lO'l K. OKTDN GEOLOGT(!AL STRUCTURE OF lOLA GAS FIELD 



an extensive syncline interrujjted by a minor anticline at the bottom of 

 the trough, and that such structure would fully account for the rare cases 

 in which short-lived gas wells are found in synclines. 'I'he })hysical im- 

 possibility of gas occurring in the actual syncline of a porous stratum 

 which is jointly occupied by gas and salt water is so obvious that to be 

 recognized it needs only to be named. 



The terrace is an incomplete anticline or arch. It is as if nature began 

 to build an arch which she was unable to finish ; but like its ])rototype, 

 the arch, it furnishes a safe harbor or gathering ground for the lighter 

 contents of the warped porous stratum. 



It seems to me that the time has now come for the prompt recognition 

 and acknowledgment of the paramount influence of structure in gas 

 fields which are found in porous rocks. We are warranted in affirming 

 an anticline or terrace as an explanation of the gas production of such 

 a stratum, even in advance of the actual discovery of either. 



Gas Field under Consideration 



extent and character of field 



This line of thought has been suggested to me by an examination that 

 I have recently made of the gas field of Allen county, southeastern 

 Kansas, which is known as the lola gas field. It is small in area, but of 

 great promise in production. Its length in an east-and-west line has 

 been demonstrated by the drill to be at least seven miles, while its 

 breadth, proved in the same way, has been found to exceed three miles. 



More than two dozen wells have already been drilled in the field, and 

 the wells range in production from two million to over ten million feet 

 jn 24 hours. There are a half dozen of the number, each of which pro- 

 duces about 7,000,000 feet a day. 



The rock pressure of the field is 325 pounds, with an outside range of 

 five pounds in a single well. 



A little oil has been found, mainly on the western boundary of the 

 field and at a lower depth than the gas. Salt water occurs below both 

 gas and oil, but has not proved thus far aggressive. The height to whicli 

 it rises has not been determined. It is not less than several hundred 

 feet. 



The gas rock is a sandstone of moderate grain, with an average thick- 

 ness of about 20 or 25 feet. It is occasionall}' interrupted by wedges of 

 shale, and disappears as a sandstone altogether beyond the boundaries 

 I have named. 



All these characteristics stand for a gas field in the second division 



