Mysterious Kingfisher-area gas geysers leave officials puzzled

EnidNews.com ^ | 13DEC2005 | Cass Rains

[Leatherneck_MT]

I would almost bet we are fixing to have something along the lines of a major earthquake on the New Madrid fault. I hope not, but this is just too wierd for words.

[gopheraj]

Hmmmmmm.

http://www.dustbury.com/archives/003607.html

The Meers fault in the southwestern part of the state is big enough to see for much of its 16-mile length; it was relatively dormant for a few millennia, but then exploded about 1600 years ago into a quake estimated at magnitude 7.0. The worst quake to hit the state in recent years, though, wasn't along the Meers, but along a fault line running from El Reno to Kingfisher; it struck El Reno in 1952.

Russian Scientists are reporting today that the chances of a cataclysmic earthquake event occurring in the Americas has increased over 100 fold following the earthquake this week in the United States Oklahoma Region and which has shown the probability of the Meer’s Fault Line in that region awakening.

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index742.htm

[sully777]

The Meers fault in the southwestern part of the state is big enough to see for much of its 16-mile length; it was relatively dormant for a few millennia, but then exploded about 1600 years ago into a quake estimated at magnitude 7.0. The worst quake to hit the state in recent years, though, wasn't along the Meers, but along a fault line running from El Reno to Kingfisher; it struck El Reno in 1952.

---

A 7.0 east of the panhandle and west of the Ozarks would be BIG as the quake and aftershock would liquify the soil and the shockwaves would fan out far afield

[cogitator]

I tell you one thing; that's an area that I'm NOT camping in with my trusty Coleman lantern.

[Deguello]

This is a link to salt dome/cavern storage. There are such in OK and are in this area.

http://www.solutionmining.org/cmsFiles/Files/BriefHistory.pdf

FYI: there was a incident in Brad, TX on Friday @ 0200 that is similar but maybe different.

On Thursday, a drilling rig hit an unexpected gas pocket. The excessive gas was burned off until a heavier drilling mud was pumped into the hole to kill the well. As they were testing the new zone, gas begain to erupt from the ground away from the rig (a hundred yards or so). Around 2 am Friday morning the gas exploded a few hundred yards from the rig and blew a hole over a hundreds yards across and 60 feet deep. As of this morning, gas is still burning in the crater.

Speculation is that when the gas pocket as hit, gas had flown into a oil zone that was tapped back in the 20's or 30's and filled this zone. When the well was killed, weight required to kill the well was well below the older zone and continued to build up. They guess that rocks banging into each other caused heat/sparks to ignite the gas.

Many wells from the 20's or so were not properly cemented & cased and even worse when they were plugged IF they were plugged. Some were just capped at the top of the casing. Gas can easily migrate through the old bore and out on the ground.

My dad said that there were also some old salt caverns from the 50's in that area that were abandoned. They had been used to store waste gas. Abandoned caverns were supposed to be filled with brine.

[Rte66]

Thanks for the ping--I'll read the pdf file in a minute.

I wanted to say something about the Brad, TX, incident. Wouldn't that be the "Palo Pinto" explosion and fire near Possum Kingdom? I kept trying to find some info on it, but never did. The flames could be seen from over 100 miles away. It was reported here in south Texas on our TV news as a Fort Worth newsmaker; then I never saw any follow-up. I thought they said it had to do with the gathering system there--they called it a "pipeline" explosion" at the time.

Here's the latest FW *Startlegram* story I found:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/13436337.htm

[Rte66]

And here's a pdf for you, plus an excerpt:

http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Hydro/Hutch/GasStorage/ratigan.pdf

"Bedded salt formations differ significantly from salt domes. Bedded salt formations consist of “layers” of salt interbedded with nonsalt rocks, such as shale, dolomite, and/or anhydrite. Bedded salt formations can vary considerably from one another. Additionally, a bedded salt formation within a specific basin can vary from one part of the basin to the other. For example, the Hutchinson bedded salt unit is only 40 to 50 percent salt in Oklahoma; whereas, in central Kansas, the Hutchinson salt unit can be as much as 80 percent sodium chloride. The principal “impurity” or nonsalt rock in the Hutchinson salt formation is shale. These impurities exist in small percentages within the salt beds, but primarily exist as distinct geologic units separating beds or layers of salt within the salt formation. The only salt formations usable for storage caverns in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are salt domes.

Texas is the only state that has both bedded salt and salt domes (at usable depths). The only salt formations in Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania are bedded salt formations."
~~~~~~~~

The map that was in the pdf you linked, showing all the "salt cavern" storage in the US, with a location shown in central Oklahoma, showed all types of "salt caverns," not just salt domes. Those are gaps left by salt mining or solution mining which dissolved the underground salt.

I know this firsthand as my dad was a "salt dome geologist" from the area of Oklahoma shown. He called himself that because it was the "old school" type of oil & gas exploration. The only time he got to work with salt domes was here on the Gulf Coast, because there were none in his native Oklahoma. (But salt domes and anticlines weren't the only petroleum-bearing formations he worked with, overall--just his "favorites.")

[Deguello]

This stuff is always interesting. I'm out of that type of work now (from early 80's) and the technology of current horizontal drilling was a whisper (secret) back then.

Serval other pdf files I found were book size, so we'll have to wait on the other people to report back in.

Palo Pinto County is old family stomping grounds and I have never been able to spend the years of time I would like to out there. Old family is from Santo (sharecroppers). The older members are moving back as they retire. Great fishing at Lake Palo Pinto, but don't tell anyone.

[Rte66]

Don't know much about Palo Pinto Co, myself, but had several college friends from Wichita Falls who water skied every summer at Possum Kingdom. The name always tickled me.

I was jealous of one *special* friend's attachment to the other ladies he went to PK with, since I wasn't around to have all that fun with them. Then I finally got to *see* it for myself and was slightly underwhelmed. Looked like the craters of the moon to me. Nowadays, I might appreciate its scenic beauty a little more, however.

Ummm, I gotta ask ... who is it you give 'no quarter' to with your nickname? I hope you don't mean the defenders of the Alamo.

[Deguello]

It wasn't given, I just picked it 'cause it is a Texas Thing and it isn't Politically Correct and it irritates some people outside the our state.

[litehaus]

Do I sell now B4 the maggot lawyers line up to sue CHK?

[Rte66]

Nah, stay long. CHK needs your money to pay me.

[add925]

Dead Indian Creek Ping

[Rte66]

Good answer. Hearing the strains of the Deguello is kinda like hearing "Texas Fights" to this OU Sooner - or "Hullabaloo kaneck kaneck" to one them thar 'Horndogs.

Col. Travis would be proud of you for remembering. (And not calling yourself "Darlin'," darlin'.)

[Deguello]

Has to do with my soon to be EX wife.