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Gorham Oil Field, Russell County

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Contents

Foreword

Abstract

Introduction

General

Location

Area

Reservoirs

Literature, Gorham oil field

Discovery

Oil production

Sources of information

History

Environmental impact

Geology

General

Cross section A-B-C

Map series

Precambrian basement rocks

Structure

Granite

Quartzite

Schist

Buried Precambrian hills

Structural control

Cambrian Reagan Sandstone and Cambro-Ordovician Arbuckle Group

Thickness

Acid insoluble residues

Correlation

Lithology

Sub-Pennsylvanian surface

Bedrock areal geology

Surficial rocks

"Gorham sand" in the Gorham oil field

Paleotopography and oil

Granite hill

Quartzite hills

Arbuckle karst plain

Time of formation of the karst plain

Scalped karst plain

Common oil reservoir

Long-distance migration of Arbuckle oil

Trapping and accumulation of Arbuckle oil

Lansing-Kansas City Group

Map, Lansing-Kansas City structure

Oil fields, Lansing-Kansas City

Oil reservoirs

Lithology

Well-completion procedures

Acidization

Accidental waterflooding, 1940's

Waterflooding, 1960's-1970's

Summary

Oil production from the Pennsylvanian Shawnee Group

Toronto and Plattsmouth oil production

Topeka fracture-zone oil production

Analogy, Topeka fracture zone and Wisconsin fractures

Waterflooding, Shawnee Group, Toronto and Plattsmouth formations

Subsidence areas

Pennsylvanian-Wabaunsee Group

Permian Council Grove and Chase Groups

Permian Sumner Group

Sumner Group, an aquitard

Hutchinson Salt Member

Stone Corral Formation

Permian Nippewalla Group

Cretaceous rocks

Structure, Fence-post limestone

Aquifers; the Dakota and Cheyenne Sandstones

Structural growth of the Gorham anticline

Oil Production

Oil production by years 1926-1986

Cumulative production

Sources of oil-production statistics

Oil production by formations

General statement

Oil production, Reagan Sandstone

Oil production, Arbuckle dolomite

Oil production, Lansing-Kansas City

Oil production by enhanced-recovery methods, Lansing-Kansas City

Oil production, Shawnee Group-Dread and Plattsmouth

Oil production, Topeka fracture zone

Oil production, shallow formations

Crude oil, well-head prices, 1926-1986

Flush and settled production stages, 1926-1956

Stripper stage of production, 1956-1986

History

The beginning--Fairport oil field, 1923

Exploration by surface geology

Exploration by core drill

Discovery of the Gorham oil field, 1926

Gorham oil field, 1926-27

Drilling with standard cable tools

Advantages and disadvantages of cable-tool drilling

Information from cable-tool drilling

Samples of drill cuttings

Gorham oil field, April 14, 1928

Oil production, 1928-1933

Acidization of Oswald oil wells, 1933-34

"The biggest oil well ever struck in western Kansas," 1935

Oil-field development, 1935-1940

Oil production, 1934-1940

Oil-field fire, 1936

Oil-field fire--geological setting

The World War II years, December 7, 1941-September 14, 1945

Stripper-production stage, 1955-1986

Drilling with rotary tools in the Gorham oil field

Rotary drilling--role of the geologist

Rotary drilling--present practices

Environment

Water

Introduction

Freshwater aquifers

Disposal of oil-field brine, 1926-28

Disposal in surface ponds, 1928-1930's

Disposal in shallow SWD wells, 1940's

Corrosion caused by brine disposal in shallow SWD wells

Shallow SWD wells; map and years licensed

Investigation of aquifers affected by shallow SWD wells

Deep-well disposal systems, 1950's Saltwater disposal, 1960's-1980's

Subsidence

Introduction

History

North-south seismic section

Cross section, I-70

Former oil wells; brine conduits or "sewers"

Present shallow fracturing or brecciation

Drilling with rotary tools in highly fractured rocks

Volume of salt dissolved

Highway subsidence--amount, rate, trend, and cost

Future subsidence along I-70

Research drilling and coring in other salt-related subsidence areas in Kansas

Subsidence at a deep saltwater-disposal well

Conclusion-subsidence areas

Agriculture

Impact of the Gorham oil field on agriculture

Summary--environmental impact of the Gorham oil field

Summary

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Table 1--List of discovery wells

Table 2--Annual oil production, Gorham oil field

Table 3--Oi1 and gas test holes, cross sections A-B and B-C

Table 4--Gorham oil field production, by formations

Table 5--Well-head price Kansas crude oil

Table 7--Subsidence in feet per year at Witt, Crawford, and Roubach sinks

Table 8--Petroleum production statistics for the state of Kansas

Oil-Field Abbreviations

References


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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web Jan. 30, 2015; originally published 1991.
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