The Geology of the Norton Oil Field, Norton County, Kansas

Abstract

The Norton oil field, in Norton County, Kansas, about 6 miles southwest of the town of Norton, was discovered in May 1953. Late in August 1954, there were 97 producing wells, and the field included about 1,700 acres. Production is from the Arbuckle dolomite, Cambro-Ordovician in age, and from the Reagan sandstone, Cambrian in age.

The report contains four structure maps of the field: (1) top of the Stone Corral formation, (2) top of the Lansing group, (3) base of the Kansas City group, and (4) top of the Arbuckle group. A pre-Pennsylvanian areal geologic map, an east-west cross section of Norton County, a contour map on top of the Pre-Cambrian rocks, and a dry hole map of the county are included.

The oil field is situated on the southeastern end of the Cambridge arch. A series of uplifts and tiltings accompanied at various times by orogenic folding comprise the tectonic history of the region. The structure on which the field is located is an elongated northeast-southwest trending anticline of low relief. The northwest flank of the structure was partially truncated by post-Arbuckle erosion. A study of the relation of structure to depth indicates that the axis of the anticline shifts southeastward with depth and that the fold increases in intensity with depth.

Oil accumulation is controlled by a combination of truncation and overlap and change in porosity of the reservoir beds and structure. The similarity of this field to fields of the Central Kansas uplift is discussed.