Sailor Springs Dome (Discarded)

Location

T3N, R7E, Clay County

References

Lowenstam 1951

Description

Lowenstam mapped the Sailor Springs Dome as an irregularly shaped area of closure on the Herrin Coal Member near the center of T3N, R7E. Current structure maps of the Mississippian Beech Creek ("Barlow") Limestone and Karnak Limestone Member (ISGS open files) show a terrace with several small areas of closure, none of which is worth naming. It is likely that the dome mapped by Lowenstam (1951) on the Herrin Coal is a product of differential compaction of Pennsylvanian strata.

The Sailor Springs Consolidated Oil Field is developed along an irregular sinuous terrace that trends northeast from southern Clay County to southeastern Effingham County. This field has yielded a total of 68.1 million barrels of oil from numerous separate reservoirs in multiple producing horizons. The Chesterian Cypress Sandstone is the most important oil-producing formation, followed by the Ste. Genevieve Limestone, Aux Vases Sandstone, Tar Springs, other Chesterian sandstones, St. Louis and Salem Limestones, and Devonian limestones. Stratigraphic trapping is important in this field, but structural factors undoubtedly played a role in localizing petroleum accumulation. The Sailor Springs terrace trends nearly parallel with adjacent structures that are better defined, including the Louden, Iola, and Clay City Anticlines. The terrace may therefore reflect a more subtle manifestation of the tectonic processes that created the anticlines. The name Sailor Springs Dome should not be used.