the earth's
history.
Petroleum Is Composed of Carbon.
All limestone rocks were formed under
water, and are mainly composed of calcare-
Gus shells. corals, encrinites, and foramini
fera-the latter similar to the foraminifera
of atlantic ooze'' and of English chalk
beds. Everywhere, under the microscope,
the original connection of limestone with
organic matter-its organic parentage, so to
speak, and cousinship with the animal and
vegetable kingdoms-is conspicuous. When
pure it contains II per cent of carbon.
Now petroleum consists largely of carbon,
its average composition being IS per cent.
of carbon and Is per cent of hydrogen, and
in the limestone rocks of the United King
dom alone there is far larger accumulation
of carbon than in all the coal measures the
world contains. A range of limestone rock
100 miles in length by 10 miles in width,
and 1000 yards in depth, would contain
743, 900, 900, 600 tons of carbon, or sufficient
to provide carbon for 875, 1000 100000 tons
of petroleum. Deposits of oil-bearing
shale have also limestone close at hand; e.
X.
it also underlies the famous black shale in
Kentucky, which is extraordinarily rich in
oil.
Volcanic Action Had \ Hand in It
As evidence of volcanic action in close
proximity to petroleum strata, the mud
volcanoes at Baku and in Burma are de-
scribed. and sulphur mine in Spain is
mentioned with which the writer is well |
acquainted), situated near an extinct vol
cano, where a perpetual gas flame in
neighboring chapel and other symptoms in |
dicate that petroleum is not far of. While |
engaged in studying the geological condi- |
tions of this mine, the author observed that |
DIR. Christoff Bischoff records in his writ |
ings that he had produced sulphur in his |
own laboratory by passing hot volcanic |
pressed in chemical formula, leads az |
once to the postulate that, |
in addition to sulphur, ethylene and |
all its homologues, which are the oils pre- |
dominating at Baku, would be produced by |
heating carbonate of lime with sulphurous |
acid and sulphUreted hydrogen. So that |
these and all their homologues, in fact pc |
troleum in all its varieties, would be pro- |
duced in nature by the action of volcanic |
gases on limestone.
But much of the most abundant of the |
steam, and petroleum seems to have been |
more usually produced without sulphurous |
acid, and with part of the sulphureted hy- |
drogen replaced by steam or peroxide of hy- |
drogen, which is the product that results |
from the combination of sulphureted hy- |
drogen and sulphurous acid.
The Same Forces Now at Work.
1t is explained that these effects must |
have occurred, not at periods of acute vol |
canic eruptions, but in conditions which |
may be, and have been, observed at the
present time, wherever there are active
solfataras or mud volcanoes at work. De- |
scriptions of the action of solfataras bv the |
late Sir Richard Burton and by a British |
consul in Iceland are quoted, and also
paragraph from LyalPs principles of |
Geology" in which he remarks of the mud |
volcanoes at Girgenti, Sicily, that carbur-
eted hydrogen is discharged from them,
sometimes with great violence, and that
they are known to have been casting out
water, mixed with mud and bitumen, with
the same activity now as for the last Is
centuries.
Probably at all these solfataras, if the
gases traverse limestone, fresh deposits of
oilbearing strata are accumulating and the
same volcanic action has been occurring
during many successive geological periods
and millions of years; so that it is difficult
to conceive limits to the magnitude of the
stores of petroleum which NAV be awaiting
discovery in the subterranean depths
Gypsum may also be an indication of oil
bearing strata, for the substitution in lime
stone of sulphuric for carbonic acid can only
be accounted for by the action of these hot
gases. Gypsum is found extern
siyely in the petroleum districts of the |