BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 28, pp. 685-720 SEPTEMBER 21, 1917 



THE MID-CONTINENT OIL FIELDS ^ 



BY JAMES H. GARDNER 



{Presented before the Society December 28, 1916) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 686 



Output of the several fields 686 



Relationship of the areas 686 



Kansas 687 



Location of the fields 687 



Stratigraphy 687 



Structure 690 



Occurrence of granite in domes 691 



Oklahoma 693 



Productivity of the field 693 



Stratigraphy 693 



General stratigraphic section in main oil and gas district 693 



General stratigraphic section in southeastern Oklahoma, north of 



Arbuckle Mountains 696 



General stratigraphic section south of the Arbuckle Mountains in 



Oklahoma 696 



Structure 699 



Texas: 702 



Geographic divisions 702 



Stratigraphy 702 



Structure 706 



Louisiana 709 



Location of the fields 709 



Stratigraphy 709 



Structure 710 



Origin of the petroleum and natural gas 712 



The accumulation of petroleum and natural gas in the Mid-Continent 



fields 714 



Four important factors 717 



Quality of the petroleums 718 



Analyses of the petroleums 719 



Nature of local folding 719 



1 This paper is one of a series composing a "Symposium on the Geology of Petroleum." 

 See this volume, p. 156. 



Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society March 4, 1917, 

 An advance edition of 400 copies was printed for the author. 



(685) 



