In the first series of experiments described, efforts were made in the laboratory to obtain an accumulation of oil in a sand saturated with salt water under an impervious cap rock. Various agents that have been recognized as of probable assistance in the migration of oil were enlisted to secure the anticipated accumulation of oil in two types of simulated geologic structures. These efforts to secure an accumulation beneath an impervious cap rock resulted in failure.

A porous cap rock was used in the second group of experiments to secure the accumulation of oil. These experiments were successful.

It was found that the cap rock was eventually sealed or made impervious by a process of differential viscosity. This process may have resulted from a chemical reaction between the oil and the sulphate radical, a common constituent of both connate and meteoric water, which increased the viscosity of the oil. The increased viscosity of the oil eventually sealed the cap rock.