Chester Series Research Articles

Subsurface Geology of Chester Series in Illinois

The Chester series underlies most of the southern half of Illinois east of East St. Louis. Except where they have been removed by post-Chester erosion, all of the formations in the standard Chester section can be identified in the area. Producing formations are the Cypress and Bethel sandstones, both of which are in the lower part of the Chester series. The maximum known thickness is 1,450 feet at a point in the most southerly part of the area. Because of northward thinning of individual formations, the original thickness of the entire section in the northern part of the area was probably half of this. Uplift, warping, and peneplanation previous to the deposition of Pennsylvanian sediments caused truncation of the series throughout the basin and scalping of local structur s. The isopach map indicates two major pre-Pennsylvanian anticlinal areas in which are located a large proportion of the Illinois oil fields, one the LaSalle anticline, and the other an uplift extending southeast from the region of Sorento.

Geology of Basin Fields in Southeastern Illinois

The Basin fields of southeastern Illinois are so named because of being located near the center of the Illinois basin. Production has so far been obtained in Wayne, Clay, and Richland counties in a series of fields extending 45 miles in a general north-south direction. It is highly improbable that the producing areas will be found to connect. Production was discovered in March, and active development was started in May, 1937. The production from the area to July 1, 1939, was 18,159,275 barrels from 692 wells. Daily average production at that time was 57 barrels per well. Large initial productions are common, and decline is rapid for the first few months. Twenty-acre spacing is prevalent. Production is from oolitic limestone of the Ste. Genevieve formation (McClosky) except in the North Noble field, where it is from the Cypress (Weiler) sandstone, the former being in the upper part of the Lower Mississippian and the latter in the lower part of the Chester series. The Cypress is a widespread sandstone but locally subject to lensing into beds of sands and shales. It is believed that Chester sandstone production will become more important as development extends northward. The oolitic character of the Ste. Genevieve is persistent in the area; however, porosity occurs in lenses of variable proportions laterally and vertically. Approximately 10 per cent of the holes drilled within the limits of production are dry because of lack of porosity in the limestone. Porosity is more persistent on the structures than in the synclines. Most of the McClosky porosity is believed to be primary in origin. All except the Flora field are associated with a general north-south anticline, which has a slight southward plunge into the deeper part of the basin. Accumulation has for the most part been on local closures along the axis, but some production has been obtained from noses and terraces on the flanks on the main feature. Little is known of the pre-Mississippian structural history. The known period of major deformation was post-Mississippian-pre-Pennsylvanian, but subsequent to this there was recurrent folding. The relation of the contact of the Ste. Genevieve to the overlying Chester is controversial. However, the data do not indicate an angular unconformity at this contact in the deeper part of the basin. Small production has been obtained from pre-Mississippian beds on the east and west flanks of the basin; however, since no test below the Mississippian has so far been drilled on structure in the area under consideration, the possibilities for deeper production are highly speculative.

Chester Rocks of Meade, Hardin, and Breckinridge Counties, Kentucky

Alternating sandstone, shale, and limestone sediments occur throughout the lower and middle Chester in Indiana and most of Kentucky; however, an abrupt change takes place in the stratigraphic development in the Gasper River region of Kentucky, where the clastic beds of the lower Chester disappear. Although at least three limestone formations in the upper Chester persistently crop out, local abrupt changes in lithologic character of the intervening sediments make difficult a division or description of some of the clastic units. Many of the formations of the Chester series which have been described and named in Indiana and elsewhere are believed to have correlatives in Meade, Hardin, and Breckinridge counties, Kentucky.

Spores from the Pennington Coal, Rhea County, Tennessee

The Pennington coal, which is exposed in the floor of Cranmore Cove, Rhea County, TIennessee, occurs as a thin vein, with a maximum thickness of 52 inches. This coal lies approximately 100 feet above the Bangor limestone of the Chester series and about 350 feet below the Gizzard formation of the lower Pottsville, and is considered as Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) in age; though there is no definite break either above or below. The coal is locally mined but as far as I know there are no published analyses of it.

Kentucky Karst Landscapes

The fundamental quality of the Kentucky karst is the underground drainage developed on the Upper Mississippian limestones, a factor which makes for distinctive forms on the surface as well as great caverns beneath it. Since geologic structure controls the distribution of the different phases of the karst, and since the Kentucky karst is located on the outer margin of the Western Coal Basin, the major area in Kentucky is in the form of a rude crescent, with the early phases of the karst on the inner margin of the crescent and the later stages on the outer margin. In the first stage the surface streams, intrenched in the Chester elastics, are captured by underground drainage. The transfer of surface run-off to underground channels is followed by a change in surface forms, closed solution depressions superseding the valleys of surface streams. After the sandstones of the Chester series have been removed the entire surface is formed by solution depressions, with convex or concave slopes depending on the relative intensity of solution. When an impermeable bed is reached the depressions begin to fill with insoluble sediment, the underground channels become blocked, and surface streams begin to appear on the bottoms of the filled depressions, thus marking the end of the karst.

Stratigraphy of the Okaw in Southwestern Illinois

The Okaw division of the Chester (late Mississippian) series of southwestern Illinois which heretofore has been considered middle Chester in age, is shown to be separated into two mapable parts by a disconformity. The lower unit, Lower Okaw, is of middle Chester age and the higher portion, Upper Okaw, is of late Chester age. Each of these units is described and correlated on paleontologic, lithologic, and stratigraphie grounds with a definite portion of the standard Chester section of Hardin County, Illinois, and western Kentucky.

