Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey

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Page 144 - The oil and salt pockets of the Texas coastal plain are probably not Indigenous to the strata in which they are found, but are the resultant products of columns of hot saline waters which have ascended, under hydrostatic pressure, at points along lines of structural weakness, through thousands of feet of shale, sand and marine littoral sediments of the coast plain section, through which oil and sand are disseminated in more or less minute quantities.
Page 172 - ... penetrated to a sufficient depth to insure a flow in the well. The drilling tools are then withdrawn, the water bailed, and the well allowed to flow. When a sufficient time has elapsed to allow of the well cleaning itself of all loose pieces of rock or gravel, the valve is closed and the well shut in. None of these wells has been torpedoed. This method of inducing a flow was tried in one case on Spindletop and the only result was a ruined well. Considerable danger accompanies the flowing and...
Page 144 - ... not indigenous to the strata in which they are found, but are the resultant products of columns of hot saline waters which have ascended, under hydrostatic pressure, at points along lines of structural weakness, through thousands of feet of shale, sand, and marine littoral sediments of the Coastal Plain section, through which oil and sand are disseminated in more or less minute quantities.
Page 144 - The channels of these ascending waters may have been in places of structural weakness, such as fissures, which probably at one time continued to the surface, but may have been sealed by the deposition of the later overlapping strata now capping the oil pools. Many facts may be adduced in support of this hypothesis, although it must be admitted that it presents some serious difficulties. The mode of accumulation of the enormous masses of rock salt which occur in the Louisiana Salt Islands, in Damon...
Page 144 - ... lines of structural weakness, through thousands of feet of shale, sand, and marine littoral sediments of the Coastal Plain section, through which oil and sand are disseminated in more or less minute quantities. The oil, with sulphur, may have been floated upward on these waters, and the salt and dolomite may have been crystallized from the saturated solution. The channels of these ascending waters may have been in places of structural weakness, such as fissures, which probably at one time continued...
Page 144 - The mode of accumulation of of the enormous masses of rock salt which occur in the Louisiana Salt Islands, in Damon Mound, in High Island, and also in Spindletop has never been satisfactorily explained. For a variety of reasons it does not seem possible that they can be the result of evaporation of sea water in natural salt pans, which is supposed to be the origin of most deposits of rock salt. It may therefore be necessary to...
Page 140 - The conclusion must therefore be that while the inorganic theory is attractive it is not proved. THEORIES OF ORGANIC ORIGIN. These theories may be again divided into two groups : (a) That petroleum is indigenous to the rocks in which it is found, and (b) that it is the product of natural distillation. The first of these theories was advocated by Sterry Hunt, who asserted that all petroleum was formed in limestone by the decomposition of the animal remains which it originally contained. It was also...
Page 161 - Liquid fuel, however, requires other qualifications than merely highheating values. It must be safe for transportation, handling, and for storage. Very few petroleums as they come from the well have these qualifications. All contain a greater or less percentage of naphtha or some of the lighter hydrocarbons which have a tendency to reduce the flash point and make the oil easily inflammable. Consequently a liquid fuel to be safe should not contain any of these light inflammable oils, nor should it...

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