Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-12-21


the petroleum is found In the arches
or crest of the folds while the lower
synclines are barren This mode Of
accumulation may be due to the fact
that the oil being volatile liquid
sought the higher parts Of the folded
beds. leaving the heavier water TO ac-
cumulate In the lower troughs More
over the rocky layers at the antiC'ines
will be more porous than In the troughs,
owing TO the fact that at the cresta
the rock has been submitted to tension
or stretching In the folding process
whereas In the syncines the rock has
suffered compression.
The aIids contained within any por-
Gus bed or series OF beds, properly en-
cased by imperVlous strata above and
below would tend TO arrQnge themse es
In the order Of their specific GRAVITY
water being heaviest would sink 10 n
lowest level then would come the on,
and above this the gases. These condi-
lions OF local accumulation may co.
plain the unequal distribution oi oil
within the field and would indicate the
futilty of boring I'm n hap-Goadrd way
anywhere within the oil region, on
does not exist In the rocks as a con-
tinuOus bed Ike coal, but is conoen-
trated within certain limited areas de-
termlned by geological structure,
In the foregoing explanation OF rod
ed strata, and In the illustrative dia'
gram Olgure - the surface appearance
10 that Of anticlinal belts ana synclinnl
valleys Il must be remembered, now
ever that erosion may produce such
changes In the surface conOguraUon as
10 reverse these conditions. ana syn
clinal hills with antlclnal valleys are
not uncommon Again the surface may
be planed down 20 a common level WIN
no Typographical indication OF Folding
Thus in figure g. the anticllne az and
the syncline az are plainly shown IN
vertical section, but the surface IS
practically fiat The dotted lines IN the
upper part OF the figure show the for
mer extension OF the folded layers, but
all above the surface plane has been
carried away by erosion such an anti
cline as that shown In this diagram Is
spoken Of as a broken fold, inasmuch as
the true crest OF the original arch mas
been removed OF course If the oil
bearing layers We're above the present
surface, the erosion would have liber-
Grated the OIL whereas II the oil zone
were below, the liquid would still be
imprisoned
In figure still more complicated
result Of erosion on folded strata ~
shown The anticllnes A are here
shown as valleys while the synolines
8 are hills. Here as before the dotted
lines show The extent OF the folds be-
fore erosion had removed the upper
parts II Is therefore evident That sur
face connguraton Is not 20 be relied
upon as q guide TO the oil pools the
geological structure Of the region Ia the
essential point 70 be determined the
oil -bearlng formations already success
fully exploited are found 10 belong TO
many different horizons or geological
ages There is therefore no speclllc
period OF geological time to be charac.
ierlzed as an OIL age. Little or no oil
has been found in rocks older than the
simrian, but from that age TO the con-
paratiyely recent tertiary time, OIL ana
hydrocarbons in general have been at-
cumuated. The oil formations OF Penn
sylvania, Kentucky, and Canada, be-
! long 10 the devonian age those OF West
Virginia and Ohio are carboniferous;
in Wyoming, and presumably also IN
| Utah, the oil horizons range from car
| bornlferous to tertiary; but the main
| deposits are found In the cretaceous
| division OF the mesozoic era, The Pa
| oifc coast oil fields are of the tertiary
| age, as are also the widely famed Bur
| nah fields. and the Baku fields In the
| nelghborhood Of the Caspian sea.
II is plainly evident that a region
| known to be oil-containing must be
! separately and specially studied to de-
| termlne the horizon at which the oil
| rock occurs and the particular features
of structure favorable TO the accumu"
lation OF local pools
Among the oil-producng countries
the United States takes first rank; then
follow Russia, Canada japan ana
New Zealand within our own land, the
principal FIELDS are the Pennsylvania
New York region, which, being contln-
uous may be considered as one heidi
the Ohio fields, comprising two separ-
ate regions the West Virginia iield;
the Colorado. Wyoming Utah field and
the California field.
Resides the porous oil rock from
which petroleum Is obtained by SIM
ple drilling as flowing wells, or a.
pump wells, there are other deposits Of
| oIl-bearInE shales, from which the
LIQUID seldom flows spontaneously, but
which may be made 10 yield richly TO
| distillation treatment
Before the beginning OF the oil In
| duRtry I'm the United States, many
| countries depended largely on btumin-
/ Gus shales for their supplies of illumi-
mating oils but the rich, and as at
| FIRST supposed, practically ineNhaustlble
] Al. n,,uutsttug tf ~
| York and Ohio fields, crippled the shale-
distilling industry only the richest
| OF such shales we're found profitable to
( work by the methods then In use. or
/ late years, however, improved meth
| DDS OF dIetlllation have resulted In the
1 revival OF shale treatment for OIL TINS
| industry Is now successfully prose-
cuted In Great Britain and Australia
aud elsewhere, The oil so obtained Is
| generally rich In lubricating material,
/ In parafilns both liquid and solid, IN adj
/ dition 10 the Illuminating oils The
/ distlllatlon Of rich shales offers many
| inducements TO capital as the supplies
/ can be exploited with approximate GER
/ taintv as TO their extent and richness
| whereas the spontaneous Yield OF mud
| hydrocarbons IL always uncertain. Utah
] rs Particularly IlNN w 'll7NlhiF N'N'H'
| It's. and excellent products have been
/ obtained from their treatment on Az
/ experimental scale Among the valu.
( able deposits Of para en- shales already
tested are those Of Utah county near
| Tucker). Juab county sanpote county
] Din the vicinity of ManH and Grnni-
SOM. and other deposits In the Uintah
basin, south Of the Uintah range and
/ east OF the WasatCh From fhl7 incnm.
pleie list the many extensive dcooslts
OF asphaltum sandstones and forma-
tions carving other solid hydrocarbons
are excluded.
- m the prosnoots OF oil develop
ment In Utah, think we are justified
In lndnlging most confident homes Con
siderable Yields have been already real.
tied. and boring operations are now Ia
progress IN many parts Of the state
Undoubtedly many declarations Of rich
discoveries are eXtravagant and the
deceiving influence Of the boom ten
denoy Is too plainly apparent 10 the dis
interested observer Properties have
been extoied for their rich contents OF
oil and stocks have been offered for
sale, with little foundation beyond the
unbounded expectations OF their promo
tiers; and "oil-prespscts" are cried on