The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 17
582 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas and the Oil Industry
All of these general structural provinces may, by closer study,
be subdivided into several more minor features. This is well
exemplified in the gulfward dipping monocline with its salt
dome belt along the coast, its series of interior salt domes in
the Tyler Basin, the Balcones and Mexia fault zones, and the
Sabine Uplift.
These general structural provinces and their individual minor
features are the result of a series of general adjustments be-
tween the seas and the land masses from the time of earliest
sedimentation. They are of particular importance to those in-
terested in the production of oil and gas because of their rela-
tionship to the accumulation of such minerals. An analysis of
regional structure and conditions of deposition will disclose
general areas in which prospecting may be carried on with a
greater degree of confidence than in others. A more detailed
study of the general area will then disclose whether or not
deposition or structural movement has been such as to result in
the formation of a suitable trap for the accumulation of oil
and gas.
The earliest sedimentation in Texas apparently took place in
seas that covered a considerable portion of the central part of
the state, with the material deposited derived from the weather-
ing down of a land mass then existing along the present coastal
plain. A pronounced early deposition occurred along a belt
extending from Fannin County southward through San An-
tonio and thence westward to Brewster County. Deposition
in this area has unquestionably been an important factor in
structural movements resulting in the Mexia-Luling fault trend,
along which profitable oil and gas production has been secured.
This area of deposition is also the locale of serpentine plugs,
several of which are productive.
The deposition of these early sediments was followed by that
of Cambrian and Ordovician times, during which the Ellenberger
lime was laid down over much of northern and western Texas.
Subsequent folding has resulted in the formation of structures
favorable for production from the Ellenberger, as shown by that
secured in Andrews, Cooke, Crane, Reagan, Stephens, Winkler,
and other counties of northern and western Texas.
Following the deposition of the Cambrian and Ordovician
sediments, some sedimentation of Silurian, Devonian, and Mis-
sissippian ages took place over a part at least of central and
western Texas. The exact extent of such deposition is not
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/33/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.