Pennsylvania's contribution to petroleum geology

Conference · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5461639

Dickey, P A

John F. Carll of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania laid the foundations of both petroleum geology and reservoir engineering. J. P. Lesley, director of the Second Survey, had introduced structure contours when he was working in the anthracite fields. He pointed out that the great oil fields of Pennsylvania were in the only part of the state where there were no anticlines. I. C. White, another geologist with the Second Survey, emphasized the anticlinal theory adopted as a method of prospecting until the discovery of the Cushing field in Oklahoma in 1912. George Ashley, state geologist of Pennsylvanian in the 1930s and 1940s, said that after the gas companies had drilled all the anticlines there would still be the synclines. David White in 1915 noticed the relation between the metamorphosis (rank) of coal and the occurrence of oil and gas. This method (vitrinite reflectance) is now widely applied in the evaluation of basins. In the late 1930s, the resurvey of the Pennsylvania oil regions showed that the reservoirs were shoreline sands, probably barrier islands. In the 1950s the AAPG recommended a study of the recent sediments of the Mississippi delta by Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The ability to recognize depositional environments has caused a revolution in petroleum geology, and recently has been recognized by petroleum engineers as the key to reservoir characterization.

• OSTI ID: 5461639
• Report Number(s): CONF-8909175-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 73:9; Conference: History of petroleum industry symposium, Titusville, PA (USA), 17-20 Sep 1989; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
PENNSYLVANIA
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
ANTICLINES
COAL DEPOSITS
OIL FIELDS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
VITRINITE
FEDERAL REGION III
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
INDUSTRY
MACERALS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration