Show OIL PROBLEMS OF THE UINTA BASIN ill by prof earl douglass in the last article the second in the series the first thing designated in the plan to be followed was A if there are surface indications of oil begin with these and ascertain their condition and significance petroleum or mineral oil is a very complex compound it is called a hydrocarbon because it is composed of the elements hydrogen and carbon As only two elements are involved one would naturally suppose that organic chemistry a study of the hydrocarbons ough to be easy but these two elen elements lents enter into so many peculiar peculiar combinations that the study i is s often difficult and confusing it is desired to introduce here only enough 6 of the chemistry of the problem to enable those who are interested in oil to realize the significance b of the surface showings enumerated and defined bel below ow we say that the cher chemical formula for silica is si 0 CX that means that silicon and oxygen are con combined irined in the apropo proportion artion of one unit or atom of silicon to two of oxygen but you can not ot give a simple chemical formula for petro petroleum leuin or the substances which are derived from it as gasoline benzine kerosene lubricating oil commercial asphalt gilsonite etc this is confusing to those who have studied inorganic b ch chemistry elnis try and who know for example that lime or calcium carbonate carbonate is C CO 3 and that gypsum is is calcium sulphate or C la SO 4 these are definite things but the hydrocarbons are implicated complicated mixtures of compounds of hydrogen Z and oxygen one unit or atoni atom of carbon will unite with four of hydrogen rogen C H HJ and you go on adding each time one unit of 01 caon on and two of hydrogen and you will get a series like this c ha methane ane C co he FL ethane C Hs hg propane ca F i 0 ajo hjo w o bocane bo tane CC hi 1112 p pentane antane en tane etc and you can r nake make a ser jesup les up to cro coo I 1 I 1 and each has a pretty name anich ich you can learn if you wish the first four of this series are called permanent gases because they do not liquefy under ordinary conditions begina ling at these gases ses go on up the series and at co cl H and u c T hio II 11 I I hexane you have two compounds that form gasoline sa soline though the composition of the gasoline which you buy spends depends on the refinery in which it is made higher in the series s part of of kerosene which enter into the composition UP P at C aso 11 called and the 2 4 you get the solid whole noie series is the called the methane series or series com come but ut this is only y one of the series of compounds which from m petroleum for example there are two series com posed nn acl i of carbon to two as r and hydrogen in the ratio of one ca 2 ra up to cco hgo helo one is unstable decomposes readily atoil ry geologist jensen butali for several years engaged in explore worp work in tile uinta basin country and is called the alefi define ne series the other is the naphthalene series series there are several other series which we do not need to consider here below is given an arrangement of the bi the division of the hydrocarbons to which petroleum belongs with the definitions of each prof eldredge classified coal coa 1 l under the solid bi but it is said that the bi derived from coal are not the same as those derived from petroleum tr in the classification tl given ivan here coal will be omitted but the possible relation of coal to petroleum may be discussed later after this classification the conditions in which the bi derived from froin petroleum occur in nature will be enumerated and the terms as they will be used in these articles w will ill be defined it is difficult without consulting many books to get a systematic understanding of the tables they should be preserved for reference the hydrocarbons hydrocarbons compounds of hydrogen and carbon Bi the hydrocarbons occurring in in nature as natural gas petroleum and a nd its derivatives residues etc gaseous Bi marsh gas methane C H emanates from volcanoes petroleum petro lepin wells etc occurs in coal measures and forms part of the fire damp of coal mines formed in marshy districts from decomposition of vegetable matter under water can be produced by destructive distillation of organic matter natural gas ga composed of the permanent gases gases that do not n ot liquefy at ordinary temperatures methane ethane in marsh gas as C hj H ethane C HJ and propane C 3 H hg with small n quantities of butane C H diio pentane etc higher in the series serie liquid Bi petroleum an inflammable oily mixture of various hydrocarbons dro carbons chiefly of the series which occurs in the ille rocks viscous Bi mineral tor tar dark colored viscid oily residue of partly dried or in petrol petroleum etim mineral pitch brea chapa pote thick tenacious black or dark brown substance from the distillation of mineral oils related real keal to miner mineral tar an elastic bit Bi himens entente mineral elastic dark daik brown resinous le subs translucent bit bitumen timen found faund in soft masses solid Bi asphalts Asp halts gilsonite black brittle fracture pencil late next to walls of veins brown streak and powder easily fusible in candle flame burns and acts like sealing 11 wax string stringy ty when soft partly soluble in chloroform and in ether when powdered massive compact appears jet black on oil surface but thin plates deep red brilliant thin plates or sharp corners can call be lighted Z with match or candle becomes soft and does not pull out in strings I 1 like or gilsonite B brilliant rill bant jet b lack black streak black not feasibly f fusible structure or nuis massive sive fracture to brilliant pitch black streak and powder dark chocolate brown fracture to brittle partly dissolves in ether wholly in chloroform endures a temperature far above asphalts asp halts in b general behaves much like coking coal Alberti tc jet black brilliant pitch like streak black powder black to faint brown incipient in candle flames softens in boiling water 4 per cent dissolves in ether Bi A waxy translucent mixture of natural af fins oc curing usually in coal measures sometimes in ill such quantities as to be mined with profit it varies in composition between C cig H ass and d C H and is colorless to white when pure but