Of the New Kensington Quadrangle Pennsylvania
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. C. Mendenhall, Director Bulletin 829 GEOLOGY AND COAL, OIL, AND GAS BESOUECES OF THE NEW KENSINGTON QUADRANGLE PENNSYLVANIA BY G. B. RICHARDSON UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1932 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. CONTENTS Abstract._ _________^__.___________.______.____-___________.______' vii Introduction ______________________________________________________ 1 General topographic and geologic relations ___________________________ ( 3 Relief and drainage._____________________________________________ 5 Settlement._________-_--___------__-__--_--___-_-______-_-_______ 6 Descriptive geology_________________________________________________ 6 Stratigraphy.. ---____-__-_-_--_-___-__--_-___-_-_----_.-___ 6 General character and age of the rocks.______________________ 6 Rocks not exposed.__-_---_---_-----___---_-_-_--_-----_-_ 8 Rocks exposed.____-___--__-_____---___--_______-__--__-__ 11 Carboniferous system._________________________________ H Pennsylvania!! series____________________________ 11 Allegheny formation.__________________________ 11 Conemaugh formation.......__________________ 15 Thickness and subdivisions-_______-_--.-___ 15 Distribution and character__________________ 16 Relations of the Allegheny and Conemaugh formations_________________ ____________ 16 Mahoning sandstone member.___-___-___-_- 16 Brush Creek limestone member____-_-____._ 17 Buffalo sandstone member. ________________ 19 Cambridge ("Pine Creek") limestone member. 19 Bakerstown coal.__________.____--_-_._.._ 21 Saltsburg sandstone member__.___-_-____ 21 "Pittsburgh Reds"......____.__.__._.__. 21 Harlem coal.___________-__--__--_-___-__. 21 Ames limestone member.-_.---__--_---_-._ 21 Duquesne coal.___________________________ 23 Birmingham shale member.________________ 23 Morgantown sandstone member and overlying rocks.___-_-.__-..-_-_-..-.---..... 23 Monongahela formation..__-________-_-_------- 23 Quaternary system__________-____._-___.-._--_-__- 25 Pleistocene and Recent series.______________________ 25 General features.__________________--_-----___ 25 Illinoian glacial deposits...-____________--_.__-_ 26 Wisconsin glacial deposits.__________---_------_ 27 Alluvium...._________-___.__.--_._--_-.. 28 Structure....___.____________________----- -_- 28 Surface and'near-surface rocks-________-___-_-__.----------- 28 General features--__---___--_-_----_--_------_-------- 28 McMurray syncline__-__--..---__--____-___-----_-_--. 29 Amity anticline.-.-----------------.--.-------.------- 29 Kellersburg anticline.__-_--_-_-_-__.------__------_--- 29 Bradys Bend syncline...._-_______-____.-__----_-_-_-__ 30 Faults near Bakerstown station.....____________________ 30 Deep-lying rocks..---._._-_._______._______._..-.__--_____ 31 1 ; ! xn IV CONTENTS Page Coal_____________-___-__-_--_--_-----_----------_-------------._ 31 Historical sketch.____-______--_-_----_-____-_-__-_____________ 31 Upper Freeport coal.________-_-_--_-_-__--__--____-_______-___ 33 Bakerstown coal_______-_---__---_-__--__-__--__-___________'__ 40 Pittsburgh coal_-_-__-____-_--_--_-_------_________-___-__.._^_ 41 Coal below the Upper Freeport-________________________________ 41 Chemical character and use.___________________________________ 42 Production and reserves..._____________________________________ 46 Oil from coal and shale._______________________________________ 47 Oil and gas_____________________-_________________________l__-____ 47 Review of the northern Appalachian region _______________________ 47 Oil and gas in the New Kensington quadrangle--.___.._-__---______ 51 General features___________________________________________ 51 Oil and gas sands.__--__-__-_--__-__-_-____--____-_.--____ 52 Oil from brine wells at Tarentum.__________________________ 55 Early oil and gas weJls_.___________________________________ 56 Principal producing areas.__-___0___--_-__--_--_____________ 57 Saxonburg-Lardintown.. _______________________________ 57 Bull Creek-Tarentum______.___________________________ 58 MiUtown...______________________________________ 59 Bakerstown.____________________-____-___-_;.__-_-___ 60 Wildwood___-__-._-___--__-____________________ 62 Evergreen._-______-__--__-____-_-____-_-____-_-_--___ 63 Dorsey ville. __________________________________________ 63 Glenshaw. ___________________________________________ 65 Millerstown __________________________________________ 65 Glade Run_____----_-_-_--__-____----_-__---_-__--__- 66 Composition of the natural gas..____________________________ 67 Character of the petroleum.________________________________ 68 Outlook for oil and gas._----_-___-__-_-_______-___-___-_-_ 71 Appendix ________-__-___-__--_--_---_-_-_-_____--_--__.