Arizona state miner., 1919-08-15

overgrown with forests of ferns, cane,
ancient pine and yew trees. 1t is very
interesting that none of these trees
were flower bearing, SO it must be csn
cluded that flowers are late develop
ment of plants and trees. Or vast
shoals of fish that in those ages swarmed
the seas, perished by some catastrophe
and formed great piles of animal refuse
that were preserved from rapid putri-
fication by the salt water, until the on
coming floods brought large quantities
of sand with which the fish were COM
pletely covered up.
Tis succession of forests and lakes
sometimes occurred a number of times.
In the Illinois coal fields as many as
nine times as is shown by the nine strata
of coal and shale.
Thru the millions and millions of years
that followed, layer upon layer Of sand,
lime or mud or silt was deposited, and
by pressure and heat these in timed
turned into sandstone, limestone, or
shales. So the layer of forest mould,
or remains of fish mingled with sand
and water and became sealed up be-
tween layers of impervious shales or
sandstone. Narure. the Master AL
chemist, with the assistant of both heat
and pressure, thruout those ages was
constantly busy distilling this carboni-
ferrous layer. and in some as yet un-
known manner produced oil and gas. 1t
is claimed that oil with an asphalt base
is derived from animal matter, and
that with parafne base from vege-
table,
Ages ago when these great forests
existed, the temperature of the earth
was higher than it is today. AS it
grew cooler the earth surface or crust,
for various reasons began to contract
or shrink. 1t did this IN many ways;
as by throwing up great folds like the
immense swells in midocean, or short
and sharp ones like a choppy sea, or
doubling over like the breakers on the
sea shore. Sometimes there were great
cracks, and the earth on one side of
the crack would slide up or down form
ing what miners call faults. This con-
traction of the earth's surface formed
an endless variety of alterations in the
original position of the strata or lay ers.
A knowledge of all these formations,
and of the ages of all the strata of the
earth's crust is of great Importance to
the oil geologist.
Since the earth's surface oftentimes
conforms in a general way to the strata
or lay ers lying hundreds or even thou
sands of feet below the surface, the
geologist can oftentimes decide by the
contour of the surface if such fold
exists. Sometimes the surface of the
earth has been filled up or levelled down
so that no indications of the fold are
visible.
Along the sea coast are sometimes
found long stretches of level strata of
oil bearing sand, but in all such cases
the oil is never in paying quantities.
1t is rather a common belief that oil
occurs in great underground lakes, but
this is far from true, for it never does.
Oil in commercial quantities is always
found in strata of sand ranging from a
few feet to several thousand feet in
thickness.
Oil is not usually found where it is
formed. but being lighter than water it
migrates to the higher portion of the
folded stratum or passes thru other
layers until it reaches layer of sand
that is overtopped with impervious
sandstone.
From the study of all existing fields
geologists have learned:
quantities always occurs in the higher
parts of these folds.
2. That oil and gas are always found
in sandy or water layed deposits of
sand, sandstone, limestone and shales.
3. That, water is always present in
the same stratum as oil, but lower
down.
a. That the oil bearing stratum has
always layer of sand, limestone or
shale above and below it so hard and
impenetrable that the oil cannot pass
thru.
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