EASE DRILLING AND ITS GEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350562-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 562
• Publication Date: October 24, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350562-9
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SUBJECT
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CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL GQ~jY~~y
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY II ~U/"~F~T
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO 9ROADCAS?S CD NO.
Scientific _ Geology, drilling
Bimonthly periodical
Moscow
Jan -Feb 1950
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPGRT N0.
TNIS DOCVYIMT CONTAINt IMfORYATiOM AffICTIN{ TX[ NATIONAL D[fINS!
Ol TN[ UNIT[D {TAT[S YITNIM TN[ Y[AMIN6 OT [SNIONMI ACT [0
V. 6. C.. 11 AMO 11. AS AY{MDt D. 1T17RANf YISSIOM OR TM[ R!V[LATION
OT 173 CONTINTS IM ANV YANN[{ TO AX UNAVTNO{lI[D f[RfON If fR0?
MISITlD fV LAY. R[NROOVCTION Of TNIS VORY It fRONI{IT[0.
Tzvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR Seriya Geo.logichesisayal No i~i95u.
BPS); DRTL?L?INC: AND ITS GEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
In the USSR the drilling of base base "opornoye," is probably used here as
in the geodetic use of base or reference point; a series of these base shafts
would comprise a base network, i.e., a network of representative points] geo-
logical wells in a broad network over the Russian platform and in the Caucasus,
Central Asia, and Siberia is now widely employed for the study of deep levels,
along with various other geological, atratigraphic, and geophysical studies.
Base drilling is a very important method for locating oil and gas on vast
previously uninvestigate3 territories. It detacts coal-bearing strata beneath
the cover of comparatively young deposits and reveals the characteristics of
geological structures and the distribution of mineral fuels at great depths.
In ccnJunction with geophysical methods base drilling is especially effective
in rapidly salving problems of geological structure at great depths. It in-
itiates anew epoch in the search for flit, gas, and coal, and in the geological.
study of deep strata The drilling of bass wells according to the state?s
single~genersl.;pl.an is the most important characteristic of this method. TPhe
importance of base dri33ing fir geological prospecting works can be compared
with that of afforestaiian for agriculture in the Stalin Five-Year Flans.
As long ago as 1936, the founder of Soviet petroleum geology, Academician
I. M. Gubkia, recommended that the oil content of the central USSR be deter-
'mined by the drilling of a series of structural weL's in latitudinal and longi-
tudinal directions.
Another important Soviet geologist, Acdemician P. I< Stepanov, emp=.oyed base
drilling to solve one cf the most important problems of goal geology -- the detec- i
tion cf the coal depn;its of the east Donbass for clarification of the geological
picture of the Greater Donbass.
Base drilling, previously applied to cong~aratively small areas, became a
general state inst_?IVaent and was applied to vast areas only after World War II,
on the basis of a government decree initiated by Stalin.
STATE NAW
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.o~CLASSIFICATION
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CONFIDENTIAL ~O~FID~(~ 1 ~A~
DIST~RIBUTION~
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Study of the base wells already drilled rapidly solved problems of the geo-
logy of deep strata of vast areas and oriented future prospecting works in the
central, ~,~estern, and southern regions of the Russian platform, where the depth
of the crystallic foundation or the main features of Paleozoic atratigraphy had
already been established in many pls.cea. Theoretical and practical geological
studies of yells drilled in t@e lsst 2 yearn were of much greater importance than
all preceding studies on the deep st?nxcture of the central regions.
Base drilling also produced important results the first time that it was
used in the northern CauCasus~ fire well st Chernyy Rynok shoaled the distribution
of Maykop deposits in tb.e fades oP the Predkavkaz?ye (lands north of the Caucasus)
flexure towards the north, this permitted demarcation of the northern boundary of
this important oi?.-bearing structure aftex comparisGn with data of wells in the
Artezian aril F.strakb,4n regions '
One of the moat important characteristics of base drilling is the strict
scientific foundation for locating well.=, based upon the evaluation of all geo-
logical and geophysical data Bsse welly are not laid out on geometric equi-
lateral networks, ainc?, if this were the case, the geological conditions of the
individual wells would not have been considered.