--__--_--- 74 Records of deep wells in areas adjacent to the New Kensington quadrangle- _ _____-___---__---_--__--_---_----_------__---__ 74 Generalized sections of rocks in marginal areas of the Pittsburgh- Huntington Basin._________________________________________ 79 Measurements of Upper Freeport coal and associated beds-____-__-__ 83 Sections of Hundred-foot and Thirty-foot sands, Dorseyville field.... 86 Records of wells in the New Kensington quadrangle_______________ 90 Index....___________________._________________________ 99 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. Geologic map of the New Kensington quadrangle __________ In 2. Map showing structure and economic geology of the New Ken sington quadrangle.________________________________ In 3. Contour map showing generalized geologic structure of part the Pittsburgh-Huntington Basin.______________________ 4. Generalized columnar section of the rocks exposed in the New Kensington quadrangle--___--__----___-__-_____----__-_- CONTENTS V Page PLATE 5. Sections of diamond-drill holes in the New Kensington quad rangle______-__________--.._-__-:--___-__-__-___-___-___- 8 6. Thick Upper Freeport coal in a mine, in the New Kensington quadrangle ____________________________________________ 24 7. Stru cture contour map of southwestern Pennsylvania __________ 24 8. Sections of oil and gas wells in the New Kensington quad- rangle----__-___-___-___-_----_--__---_----------_- In 9. Sketch map of part of northern Appalachian oil and gas region.. 48 FIGURE 1. Index map of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio_________ 2 2. Physiographic provinces of part of the northeastern United States _______________________________________________ 3 3. Geologic sketch map of part of the northern Appalachian Plateaus and adjacent provinces_____-----_____-_________ 4 4. Map showing approximate area underlain by the thick Upper Freeport coal._____________________________________ 5. Map of northern Appalachian bituminous coal region..___ 6. Sections of Upper Freeport coal in the New Kensington quad rangle.. _._-_____________-_-___-__-___--_--___________ 35 INSERT Page Principal oil and gas sands in the northern Appalachian region. ________ 50 ABSTRACT This report is one of a series of publications by the United States Geological Survey on the Appalachian coal, oil, and gas fields. The area described occupies 227 square miles in Allegheny, Butler, and Westmoreland Counties, in western Pennsylvania, immediately north of Pittsburgh. The outcropping rocks consist of 700 feet of beds of Pennsylvanian age, which Include the upper part of the Allegheny formation, the overlying Conemaugh formation, and a few feet of the Monongahela formation. The area is situated in the north-central part of a synclinorium the Pittsburgh-Huntington Basin whose axis passes through the New Kensington quadrangle. The strata are .gently folded, the steepest dips being less than 200 feet to a mile, and over con siderable areas the dip is less than 20 feet to a mile. Structure contours show the deformation of the rocks. The principal coal bed is the Upper Freeport, at the top of the Allegheny formation, which varies considerably in thickness. Locally it is about 10 feet thick, and it averages more than 7 feet in a large area where it is known as the thick Upper Freeport bed. In places, however, this coal is absent. Coal has been commercially mined in this area since 1830, and intensive development dates from about 1900. During the last year of the World War the coal mines of this quadrangle produced more than 4,000,000 tons. It is estimated that 800,000,000 tons of the Upper Freeport coal remains unmined in this area. The New Kensington quadrangle lies in the east-central part of the northern Appalachian oil and gas region and was actively drilled between 1875 and 1900, when the main producing areas were discovered and the maximum output ob tained. For many years the yield of oil and gas has been very little, the average daily output of oil per well being only a fraction of a barrel, but from time to time small productive areas that were missed in previous drilling are discovered. This stimulates the sporadic drilling that goes on year after year. Oil and gas are obtained from a group of lenticular beds of sand, interstratified with shale, of lower Carboniferous and Upper Devonian age. These sands lie between 1,200 and 2,600 feet below the Upper Freeport coal, but most of the out put comes from beds that occupy an interval of 500 to 600 feet in the upper part of the productive zone. The individual beds are variable, and none of the sands maintain a uniform thickness over a large area, the beds thickening and thinning and locally merging with shale. The sandstones attain a maximum thickness of