638 M. L. FULLER APPALACHIAN OIL FIELD 



course of the Tennessee Eiver. There are strong cross-faults locally in 

 north Tennessee. The eastward-clipping homocline is warped and has 

 occasional weak anticlines. 



STRUCTURE IN ALABAMA 



The structural features of south TenDessee continue into Alabama. 

 The front of the main folded belt extends southwestward from the north- 

 east corner of the State through Birmingham to a point east of Tusca- 

 loosa. The outlying fold continues southwestward more than 100 miles 

 before subsiding to a subordinate feature. In the north the basin is of 

 greatest depth in the vicinity of the thrust-fault on the west face of this 

 anticline ; but as the fault dies out, the center of the trough trends grad- 

 ually westward until it lies some 15 miles west of the anticline in the Bir- 

 mingham district (Warrior Coal Field). On the farther side of the 

 trough the beds rise northwestward in a homocline rising toward the up- 

 lift of central Tennessee. Most of the oil appears to occur on structural 

 terraces. 



Origin of Oil in the Appalachian Field 



In a general paper like the present it does not seem desirable to go 

 into the question of origin of oil in any detail. 



It may be said at the start, however, that there appears to be no evi- 

 dence whatever in the Appalachian field to support any of the inorganic 

 sources or processes which have been postulated through the reaction of 

 carbon-dioxide on alkaline metals, of water on iron carbides, or of sol- 

 fataric gases on limestone. 



On the other hand, there is an abundance of organic material of both 

 animal and vegetable types in the rocks, the most important of which are 

 as follows : 



r Fish. 



Animal J Mollusks. 



I Micro-organisms, etcetera. 



Vegetable . 



Woody or cellulose plants, spores, seed envelopes, etcetera. 



Fucoids. 



Algae. 



Micro-organisms, etcetera. 



All of the animal and vegetable forms listed above are present in the 

 rocks of the Appalachian field. All have been definitely proven to be 

 capable of affording oily hydrocarbons by natural distillation. It seems 

 likely that all have played a part in the production of the Appalachian 



