In what year was a major oil discovery made that confirmed the anticline theory?

In what year was a major oil discovery made that confirmed the anticline theory?

• A. 1905
• B. 1913
• C. 1925
• D. 1930

Answer: (B)

Oil tends to accumulate in structural traps created by folding, with the crest of an anticline acting like a natural container sealed by impermeable rocks. The anticline theory predicts that large oil deposits will be found where the rock layers arch upward, forming a reservoir at the top where migrating oil is trapped. In 1913, a major oil discovery matched this prediction in a prominent anticline structure, providing strong, real-world evidence that oil would indeed accumulate in such traps. That find validated the idea in a dramatic, field-scale way and shifted exploration toward looking for oil in folded, crest-high areas. While earlier discoveries showed oil was present, they didn’t clearly demonstrate the trapping mechanism, and later finds reinforced the pattern. The 1913 discovery is considered the landmark confirmation that the anticline trapping concept works in practice.

Oil tends to accumulate in structural traps created by folding, with the crest of an anticline acting like a natural container sealed by impermeable rocks. The anticline theory predicts that large oil deposits will be found where the rock layers arch upward, forming a reservoir at the top where migrating oil is trapped.

In 1913, a major oil discovery matched this prediction in a prominent anticline structure, providing strong, real-world evidence that oil would indeed accumulate in such traps. That find validated the idea in a dramatic, field-scale way and shifted exploration toward looking for oil in folded, crest-high areas. While earlier discoveries showed oil was present, they didn’t clearly demonstrate the trapping mechanism, and later finds reinforced the pattern. The 1913 discovery is considered the landmark confirmation that the anticline trapping concept works in practice.