582 P. G. CLAPP CLASSIFICATION OF PETROLEUM AND GAS FIELDS 



that new fields in Louisiana and Texas are and will be predicted and dis- 

 covered through a knowledge of the geology of the saline dome type and 

 distribution of these structures. 



This statement will be partly understood from the distribution of the 

 saline domes along lines, sometimes perfectly straight and sometimes 

 slightly curved, but which extend for many miles across the country. 

 For instance, the Jennings oil field. Cote Carline, Petite Anse, Averys 

 Island, Weeks Island, and Belle Isle lie on an absolutely straight line ex- 

 tending in a northwest-southeast direction ; Anse la Butte, Pine Prairie, 

 ISTegreet, and possibly one or two other salines lie on a similar line, ap- 

 proximately parallel to the first; Davis, Batson, Sour Lake, and Spindle- 

 top lie on a third line, having a similar direction, and a fourth line may 

 be considered as connecting Dayton and Big Hill with several scums of 

 oil which have been noticed floating on the Gulf of Mexico. 



Moreover, there seem to be east-west lines of saline domes. The most 

 important of these may be considered as connecting Anse la Butte, Jen- 

 nings, Welsh, Sulphur,. Sour Lake, and Big Hill. The first-mentioned 

 northwest-southeast system connecting known domes was mapped by 

 Harris, who also plotted a northeast-southwest system, but he does not 

 recognize any east and west system. Harris considers the lines as con- 

 stituting fault-lines and believes that the domes exist at the intersection 

 of two faults. 



The alignment of saline domes was first mentioned by Lucas.^^ It was 

 perceived by Hayes and Kennedy,^^ who published a map showing pos- 

 sible lines of flexures or faults. This alignment was still further mapped 

 by Harris.^* The following is a summary of the arguments given by the 

 latter to account for his faith in the theory of alignment : 



1. The abnormal dips found along the southeast and northeast margins of 

 the "Sabine Uplift" in northwestern Louisiana. 



2. A number of the individual domes have an elliptical elongation. Two of 

 these are the Winnfield and Coochie domes, which are longer northeast and 

 southwest than in the other direction. 



3. The Bistineau, Kings, Drakes, and Winnfield domes follow a line closely 

 parallel to the outer margin of the Sabine uplift. In Texas, Andersons, Brooks, 

 and Steins domes lie on a line parallel to the Balcones fault-line. High Island, 

 Big Hill, and Spindletop also lie on a straight line, and Damon and Big Hill 

 are on the projection of a line formed by three oil scums in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Probably the most conspicuous alignment in Louisiana consists of the series 

 of domes which include the so-called Five Islands and the Jennings oil field. 

 This line is roughly parallel with the Dayton-Big Hill line. 



°8A. F. Lucas: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Engrs., vol. 29, 1899, p. 463, fig. 1. 



57 C. H. Hayes and WiUiam Kennedy : Bull. 212, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1903, p. 144. 



58 Bull. 429, U. S. Geol. Survey, 5 910. 



