Petroleum: A Treatise on the Geographical Distribution and Geological Occurrence of Petroleum and Natural Gas ...

Front Cover
C. Griffin, limited, 1896 - Natural gas

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 46 - Probably very few or none of the grand arches along the mountain ranges will be found holding gas in large quantity, since in such cases the disturbance of the stratification has been so profound that all the natural gas generated in the past would long ago have escaped into the air through fissures that traverse all the beds. (d) Another limitation might possibly be added, which would confine the areas where great gas flows may be obtained to those underlain by a considerable thickness of bituminous...
Page 45 - After visiting all the great gas wells that had been struck in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and carefully examining the geological surroundings of each, I found that every one of them was situated either directly on or near the crown of an anticlinal axis, while wells that had been bored in the synclines on either side furnished little or no gas, but in many cases large quantities of salt water. Further observation showed that the gas wells were confined to a narrow belt, only one-fourth...
Page 13 - Greasy," by which it was for a long time familiarly known by Kanawha boatmen and others. At that time this oil not only had no value, but was considered a great nuisance, and every effort was made to tube it out and get rid of it.
Page 45 - ... to one mile wide, along the crests of the anticlinal folds. These facts seemed to connect gas territory unmistakably with the disturbance in the rocks caused by their upheaval into arches, but the crucial test was yet to be made in the actual location of good gas territory on this theory. During the last two years, I have submitted it to all manner of tests, both in locating and condemning gas territory, and the general result has been to confirm the anticlinal theory beyond a reasonable doubt.
Page 4 - ... inches of the surface and applying a live coal, the part which is so uncovered immediately takes fire, almost before the coal touches the earth : the flame makes the soil hot, but does not consume it, nor affect what is near it with any degree of heat.
Page 46 - Ashburner, in a paper read before the American Institute of Mining Engineers in September, 1885, on the "Geology of Natural Gas in Pennsylvania and New York...
Page 224 - With such sources ready formed in the earth's crust, it seems to me, to say the least, unphilosophical to search elsewhere for the origin of petroleum, and to suppose it to be derived by some unexplained process from rocks which are destitute of the substance.
Page 25 - ... towards the lakes of petroleum that had been formed on the surrounding estates. Now and again the sand flowing up with the oil would obstruct the pipe, or a stone would clog the course : then the column would sink for a few seconds...
Page 25 - The derrick itself was 70 feet high, and the oil and the sand, after bursting through the roof and sides, flowed fully three times higher, forming a greyish-black fountain, the column clearly defined on the southern side, but merging into a cloud of spray thirty yards broad on the other. A strong southerly wind enabled us to approach within a few yards of the crater on the former side, and to look down into the sandy basin formed round about...

Bibliographic information