|
OIL
History
Old pump jack on the W. T. Waggoner Estate.
"The Waggoner Ranch"
Wilbarger, Wichita, Foard, Knox,
Baylor & Archer Counties
The Red River Arch area in Wilbarger
and Wichita counties has been a major producing region
since the early 1900's. Since the discovery of oil on the
property by Mr. Waggoner, who was drilling for water to
supply his horse and cattle operation, the "Electra
Arch" has experienced the boom and bust of the oil
industry. Detailed geological and geophysical prospecting
using the vast amount of information collected through
the years, supplemented with new exploration technology,
will lead to the discovery and economical production of
oil reserves that have been overlooked.
The Electra Arch area is productive from just below the
surface (Permian age) down to about 5500 feet (Ordovician
age). The producing horizons include Permian fluvial
& deltaic sands, Cisco fluvial sands and thin shelf
limestone, Canyon fluvial sands and carbonate buildups
(reefs), Strawn deltaic sands and shelf carbonates, Atoka
conglomerates, Mississippian limestone buildups and
reefs, and Ordovician dolomite structures. The traps vary
from strictly structural, to structural stratigraphic,
and some are only stratigraphic in nature. Deposition of
the shallow producing horizons was controlled by the
deeper Canyon structures.
The ranch is on and adjacent to the east-west trending
Red River - Matador Arch. The boundary faults of this
feature are complementary first order right lateral
faults of the predominately left lateral Wichita System.
(1) The uplifted portion of the Red River Arch is only
three-fourths to one mile wide in the area.
It is generally believed that the formation of the Red
River Arch resulted from uplift during the Wichita
Orogeny of early Pennsylvanian time. (2) Older rocks
subjected to previous erosion were thrust up and further
eroded. Pennsylvanian and younger sediments lie
unconformably on Pre-Pennsylvanian beds on and adjacent
to the Red River Arch. During the Pennsylvanian period
the Arch area remained a stable structural feature that
divided the Baylor-Knox basin on the South from the
Hardeman basin on the North. This stable area was
optimally located relative to sea level and resulted in
the formation of large carbonate buildups along the arch.
Rejuvenated movement along the fault system during and
possibly after the Pennsylvanian period is evidenced by
displacement and folding of the Strawn, Canyon, and,
Cisco beds. Fault displacement of these formations is
less dramatic on the south side where they step down into
the Knox-Baylor basin. The greater overall drop into the
Hardeman Basin is related to regional tilting and
continual subsidence of this northern sedimentary basin.
The faulting in this area has generated individual blocks
that are structurally separated from adjacent features.
Each of these structural blocks has the characteristics
needed to form hydrocarbon reservoirs.
References
1 Jack L. Walper, "Wrench Faulting in the
Mid-Continent",
Shale Shaker, (October 1970), page 32.
2 William E. Laing, "Southwestern Oklahoma - A
Geophysical Case
History of a Basin," Geophysics, Vol XX1X, No. 6,
(December 1964), page 970.
Click here to go back to
Oil Home Page
|
