The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth Thomas Gold Abstract The deposits of hydrocarbons in the crust of the Earth have long been regarded by many investigators as deriving from materials incorporated in the mantle at the time of the Earth's formation. Outgassing processes, active in all geological epochs, then transported the liquids and gases liberated there into porous rocks of the crust. The alternative viewpoint, that biological debris was the source material for all crustal hydrocarbons, gained widespread acceptance when molecules of clearly biological origin were found to be present in most commercial crude oils. Modern information re-directs attention to the theories of a non-biological, primeval origin. Among this information is the prominence of hydrocarbons—gases, liquids and solids—on many other bodies of the solar system, as well as in interstellar space. Advances in high-pressure thermodynamics have shown that the pressure-temperature regime of the Earth would allow hydrocarbon molecules to be formed and to survive between the surface and a depth of 100 to 300 km. Outgassing from such depth would bring up other gases present in trace amounts in the rocks, thus accounting for the well known association of hydrocarbons with helium. Recent discoveries of the widespread presence of bacterial life at depth point to this as the origin of the biological content of petroleum. The carbon budget of the crust requires an outgassing process to have been active throughout the geologic record, and information from planets and meteorites, as well as from mantle samples, would suggest that methane rather than CO2 could be the major souce of surface carbon. Isotopic fractionation of methane in its migration through rocks is indicated by numerous observations, providing an alternative to biological processes that have been held responsible for such fractionation. Information from deep boreholes in granitic and volcanic rock of Sweden has given support to the theory of the migration of gas and oil from depth, to the occurrence of isotopic fractionation in migration, to an association with helium, and to the presence of microbiology below 4 km depth. The common existence of molecules of clearly biological origin in most petroleum and bituminous coal is no longer an argument for a biological origin of hydrocarbons, now that we know of the wide reach of microbiology in the crust (Jannasch, 1983; Yayanos, 1986; Gold, 1992). Hydrocarbons in our planetary system are certainly very abundant, and in all the extraterrestrial examples mentioned almost certainly not related to biology. Also hydrocarbons are prominent among the gases identified in the molecular clouds of the galaxy, and it is from such clouds that the solar system formed initially. The presence and great abundance of hydrocarbons is universal, and no special mechanism for their generation on the Earth needs to be invoked, unless one knew with certainty that they could not have survived the formation process here, although they did so on many of the other planetary bodies.

Sustainable oil? "competent physicists, chemists, chemical engineers and men knowledgeable of thermodynamics have known that natural petroleum does not evolve from biological materials since the last quarter of the 19th century." The theory is simple: Crude oil forms as a natural inorganic process which occurs between the mantle and the crust, somewhere between 5 and 20 miles deep. The proposed mechanism is as follows: * Methane (CH4) is a common molecule found in quantity throughout our solar system – huge concentrations exist at great depth in the Earth. * At the mantle-crust interface, roughly 20,000 feet beneath the surface, rapidly rising streams of compressed methane-based gasses hit pockets of high temperature causing the condensation of heavier hydrocarbons. The product of this condensation is commonly known as crude oil. * Some compressed methane-based gasses migrate into pockets and reservoirs we extract as "natural gas." * In the geologically "cooler," more tectonically stable regions around the globe, the crude oil pools into reservoirs. * In the "hotter," more volcanic and tectonically active areas, the oil and natural gas continue to condense and eventually to oxidize, producing carbon dioxide and steam, which exits from active volcanoes. * Periodically, depending on variations of geology and Earth movement, oil seeps to the surface in quantity, creating the vast oil-sand deposits of Canada and Venezuela, or the continual seeps found beneath the Gulf of Mexico and Uzbekistan. * Periodically, depending on variations of geology, the vast, deep pools of oil break free and replenish existing known reserves of oil.

Titan Has Liquid Lakes Scientists report definitive evidence of the presence of lakes filled with liquid methane on Saturn's moon Titan in this week's journal Nature cover story. The existence of oceans or lakes of liquid methane on Saturn's moon Titan was predicted more than 20 years ago. But with a dense haze preventing a closer look it has not been possible to confirm their presence. Until the Cassini flyby of July 22, 2006, that is.

Scientists analysing data gathered by Cassini have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan’s atmosphere. These particles may act as building blocks for more complicated organic molecules. The discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (which lacks oxygen - responsible for forming negative ions in the lower ionosphere of the Earth - and mainly consists of nitrogen and methane). The observation has now been verified on 16 different encounters.

