PUENTE HILLS: WHITTIER FIELD. 
113 
The southern, in the eastern half of the field, receives at an acute 
angle the axis of an anticlinal fold, which in the region of the Chandler 
wells is conspicuously developed in the Fernando formation to the 
south of all recognized fault planes. The northern break is traceable 
but a short distance to the east; but in alignment with it, a mile dis¬ 
tant, is a sharp crumple in Puente strata. West of the Murphy-Cen¬ 
tral region the fault zone resulting from the union of the fractures thus 
described passes immediately north of the productive wells of the 
Fidelity, Turner, and Home companies and thence toward the west 
end of the hills. The block between the two faults just mentioned 
involves both the Fernando and Puente formations. The foregoing 
details derive their chief interest from their possible bearing on the 
occurrence and yield of petroleum in the region discussed. 
Toward the west end of the Whittier field, especially in the vicinity 
of the Home Oil Company’s wells, the Fernando beds appear to be 
slightly overturned. (See PI. XI, sec. A-B.) North of the fault 
line, in a little ravine north of Home well No. 11, the Puente shale 
inclines to the north at an angle of about 25°, while immediately adja¬ 
cent to the fracture it dips southward at a steep angle. The Fernando 
beds next to the fault are approximately perpendicular, but a little 
farther south, in fact as far as Home well No. 7, they dip to the north 
at angles varying from 75° to 90°. (See PI. XIII, B.) A short dis¬ 
tance south of well No. 7, however, the dip changes to 75° or 80° S. in 
rather coarse conglomerates, while the inclination of the alternating 
bands of sandstone and conglomerate from this latter point south¬ 
ward to the edge of the hills gradually becomes less. 
The conditions in the vicinity of the East Whittier and Bulla wells, 
near the west edge of sec. 24, T. 2 S., R. 11 W., have already been 
referred to on page 111, under the heading “Geology." (See PI. XI, 
sec. C-D.) A short distance south of the crest of the hills, in the 
region of the Bulla wells, the strata show sharp compression, together 
with a distinct break in stratigraphic continuity, Fernando con¬ 
glomerate abutting against Puente shale, both dipping north. The 
relationship between the formations appears to mark the locus of a 
fault in this region. The line of division is, moreover, in the direct 
trend of the suspected fracture as recognized farther west. North 
of the fracture the Puente shale and sandstone lie in somewhat con¬ 
fused relationship; it is possible that a second fault parallels the 
main fracture, or it may be that the strata are folded into a sharply 
compressed syncline. 
OIL WELLS. 
The wells of the Whittier field draw their supply wholly from the 
members of the Fernando formation. They range in depth from 
about 800 feet close to the fault line to nearly 2,500 feet at a distance 
