Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
R. M. Kleinpell's Zones And Stages: An Oppelian Biostratigraphic Solution To A Challenge In The Search For Petroleum In California
R. M. Kleinpell's Zones And Stages: An Oppelian Biostratigraphic Solution To A Challenge In The Search For Petroleum In California
Page Range: 161 – 174
Robert M. Kleinpell (1905-1986) brought new concepts into oil exploration in California in the late 1920s that enhanced oil recovery. He used basic biostratigraphic principles developed by Albert Oppel (1831-1865) in a study of the ammonite-bearing Jurassic successions in Europe to solve a challenge that faced California's petroleum industry in the 1920s. That challenge was how to recognize a specific stratigraphic position in a sequence of unseen and seemingly unfossiliferous, homogenous California Tertiary strata being perforated by oil-well drilling equipment and how to identify oil-bearing strata from well to well. Kleinpell's insightful use of relevant biostratigraphic principles led to recovery of many millions of barrels of petroleum from California's Tertiary stratigraphic succession. Despite considerable economic success, rarely have geologists outside California's petroleum industry recognized the significance of Kleinpell's economically rewarding application of scientific principle. Furthermore, rarely have American geologists noted the similarity between biostratigraphic practice of most Europeans and that of Kleinpell.
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