The location of wells and the prcbleml to be solved by them are determined
by the geological characteristics of the regions to be studied by base drilling.
The study by bass drilling planne3 for all parts of the USSR which are of
interest because ~^~f their gas-bearing or oil-bearing potentialities is based
upon the principle ~f drswing up a region;3i division which moat fu11.y reflects
natural geological conditions goe?eraaing possible oil- and gaa?-bearing potential-
itiea, coal-bearing halts, etce
~3uch a regional division is based upon tectonic characteristics which per-
mit one to unite various sections having identical genesis, history, facial
characteristics, and, consequently? geochemistry of oil anal gas deposits and
similsr tectonic structures. The problemF to be solved by bsse drilling must
be clearly defined for each section so identified.
By generalizing extensive factual da+,a, Soviet geologists have created tec-
tonic systems that reflect the developmental history of large structural elements,
The tectonic system for the USSR published in 1938 by A. D. Arkhangel?skiy sad
R. S. Shatskiy and subsequentzy revise3 ie the mosi complete generalization of
USSR geology. This system shows the depth of the foundation for individual sec-
tions of the platform which, according to Academician I. M. Gubkin, is of ex-
treme practical importance far evaluating the oil potentialities of platform
regions and for evaluating the oil potentialities of platform regions and for
laying out base wells.
Without entering into a detailed evaluation of this system as a basis for
base drillingp we note thst it pe_^mita one to divide the territory of the USSR
into large tectonic regions characterized by unity or definite genetic and struc-
tural similarity and to define the probl.ema to be solved by base drilling for
the main types in these regions.
We can distinguish; (a) ancient platforms, Russian and Siberian; (b)
Ealeozoic folded regions or yo:~.ag platforms, including the Usalo-T?ien-Shan folded
regiong an3 (c) yo?,mg Alpian folded regions? namely the folded region of the
southern USSR :md the fe"lded region of +he Far. East. The geological structure
and historical development pf ancient platform?,, young platforms9 and folded re-
gions are essentially different:, and thus the principles governing the location
and problems of base drilling vary with the regions.
E~U~~~F~~~h i iti~,
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'rne ancient pl.atfosms awe characterize3 by metamorphic folded crystallic
founaeticns9 which represent the lover otructural stage' and by a sedimentary
nonmetamorphic an3 comparatively slightly dislocated cover,, which is the upper
st:vctural staged There is a sharp boundary between foundation and covers plus
marked 3iECOntinuitiev of deposits and n;:nc::nfa.mities in stratification, so that
foundation and cover con easi7.y be distinguished.
The foundation is metamorphic an3 is fused by intrusions; consequently, it
cannot be considered to possess premising oil and gas deposits. Oil and gas de-
posits are cancentrated in the sedimentary covers which is irregularly dis-
tributed over the su_ fs.ce ~~Y tl+e fc~n?iat.i c?n , that is , in some places the cover
is absent and foundati.cn rocks r.^op out .a the surface, which in other places the
cover may be quite Seep.
The psrt~ of the ancient pls+fczm xheze the foundation is not covered by a
sedimentary saver,. thrst is9 shield: ar cry?ral:iiC masses tfor example' Baltic
shield? Ukrainian crystail.ic mstisif, Aldan shiel3y Anabar massif)Y are not
promising zones with _espect to :oil an3 gasp and base wells should not be drilled
there. Ala. remaining sectjors of ancient pl.atforms~ for example,, slopes of
shieldsr ~iepressians, u:.dergr~aun3 ahe.ves (snteclises), are promising and must
be covered by base we:~:.s.
