Late theories regarding the origin of oil

Abstract

Introduction Investigations as to the origin of petroleum have of late been characterized by the search for evidence bearing on the validity of old hypotheses more than by the proposal of new ones. In fact, the past five years—the period within which a theory may have retained its newness—have been marked by improvements of the old inventions rather than by discoveries and original patents. Mainly these improvements are the outgrowths of observations of the characteristics of the oil-bearing strata and their conditions of deposition; of the geologic structures in which oil pools are found, and, in particular, of the mutual relations of oil, gas, and water, and their reactions with one another; and finally, and most important, of capillarity, porosity, and solution. These moire immediately profitable fields of inquiry have already been discussed. Former Theories of Origin The fissure separating the followers of the inorganic origin of petroleum from . . .