[extropy-chat] Deep-earth methane generation

[Samantha Atkins]

That there is more methane is not questioned.  That there is abiotic 
oil is.

-s

On Apr 27, 2005, at 8:17 PM, Terry W. Colvin wrote:

> Forwarding permission was given by William R. Corliss
>
> < http://www.science-frontiers.com >
>
> SCIENCE FRONTIERS, No. 159, May-Jun 2005, p. 4
>
>
> GEOLOGY
>
> Deep-earth methane generation
>
> For many years before his death in June 2004, T. Gold was a world-class
> iconoclast.  One of his most contentious assertions made the earth a 
> massive,
> still functioning generator of abiotic methane and petroleum, which 
> could
> keep those big SUVs operating forever!  (SF#114)
>
> Few question that *most* of our natural gas and oil wells discharge 
> the decay
> products of buried plant life.  Gold did!  But he asserted that these 
> indispensible
> hydrocarbons only *seem* biogenic because they are contaminated by a 
> subsurface
> bacterial kingdom located 12 miles and more deep.  This heretical 
> model was not
> well-received despite the successes of Gold's previous bold 
> contentions in
> astronomy and other fields.
>
> Nevertheless, some feature of Gold's subsurface kingdom are being 
> confirmed.
>
> * A large population of subsurface bacteria does exist.
>
> * Some methane gas sources are certainly *not* of biological origin.
>
> The latest support for Gold comes from experiments by H. Scot, Indiana
> University, who subjected water and marble to the environment expected
> at depths of 12 miles and more.  Sure enough, the water's hydrogen 
> combined
> with the marble's carbon to form methane (CH4).
>
> Such abiotic processes could provide us with "fossil" fuels for 
> millennia.
>
> (Wade, Nicholas; "Petroleum from Decay? Maybe Not, Study Says,"
> New York *Times*, September 14, 2004.  Cr. D. Phelps)
>
> *Comments*.  ESC16 in our catalog *Anomalies in Geology*, elaborates on
> 11 anomalies associated with methane's origin.  Three of these are:
>
> * The extraordinary quantities of methane hydrate present in offshore
>   sediments.
>
> * The emission of methane during earthquakes.
>
> * The energy contents of tsunamis require the addition of explosive
>   decomposition of offshore, buried methane hydrate during quakes.
>   In other words, landslides and stratum shifts are inadequate.
>
>
> SCIENCE FRONTIERS is a bimonthly collection of scientific anomalies in
> the current literature.  Published by the Sourcebook Project, P.O. Box 
> 107,
> Glen Arm, MD 21057 USA.  Annual subscription: $8.00.
>
>
> -- 
> "Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, 
> Frank Rice
>
>
> Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at 
> mindspring.com >
>     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
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