Since geological. studies to determine the direction of searches for gas
and oil are concerned only ~?ith rocks of the sedimentary cover' the base wells
must be cLriilled through the _?e~iirtentary .layer tc. the crystal.;. is foundation,
In the deeper depressions? like the Caspian =;yiieclise? for example, where the
sedimentary cover is 6-8 ki7.cmeters deep and the base wells cannot be drilled
down tc the foundation because cf tec:.nicai difficulties. the task must be
limited to the study of 'the upper part of the 3epcsits forming the sedimentary
cover. In this case' it is efficient to mark off in the sedimentary cover on the
basis of ail available geolagical and geophysical data f?base" ~eferencJ atra-
tigraphic levels to which the base wells must be drilled. For example, in
planning base drilling in the Caspian depressionv geologists selected the Paleo-
zoic. deposits under:iying rock salt ss the base level. In places without avail-
able data upan which to plan a vase le!T~ly drilling must be planned for the
maximum depths technically attainable.
r~~~-~ENr~a~
Base drilling dawn to Ls~e levels must also be conducted 3n boundary flex-
ures,-that isY in extreme zoTeF of platfarms. xhere the cr?yatallic foundation
recedes to great depth= in approaching folded zones. Boundary flexures are re-
gions of transition of s platfora into a folded ~geosyncl.inal) zone, but they
may be considered with respect to ai-ructure as deeply depressed boundary parts
of s platform.
To locate base wells cn ancient pl,atfcr~ requires a detailed regional'
division of the platforms with isolat;.on of the :Host important positive and
negative structures (antecl3ses and syneclises)9 which generally determine the
facial variations in the prae~pective oil bearing strata that make up the sedi-
~entary- c~nver. This regional division must be based upon the characteristics
of the historico-geological devel.cpment of the individual sections of plat-
forms with a selection of those structural features and elements which are most
stable through the history of the platform.
Since the ma:tn cis. bearing and gas-?be.aring regions of the Russian platform
known at present are connected xi~.1a the Middle and Upper? Paleozoic eras (Devon-
ian, Carboniferous, Persian),. Upper Paleazoic structure should be taken into
consideration, but attention ,h,u:.Ld also be given to data on the spread of Lower
Paleozoic and Mesocenozoi.c strati..
The base wells drilled on the b~asian platform have answered a number of
questions concerning the deep structure of the Baltic depression,, the Belorussian
massif' the Dneprovsko-Donets depresr~ion, an3 the southern rim of 'the Moscow
?~ .,
Ct}IVFIDF,.R'PaA.L
~O~~iD~~iT1Al
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synec:l.ise,. The trp pri^ri~y pror.~ema cf base d??i.ll.ing are? the Caspian depression,
the Yergeni massif, the southwest USSR, the central and northern parts of the Mos-
cow oyneclise, and the PredkavY.az'ye. Tn particular, the tracking of Lower Paleo-
zoic deposits east and northeast of the Baltic and Leningrad regions in the depths
of the MosCCw synecllse is of great interest Solution of this problem may ex-
pand considerably the potentYal. ell resources of the central and northern parts
of the Russian platform. A cumber cf important problems must be solved by base
drilling in the Caspian depression: the geological nature of the gravitational
maxima found in the depression?E renter; the facial composition and structure of
the subsalt deposits from the rt~.ndpcint of their probable o11 content; and bound-
aries of the belt where the Ca~caa~.s~-type Pa:ieogene wedges into the south Caspian
depression.
Young platfer2rs 'Mott. di,ff~r f~oL and resemble old p'latfo*~ms. Young platforms,
the same as old, con_is'- of two gelcgical. elements; the folded foundation and the
sedimentary cover. ?T.he fo:Lded fo~.;~ndatioay acryrever, i.a formed not only by pre-
CambrRf:an deeply metamorphi.c:ized rc;;ks and di.alocated rocks, but also by a whole
complex of Paleozoic rocks fr~:a.Cambrian to Permian and rocks which are metamor-
phicized to varying, degree:;. Thue, the folded foundation of young platforms are
more mobile because of their lower c_~nsolidation +,han the foundation of old plat-
forms~ an example is the Ferasna depression. which formed in the bodv'of a vouna
Upper Paleozoic platform because of movements of i.ts folded foundation in the
Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
The folded foundation of yi~gp:1?.tfcrms is characterized by nonhomogeneity.
In some sections the folded f