The Great Petroleum Shaft Earthcache
Origins of Petroleum
What is Petroleum?
Petroleum is made up of “hydrocarbons.” Atoms of carbon and hydrogen can combine into many different molecules- large and small and usually form into long carbon chains surrounded by hydrogen atoms. Slight differences in the arrangement of the atoms results in totally different substances. Other atoms sometimes attach to the chain further varying the molecules and their characteristics. Other common atoms found in petroleum are oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur but in much smaller amounts compared to the carbon and hydrogen atoms.
Petroleum comes in two forms. Oil or crude oil is liquid and is typically 85% carbon, 13% hydrogen, 1 % sulfur, 0.5% nitrogen and 0.5% oxygen. The other form of petroleum is gas, also called natural gas. Natural gas is typically 75% carbon, 20% hydrogen, 0.1% sulfur, and 4.9% nitrogen. Crude oil or natural gas from different locations are never exactly the same.
Where did the petroleum come from?
Hydrocarbons are the building blocks of all life on earth (including people, plants and animals). Hydrocarbons are found in many sedimentary rocks to varying degrees. Petroleum is believed to be produced from organic matter from dead plants and animals from long ago. Most of the bedrock under Pennsylvania is sedimentary rocks, but not all sedimentary rocks yield petroleum.
Many millions of years ago the eastern part of what is now North America was covered by warm shallow seas. The climate was tropical and lush tropical forests and swamps grew all over the area. It is believed that over eons the seas, dried, shifted, refilled with water, and eventually filled with sediments covering these lush vegetated areas and burying them. Over more eons, they were buried deeper and deeper. The organic matter was compressed and heated along with the sediments and the sediments became cemented together to form rock. The organic matter was changed from different hydrocarbons into petroleum. Not all layers will contain enough gas and or oil to make it worth trying to retrieve. The trick is finding it. A subject for another earthcache…
History shows that petroleum has been used since at least 4000 B.C. The properties and usefulness of other oils have been know and used by many other cultures. For example, whale oil was once a major commodity which was used for light, heat and many other uses. Whales started to diminish in numbers and at the same time demand for oil was growing. Interest in “rock oil” grew as a future source of oil.
How did they know there was gas and oil here?
Some gas and oil deposits in the area were shallow enough that after more eons of erosion, the layers were fairly close to the surface and seeped out of the hill sides. Native Americans, the Seneca Indians, collected crude oil. They constructed pits and used other methods to collect the oil. It was used for medicinal, ceremonial and trade uses. Later European settlers found the crude oil useful too. The Oil Creek got its name because it often had oil floating on it from these natural seeps.
Because skimming oil from seeps yielded very little oil, “Colonel” Edwin L. Drake thought of boring a hole into the earth specifically to obtain the crude oil. With the help of a salt well driller, William “Uncle Billy” Smith, the tools to drill for oil were constructed and brought to Titusville, PA. The first successful well was drilled in August, 1859 and oil was found at 69.5 deep below the surface of the earth. The modern oil industry was thus begun!
Today, petroleum provides almost 40% of the worlds energy, fueling most motor vehicles, heating and cooling our homes and businesses, lubricating our machinery. In addition, petroleum provides the raw materials for thousands of essential products ranging from synthetic fabrics, and a myriad of plastics as well as medicines. Pennsylvania crude oil is known for producing some of the finest motor oil available.
Organic Matter and Other Sediments Accumulate
Sediments Build Over Centuries Burying the Organic Matter Deeply
Tremendous Pressure and Heat Convert the Organic Matter Into Petroleum Hydrocarbons
The Layers are Deformed and the Landscape Rises. Oils and Gas Migrate Upward and
Collect Under Impervious Rock Layers
A good animation of the formation of gas and oil can be found here: http://www.hk-phy.org/energy/power/source_phy/flash/formation_e.html. Click at the top of the window "Switch to animatioon about oil formation."
This earthcache brings you to a location where a different way was used to try to access the oil beneath the surface. To complete this Earthcache you must fulfill these requirements: Please do not include your answers in your log. Email the answers to us via our profile.
1) Go to the coords at the top of the cache page and answers the questions or complete these tasks:
At the information sign at this location answer these questions:
a) How deep was the shaft when it was abandoned?
b) Why was the shaft abandoned?
c) Why is this method not used today?
d) Estimate the current depth of the remains of the shaft today.
2) Go to Stop 2 and you will find an old foundation which supported the pump.
e) How many courses (or layers) of cut stone do you count in the foundation?
3) In your travels in the park, locate another remnant of the exploration of gas and oil. Describe what it is or what you think it is and send us it’s coordinates. Optionally, upload a photo of the remnant. This can be an old well, plugged well, pipeline, equipment like a pump, pumpjack, cables, chains, pipe, borrow pits, abandoned roads/railroad beds or anything else that wouldn’t naturally occur in the area.
Email the answers to our email via our profile. Photos are optional but welcome.
This Earthcache is placed with permission of DCNR- Oil Creek State Park. Please thank the Park staff for allowing us to enjoy Geocaching in Oil Creek State Park.
Sources for this Earthcache are:
Harper, J.A., 1998, Pennsylvania Trail of Geology, Oil Creek State Park, Venango County, “Ice and Oil Shape the Land”, Park Guide 22, PA Geological Survey, 4th ser., 12 p.
Flaherty, Kathy J. and Flaherty, Thomas III; 2002; Oil and Gas in Pennsylvania, PA Geological Survey, 4th ser., Educational Series 8, Second Printing, 2005, 32 p.
Hoskins, Donald M., Spring 1998, “The Origin of Oil”, Pennsylvania Geology, Vol. 29:1, 9-14.
Color graphics used above are from: http://www.green-planet-solar-energy.com/fossil-fuel-formation.html
Animation from: http://www.hk-phy.org/energy/power/source_phy/flash/formation_e.html
 
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