otherwise often leek green yellowish brownish yel low or brown and when brown sometimes greenish 6 b by y transmitted bitted d light it is used extensively as a purified for various purposes stand diet fuses at 56 to 63 soluble in chloroform chlor form and some varieties wholly soluble in ether some have questioned whether is derived from the liquid petroleum in the above arrangement it should be noticed that we began with the lighter gases the so called permanent gases these may be found in petroleum if there has been no opportunity for them to escape some of the lighter members of the series those which form gasoline kerosene etc may also escape under certain conditions for exan example aiple when they come in contact with the or with warm temperature and this leaves a thickened residue which becomes oxidized thus forming mineral tars pitches residue etc this process may go f farther arther and produce harder asphalts asp halts which find their way into crevices forming dykes of gilsonite grahan lite and other vein hydrocarbons the fines in a similar way may form veins of we speak of petroleum as having an all asphalt base or a base most oils have both but these terms simply show that one or the other predominates indications of oil etc below is a list of oil indications oil signs or oil showings which indicate the presence of petroleum in deeper strata this list can undoubtedly be improved proved fill and it should not be taken as a model it is given here in order that the reader may know the meaning of terms as used in these papers an endeavor has been made to make this list as complete as possible but additions will undoubtedly need to be made later although the list is so large it is a startling fact that nearly all and probably all of these showings occur in the uinta basin 1 gas indications A hydrocarbon gas such as marsh gas or natural gas in rocks or coming from the ground often with water is likely to be an all indication of petroleum chegas should be tested as there are other gases which have different origin even marsh gash H Q 4 often comes from water where there is decaying vegetation 2 mud aprin sprin springs s mud volcanoes mound springs these may appear on oil level ground with solid earth around they are usually caused by gas escaping upward from oil bearing strata beneath they often build up tip mounds around them and when there is much gas it sometimes accumulates and escapes violently throwing mud and even rocks to a considerable sid erable distance 3 oil with atvater oil may occur in or on water which comes from the ground and has been in contact with oil bearing rock 4 oil seeps where oil is slowly oozing from dirt or oil rocks 5 oil springs where oil with water is issuing from the ground or rocks 6 oil rock any rock which contains oil or serves as an oil reservoir it may occur in any porous or fissured fissure cf rock where oil can escape to it fron from 1 other oil bearing rocks 7 oil sands sands which are impregnated with oil under favorable conditions these may be productive reservoirs ervo irs 8 petroleum willich contain mineral oil or petroleum the term oil shale has been used to designate containing oil and also which may not contain petroleum but which yield a somewhat what different quality of oil by destructive distillation di I 1 st illation the term as ge generally used now applies to the latter it is very essential in these articles th atthe containing oil or its residue be sharply distinguished from froll 1 those which yield oil only by destructive distillation As the latter oil has been named I 1 propose to call the tile the latter if purely of this type is of course not to be considered as an indication of petroleum 9 ordinal petroleum I 1 know of no terni term to distinguish the which are the original source of petroleum tr A word could be coined like 1 sh shiles des but this though shorter is not easy to pronounce and would not be generally understood the longer term is self explanatory 1 we 1 have the term black but the which give rise to petroleum are probably not always black 10 asphalt which contain the thickened heavier portions of oil either from evaporation of the lighter oils or from the taking up or absorbing of the heavier portions of the oil by the shale and allowing the lighter portions to pass on 11 mineral tar the thickened and oxidized re residue sadue of petroleum resulting from the loss of the more volatile constituents by evaporation or leaving a large percentage of material it occurs in nearly all tile the ways in which the original petroleum occurs that is in seeps ln in water which issues from springs in sandstones sandy porous etc 12 mineral pitch perhaps more commonly applied appl to th the residue of oil which is more thickened than mineral tar asphalt rocks are acre those containing residue as 13 sand asphalt or sandstone 14 limestone 15 conglomerate etc have 1 I been defined in another place y 16 veins or dykes fissures containing contain the various hardened residue of oil as ela tente ga b cr bonite etc those may n ay iy occur in various forms of openings in the rocks where conditions are a favorable 17 residue in or on rocks is usually al all di cation of petroleum of 18 spots often in the parting planes planed shale which contains oil 10 or 10 has contained it 41 light colored loz pajo spots of jo juard j DUI IB DIB are D seen NO 19 mg burnt rock S sandstone etc DID JU are often changed in UI color reddened pai for boj example by the burning out of jo poz coal or io oil io the al question su as to 04 which si is the cause can sn usually be determined in tit the field the above are direct UT indications p of jo to oil the presence of JO other jayo minerals such su as sulphur PUB and sulphur compounds seeps with impregnations of jo common z salt PUB and other minerals saltwater ul in wells etc which may or 10 may not be associated with oil io are also common ui in the uinta basin uj in the next paper jadud we om will begin a consideration 0 of J 1 the surface showings sq of JO the lida territory to 04 be studied beginning with 2 gilsonite 0 to 01 make the articles more interesting pub and more clearly understood diagrams PUB and photographs will be freely used erata in article II 11 dec 15 51 1921 page 14 column one near bottom instead of JO marvelous love read marvelous lore |