Cassini to make audacious flyby Such is the interest in Enceladus that Nasa has directed its Cassini spacecraft to pass just 50km from the Saturnian moon on Wednesday. The flyby will take the probe through the plumes of icy particles emanating from the enigmatic cracks at the south pole dubbed the "tiger stripes". Several gases, including water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, perhaps a little ammonia and either carbon monoxide or nitrogen gas, make up the gaseous envelope of the plume. "We want to know if there is a difference in composition of gases coming from the plume versus the material surrounding the moon. This may help answer the question of how the plume formed," explained Hunter Waite, from the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, US, who leads the INMS team. Hmmmm .. . more dinos found in our solar system ( my note)

Why is the oil price so high? (2) 13.08.2005 As a part of this warfare, the big hoax that oil has "biological" origins and therefore is "scarce" is quite important for the ruling reactionaries. They very much need people to believe that the exorbitant oil price of today is somehow "natural" and caused by the purported "scarcity" of this important energy resource. Therefore, not only are the bourgeois governments and the oil companies themselves quite "officially" repeating the big lie that "oil production must necessarily peak soon" or "has already peaked"; they also have created a whole host of purportedly "independent" or even "anti-establishment" or "left-wing" institutes and organizations whose purpose above all is to disseminate their mendacious "Peak Oil" propaganda. For any reader of the Internet, correct information on the question of the origins and abundance on earth of oil (and those of the likewise carbon-based fuels natural gas and coal too) is relatively difficult to find. This question also has many aspects. As I wrote in Info #241en, there seems to be only one website in existence today which is bringing the actual, correct science on this question, namely, that of the (obviously small) Gas Resources Corporation, managed by J. F. Kenney. A few other writers who likewise are arguing in favour of the truth on the matter are basing themselves, concerning the science, on that website and on one earlier existing one, that of the now deceased astrophysicist Thomas Gold, whose articles I've saved at my homepage. (See "Links", "On the origins of oil and natural gas".)

The lakes of Titan, a moon of Saturn, are bodies of liquid methane The lakes of Titan, a moon of Saturn, are bodies of liquid methane that have been detected by the Cassini space probe, and had been suspected long before. The large ones are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as laci (lakes).[2] The possibility that there were seas of liquid methane on Titan were first suggested based on Voyager 1 and 2 data that showed Titan to have a thick atmosphere of approximately the correct temperature and composition to support them, but direct evidence wasn't obtained until 1995 when data from Hubble and other observations had already suggested the existence of liquid methane on Titan, either in disconnected pockets or on the scale of satellite-wide oceans, similar to water on Earth.

NASA's Voyager 1 provided the first detailed images of Titan in 1980. They showed only an opaque, orange atmosphere, apparently homogeneous. It was so thick that you could not see the surface. However, other data revealed exciting things. Similarly to Earth, Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen but there is also methane and many other organic compounds. Titan is not a pleasant place for life. It is far too cold for liquid water to exist, and all known forms of life need liquid water. Titan's surface is -180°C.

The public-access pages on this site are presently being built to provide easy reference to various publications involving modern petroleum science. Modern petroleum science, - or what is called often the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins, - is an extensive body of knowledge which has been recorded in thousands of articles published in the mainstream, Russian-language scientific journals, and in many books and monographs. However, effectively nothing of modern petroleum science has been published in the U.S.A., and this body of knowledge remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world. For reason of this circumstance, a brief introduction to modern Russian petroleum science has been written separately, and is offered together with a brief indication of some of its immediate economic consequences. The unfamiliarity with the Russian-language scientific literature has been further worsened by the bizarre circumstance that modern Russian petroleum science has been subject to the most extensive attempt at plagiarism in the history of modern science. This particular aspect of the history of this body of knowledge is taken up in the section dealing with the political and sociological essays.

Saturn moon may have hidden ocean Radar images from the Cassini-Huygens mission reinforce predictions that a reservoir of liquid water exists beneath the thick crust of ice. If confirmed, it would mean that Titan has two of the key components for life - water and organic molecules. But when the spacecraft turned its radar on the moon for the first time in 2004, and the Huygens probe parachuted to the surface a year later, a different picture emerged. Much of the surface was found to be solid, with geological features such as dunes, channels and impact craters, punctuated by vast "lakes". Evidence suggests that Titan has two of the key constituents for the formation of life - water and organic molecules, and possibly a third - a source of energy, he said. Prof Zarnecki told BBC News: "We know there are organic molecules, the place is swarming in organics.

Abstract An Early Precambrian micaceous metaquartzite subjected to low to moderate metamorphism in the Isua area of Southwestern Greenland was derived from the erosion of preexisting rocks which were probably sialic in composition. This metaquartzite may have been formed before the emergence of life. It contains globular particles of graphite arranged in narrow veins or along foliation or bedding planes. This rock contains no organic compounds besides traces of methane and no biologically significant elements associated with the graphite microstructures. Reaction of primitive methane with ferric oxides appears to have oxidized the methane to the vein graphite and reduced the ferric oxides to ferrous-ferric oxide (magnetite). The graphitic microstructures are likely to be abiotic in origin, although a biological origin is not impossible. Somewhat younger microstructures found in other locations on earth have often been described as microfossils; this origin should be reexamined on the basis of the above mentioned conclusions.