[extropy-chat] Deep-earth methane generation

[Curtis Sandoval]

The problem I had with the biotic theory is the math. When it was
described to me, it was made to sound like animals and plants had to
die in a certain way in a certain area and be covered immediately to
avoid decaying.  With such special conditions, it would seem rare, and
how many kilos of biomass must be compressed/heated to produce a kilo
of oil?  It just seemed like not enough life forms have ever died on
the planet to produce a sustained output of millions of barrels of oil
per year.  Of course, the adults were "right" and I shelved the
question under "things that don't seem right but that I can't prove
without getting grounded."

On 4/28/05, Bret Kulakovich <bret at bonfireproductions.com> wrote:
> 
> The question for me began when I was very young - and although this may
> be flawed, it made for further inquiry: If dinosaurs got stuck in and
> died in the LaBrea tar pits, then what dinosaurs died to make the tar
> pits in the first place? It seemed like a chicken and egg scenario.
> 
> The answer was eventually in chemistry class. We've all taken a
> carbohydrate, and cooked it to make caramel. The Earth takes
> hydrocarbons, aggregated at planetary formation, and cooks them into
> crude. Given that it has been shown that high impacts involving
> hydrocarbons have even formed protein chains, I think this at some
> point becomes obvious. It is our distance from the sun that put so much
> oil in Earth, not a bunch of dead matter.
> 
> The only biotic process in the carbon cycle of crude oil is the
> extraction, distillation and combustion...!
> 
> 
> Bret
> 
> 
> On Apr 27, 2005, at 11:17 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 >
> > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
> > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
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