Criner-Payne field, located in T.5 and 6 N., R. 3 W., is the largest oil field in McClain County in terms of reservoir oil in place and areal extent. It is near the southern end of the Nemaha ridge. This highly faulted structure owes its present position to local crustal down-breaking along the flanks of the regional Hunton uplift. Continuous structural growth occurred from Ordovician through Pennsylvanian time as a result of a subsiding Anadarko basin; gentle progressive compressional folding culminated in the sharper folds and faults near the rim of the syncline.

Post-Hunton tilting and truncation, and post-Morrowan--pre-Desmoinesian uplift, can be matched closely with the stages of evolution of the Anadarko basin and the Nemaha ridge. The growth and tilting have resulted in the shifting of the younger fold axis progressively eastward from the Simpson axis.

The field is characterized by two distinctly different producing zones. The Bromide Sand, with structural relief of about 1,700 feet, produces only on up-thrown closures against north-south-trending faults. The Bois d'Arc Member of the Hunton Limestone has structural relief of about 1,650 feet, but the oil occurs generally wherever there is porosity and (or) fracturing, without regard to the structural position. Most Hunton porosity occurs west of the fold axis on the more steeply dipping western flank which was more exposed during intermittent stages of growth and tilting. Approximately 80% of the total acre-feet of Hunton porosity is localized west of the fold axis, but this comprises only about 35% of the total Hunton productive area.

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