The daily morning oasis., 1919-09-20

pllCdIlOu VI CHdt SyotSili II fdS UScIi
demonstrated that the coastal and
central plain of Texas, OF which the
great oil fields now in course of 'Ge-
velopment are part, were, through
the ages, the bed of shallow sea,
covering many thousands of square
miles, and that there was slow
subsistence of that bed, but maintain
ing it's equilibrium of level by con-
tinual deposits of land making ma
terials that accumulated in accord
ance with well defined natural laws,
Operating under
Conditions And Activities
Now we'll understood and demon
strated perfectly. First in point of
time minute and microscopic Great
ures, existing in myriads, deriving
subsistence from salt sea water in
which they lived, reproducing their
kind and dying, each generation de-
posting its remains upon its pre-
decessor and in turn supporting it's
successor, laid down great beds of
organic remains that became COM
pacted and solidified into vast strata
of limestone, hard and impervious to
liquids, making an admirable base
and contafner for an oil bearing form
alton which was to follow. Then there
was
Deeper Subsidence
In which the still shallow bed of
sea became the natural home Of mil
lions of shellfish of all kinds-oysters,
sea snails, etc., all deriving sub
sistence from the salty waters OF the
sea bedding themselves in sands or
mud washed by erosion from con-
tinents above. Slow subsidence kept
pace with the gradual deposition of
organic remains of vast beds of she'll
fish until they became of great depth.
Such formations are what are known
now as oil sands or oil shales, de-
pending upon whether laid in sand or
mud. Those under consideration here
are sands; and they are classified as
the Bend series in the Lower
Pennsylvania Era in
Rock Construction.
After there had become deposited
great beds of these last described
organic remains, other subsidences
gave greater depth to the seas, and
upon the Bend Series in vast areas
there were deposited other detritus
from continents which became con-
verted into sandstones, and eleva-
tions until the sea bed came closer
to the surface, giving opportunity
for existence of limestone forming
organisms. Successive subsidences
and elevations made in that way al
ternating beds of limestone and sand
stone superimposed upon the Bend
Series. Few fossilised organic re-
mains are found in these other strata;
but such as do occur serve to identify
the deposit. In their turn these later
strata became hard and impermeable,
holding in the beds below organic
matter deposited as described in vast
areas by the teeming life of former
ages; and pressure, with operation of
internal heat of the Earth, distilling
from those slowly decomposing Or
ganic remains oils and gases that
could not escape. Then followed a
Great Upward Movement;
And there emerged slowly from the
sea vast areas and great volumes of
the successive layers and strata of
rocks that had formed beneath the
bottom of the shallow sea, all becom-
ing part and parcel of the growing
continent. The highest up'ift was in
the south giving all the strata a
pitch northward, raising the lowest
strata so they were higher than the
topmost strata at distances. AS Iy-
ing from this fitting and upraising
the strata are "monocline." Fol-
lowing that came long ages of
erosion, storm waters, winds and
melting SHOWS washing away the sur
face irregularly, exposing edges of
uplifted and upturned strata in such
ways that they can be inspected,
measured and studied, with their re-
lations to one another mapped and
plated. By working across the coun-
try, measuring upturned edges of
various rock strata, studying their
characteristic, unearthing such fossils
as he finds, comparing and contrast
ing the salient characteristics pre-
sented, measuring the pitch and cal
culating their angles with relation to
distance a geologist can determine at
what depths he will find a given
stratum at various distances, unless
seismic disturbances may have dis
ARRANGED the orderly procession in
in which the strata were laid upon
one another; and methods have been
found for calculating and allowing
for such disturbances. And by
Boring Down Through Strata