Abstract: Trap Spring Oil Field, Nye County, Nevada

Herbert D. Duey

Trap Spring oil field, located on the west side of Railroad Valley, Nevada, is a combination structural and stratigraphic trap in the Tertiary Pritchards Station ignimbrite. The reservoir is in fractures caused by the cooling of the ignimbrite and by local faulting. No oil is present in the pores of the rock. Structure is related to the valley-bounding fault. Numerous unconformities and ignimbrite flows date the structural movement. Although the exact source of the oil is unknown, both Tertiary-Cretaceous Sheep Pass and Mississippian Chainman shales are possible sources.

Oil obviously has been generated in commercial quantities in Nevada. Unconventional traps, reservoirs, and source rocks should be expected to be the norm. Exploration for the conventional in Nevada may be part of the reason for past failures.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90963©1978 AAPG/SEG/SEPM Pacific Section Meeting, Sacramento, California