Papers - Mining Geology - Occurrence of Petroleum in North America (With Discussion)

Contents Page Distribution of fields..................................................... 490 History of development.................................................. 492 Origin of oil............................................................ 493 Structure, accumulation and migration..................................... 494 Reservoir rocks......................................................... 495 Methods of drilling and exploration....................................... 496 Oil-field statistics........................................................ 498 Description by regions: United States: Appalachian region.................................................. 498 East-central states............................................. 503 Kansas............................................................ 504 Oklahoma.......................................................... 505 Texas........................................................... 510 Arkansas........................................................... 518 Louisiana.......................................................... 519 Mississippi......................................................... 520 Rocky Mountain region.............................................. 520 Cahforn~a ......................................................... 523 Canada.............................................................. 527 Mexico.............................................................. 529 Cuba............................................................... 532 Bibliography........................................................... 532 The purpose of this brief account of the occurrence of petroleum in North America is to make available to those who have a knowledge of geology, but who are not engaged in the petroleum industry, a few salient facts about the location of oil and gas fields, their productivity, the important structural types of accumulation and the age of the rocks containing petroleum. A few useful data and statistics are furnished, yet not complete statistics that are available elsewhere. Geology has been treated in simple terms because the reader is presumed to have little interest in the names of formations and of oil sands. Mineral deposits are more or less analogous. Whether oil or metals, minerals are found in rocks, largely in sedimentary rocks which carry water or have at one time carried it. A genetic or accumulative