Geology of Oil and Gas Fields of Western Kentucky

Oil and gas are found in western Kentucky chiefly in the Silurian and Devonian limestones and dolomites close below the Chattanooga shale, and in the sandstones of the Chester series. Most of the oil and gas is produced from the flanks of a large structural basin. The strata beneath the Chattanooga shale dip toward the basin a little more steeply than the overlying beds, and this has had an important influence on the production from beneath the shale. Accumulation in western Kentucky is partly in lenticular reservoirs off structure, and partly on anticlines in the more persistent horizons. Much of the oil and gas in the Silurian and Devonian was probably derived from the bituminous Chattanooga shale. The oil and gas in the Chester evidently originated close to the produci g horizons, and the vertical movement was probably less than 200 feet and the horizontal movement generally only a few miles. Some of the porosity in the limestones and dolomites beneath the Chattanooga shale is caused by solution at the unconformity at the base of the shale, but much of it is not related to this unconformity, and was probably developed before the formations were deeply buried. There has evidently been no general artesian circulation in the producing horizons.

Sedimentary analysis of the limestones of the Chester series

Sedimentary analysis of the limestones of the Chester series

The Production of Oil in Indiana

The chief oil production of Indiana during the earlier years of development came from the Trenton limestone of the Ordovician in the east central part of the state, the highest annual state yield, 13,000,000 barrels in 1904, marking the climax of this production. In later years new fields in the southwestern part of the state have been discovered, the oil coming chiefly from the Chester series, Upper Mississippian, and the Pottsville and Allegheny series of the Pennsylvanian. At present approximately two-thirds of the oil production of Indiana comes from this district. Subsurface study shows that the oil- and gas-producing structures are generally asymmetrical anticlines with small superimposed domes. There are untested areas and horizons that offer possibilities of new p oduction.

The Chester Series in Illinois

The Chester Series in Illinois

The Chester Series in Illinois

Next article FreeThe Chester Series in IllinoisStuart WellerStuart Weller Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Geology Volume 28, Number 4May - Jun., 1920 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/622715 Views: 76Total views on this site Citations: 20Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Spencer G. Lucas, Joerg W. Schneider, Svetlana Nikolaeva, Xiangdong Wang The Carboniferous chronostratigraphic scale: history, status and prospectus, Geological Society, London, Special Publications 512, no.11 (Apr 2021): 19–48.https://doi.org/10.1144/SP512-2020-210David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Douglas W. Haywick, Richard G. Keyes A new mound-building biota from the lower Carboniferous of Alabama, Journal of Paleontology 94, no.33 (Jan 2020): 436–456.https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.103C. Blaine Cecil, Cortland Eble, C. Blaine Cecil, James C. Cobb, Donald R. Chestnut, Heinz Damberger, Kenneth J. Englund Carboniferous Geology of the Eastern United States: St. Louis, Missouri to Washington, D.C. June 28–July 8, 1989, (Jan 1989).https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143J. Treworgy, R. Norby Overview of the Mississippian in the Illinois basin, (Jan 1989): 1–17.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0001Heinz H. Damberger The Pennsvlvanian of the southern Illinois basin: The nature of the sub-Pennsylvanian unconformity, (Jan 1989): 17–19.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0017Heinz H. Damberger Overview of the Pennsylvanian in the Illinois Basin, (Jan 1989): 20–37.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0020Donald R. Chesnut, James C. Cobb Guide to the carboniferous rocks of Kentucky, (Jan 1989): 38–50.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0038Stephen F. Greb Mammoth Cave, (Jan 1989): 50–56.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0050Donald R. Chesnut Pennsylvanian rocks of the eastern Kentucky coal field, (Jan 1989): 57–64.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0057James C. Cobb, Donald R. Chesnut Resource perspectives of coal in eastern Kentucky, (Jan 1989): 64–83.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0064C. Blaine Cecil, Kenneth J. Englund Origin of coal deposits and associated rocks in the carboniferous of the Appalachian Basin, (Jan 1989): 84–104.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0084C.B. Cecil, J.C. Cobb, D.R. Chesnut, H. Damberger, K.J. Englund Preface, (Jan 1989): ix–ix.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p00ixAlan C. Donaldson, Cortland F. Eble Morgantown area stops, (Jan 1989): 104–111.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0104Frank T. Dulong, C. Blaine Cecil Stratigraphic variation in bulk sample mineralogy of Pennsylvanian underclays from the central Appalachian basin, (Jan 1989): 112–118.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0112Richard B. Winston, Ronald W. Stanton Plants, coal, and climate in the Pennslvanian of the central Appalachians, (Jan 1989): 118–126.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0118William C. Grady A petrographic evaluation of environments of accumulation of the Pocahontas No. 3 coal bed in southwestern West Virginia, (Jan 1989): 127–133.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0127Cortland F. Eble, William C. Grady, William H. Gillespie Palynology, petrography and paleoecology of the Hernshaw - Fire clay coal bed in the central Appalachian Basin, (Jan 1989): 133–142.https://doi.org/10.1029/FT143p0133Keith Stewart Thomson III.—On the Relationships of Certain Carboniferous Dipnoi; with Descriptions of Four New Forms, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Section B. Biology 69, no.3-43-4 (Jun 2012): 221–245.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0080455X0000117X Paul Edwin Potter , and Raymond Siever A Comparative Study of Upper Chester and Lower Pennsylvanian Stratigraphic Variability, The Journal of Geology 63, no.55 (Sep 2015): 429–451.https://doi.org/10.1086/626286 David H. Swann , and Elwood Atherton Subsurface Correlations of Lower Chester Strata of the Eastern Interior Basin, The Journal of Geology 56, no.44 (Sep 2015): 269–287.https://doi.org/10.1086/625526