News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Oct. 25, 1994
Timothy R. Carr, chief of the Survey's Petroleum Research Section, said the new maps of oil-producing strata were developed to help producers, investors, royalty owners, scientists and others identify production trends, drilling depths and production costs. The maps show underground layers of rocks, or stratigraphic horizons, which produce oil and gas in each field.
"The new maps are a basis for exploring new opportunities for investment and mineral production in Kansas," Carr said. "The Survey has long produced maps of the oil and gas fields. But the industry also needed maps of which stratigraphic horizons actually produce."
The 12 maps identify by name the nearly 6,000 Kansas fields that produce 50 million barrels of oil and 679 billion cubic feet of gas annually. They indicate which minerals are produced in each field. Producing horizons within the fields are mapped in 31 colors depicting 31 different rock strata yielding the minerals.
For example, in the historic El Dorado oil field in Butler County, the maps illustrate the presence of eight producing rock layers, including the Arbuckle, Simpson, Viola, Mississippian units, the Kansas City, Lansing, Wabaunsee, and the Admire.
In western Kansas, oil and gas producers can now glance at the Bemis-Shutts oil field in Ellis County and see that production comes from five different strata: the Arbuckle, the Simpson, the Pennsylvanian, the Lansing-Kansas City, and the Shawnee.
Carr said the Survey team used databases maintained at the Survey and Geologic Information System (GIS) computer technology to electronically merge data and maps to create the new tools.
At a scale of 1:250,000, with one inch equal to four miles, the state is mapped in 12 nearly equal quadrangles -- divided in three tiers north to south and four sections east to west.
The maps, entitled Producing Horizons of Oil and Gas Fields in Kansas, may be purchased for $15 for each quadrangle, plus $2 shipping and handling on the total order, from the Kansas Geological Survey, 1930 Constant Ave., West Campus, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047. Kansas residents must add 5.9 percent sales tax to the total cost of the maps, shipping and handling. The publications office may be contacted by telephone at (785) 864-3965.