100 NOETLING : PETROLEUM IN BURMA. 



Nos. 36 and 46 and the rich well No. 39. However, this feature cannot 

 be followed up for the present, nor is it possible to say whether 

 there exists a similar regularity in the distribution of the Twingon 

 wells, because the latter do not draw their oil from one and the same 

 level like the Kodoung wells. For the present we must therefore 

 content ourselves with the study of the Kodoung tract. 



It seems that it begins with an irregular elliptical area close 

 to the Aung-ban ravine and continues in the shape of a comparatively 

 narrow belt, the broadest extension of which between wells Nos. 52 

 and 67 does not exceed 2,500 feet in a straight line, while its minimum 

 breadth is reduced to about 600 feet between wells Nos. 9 and 12, 

 towards Eeme, where it apparently again terminates in a similar irre- 

 gular elliptical area. The total length of this belt will hardly exceed 

 5,000 feet, and it is quite evident that its general axis forms an angle 

 with the general direction of the strike of the strata deviating to- 

 wards west from the former or having a north-west bearing. 



Within its two terminations the belt forms a series of zie-za^s 

 already mentioned, just as if it were folded by a pressure acting in 

 the direction of the main axis. 



Now the question obviously suggested itself. What relations do 

 these curious zig-zag iines bear to the geological structure ? If Orton's 

 theory with regard to the distribution of oil in the strata is correct, 

 viz., that the richest wells are always situated on elevations, while 

 sinks or sags generally prove to be dry, 1 then it is possible that the 

 belt indicated by the rich wells marks the crest of a fold running in 

 a zig-zag direction and that the indentations represent the sinks or 

 sags ? And further, if so, what structural conditions would answer to 

 the first presumption ? Supposing that the lines, as depicted on the 

 map, represent a rough sort of contour lines, the only structure which 

 could be imagined would be a series of roughly parallel folds which 

 bifurcate, and are linked together in such a manner, that the branch 

 of one fork opening in one direction also forms a branch of the next 



1 Orton, Geol. Surtr, of Ohio, vol. I. p. 90, 

 ( 146 ) 



