My second thought after seeing that postcard of a "classic" gusher was ' the ground around it sure must have a nasty mess after that.
Are you familiar with Crawford and Lawrence Counties in Illinois? They hit oil going back "a hunnerd years" people said, when I first moved there in the late 80s. Both counties had refineries at one time. I called that area 'little kuwait'. Pumps scattered everywhere.
Was it a similar geological configuration? If you don't know, no worries....
I love minerals, but the geology I don't go deep into.
I think most of the reservoirs in the Illinois Basin are maybe somewhat more fluvial (rivers) than deltaic as I think Glenn Pool mostly is, but overall I think it's quite a similar setting and a broadly similar age (Mississippian-Pennsylvanian) for both. Where the Glenn Pool sediments would have been shedding from the recently uplifted Ouachita Mountains, the sediments in the Illinois basin were probably coming from a relative lowland on the Cincinnati Arch to the east. Not something I knew off the top of my head, but indeed Lawrence Field in Lawrence County has produced around 410 million barrels since 1906, and there are many other fields around there, many of them still producing although at much reduced levels from their peaks. The geometry of the fluvio-deltaic sediments is complex but the reservoirs apparently are excellent, when you can find them. Historically, the Illinois Basin was one of the most prolific oil producers in the US back around 1910. Illinois still produces about 20,000 barrels per day, which ranks it about #16 among producing states.
My second thought after seeing that postcard of a "classic" gusher was ' the ground around it sure must have a nasty mess after that.
Are you familiar with Crawford and Lawrence Counties in Illinois? They hit oil going back "a hunnerd years" people said, when I first moved there in the late 80s. Both counties had refineries at one time. I called that area 'little kuwait'. Pumps scattered everywhere.
Was it a similar geological configuration? If you don't know, no worries....
I love minerals, but the geology I don't go deep into.
I think most of the reservoirs in the Illinois Basin are maybe somewhat more fluvial (rivers) than deltaic as I think Glenn Pool mostly is, but overall I think it's quite a similar setting and a broadly similar age (Mississippian-Pennsylvanian) for both. Where the Glenn Pool sediments would have been shedding from the recently uplifted Ouachita Mountains, the sediments in the Illinois basin were probably coming from a relative lowland on the Cincinnati Arch to the east. Not something I knew off the top of my head, but indeed Lawrence Field in Lawrence County has produced around 410 million barrels since 1906, and there are many other fields around there, many of them still producing although at much reduced levels from their peaks. The geometry of the fluvio-deltaic sediments is complex but the reservoirs apparently are excellent, when you can find them. Historically, the Illinois Basin was one of the most prolific oil producers in the US back around 1910. Illinois still produces about 20,000 barrels per day, which ranks it about #16 among producing states.