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Hydrocarbons Deep Within Earth: New Computational Study Reveals How
Science Daily ^ | 17 Apr 11 | Staff

Posted on 04/18/2011 6:12:10 AM PDT by Red Badger

A new computational study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how hydrocarbons may be formed from methane in deep Earth at extreme pressures and temperatures.

The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperatures are important for understanding carbon reservoirs and fluxes in Earth.

The work provides a basis for understanding experiments that demonstrated polymerization of methane to form high hydrocarbons and earlier methane forming reactions under pressure.

Hydrocarbons (molecules composed of the elements hydrogen and carbon) are the main building block of crude oil and natural gas. Hydrocarbons contribute to the global carbon cycle (one of the most important cycles of Earth that allows for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms).

[snip]

Geologists and geochemists believe that nearly all (more than 99 percent) of the hydrocarbons in commercially produced crude oil and natural gas are formed by the decomposition of the remains of living organisms, which were buried under layers of sediments in Earth's crust, a region approximately 5-10 miles below Earth's surface.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: abiogenicpetroleum; carbon; energy; goldwasright; oil; petroleum; thomasgold
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A snapshot taken from a first-principles molecular dynamics simulation of liquid methane in contact with a hydrogen-terminated diamond surface at high temperature and pressure. The spontaneous formation of longer hydrocarbons are readily found during the simulations.

1 posted on 04/18/2011 6:12:17 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: sully777; vigl; Cagey; Abathar; A. Patriot; B Knotts; getsoutalive; muleskinner; sausageseller; ...

Oil is regenerating ping.............


2 posted on 04/18/2011 6:13:34 AM PDT by Red Badger (Mitt Romney: The Harold Stassen of the 21st century........)
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To: Red Badger

Renewable resource.


3 posted on 04/18/2011 6:15:02 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Red Badger

But methane and hydrocarbons are responsible for global warming 5 miles under the earth.


4 posted on 04/18/2011 6:16:54 AM PDT by bunkerhill7
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To: Red Badger

Bookmark bump.


5 posted on 04/18/2011 6:18:35 AM PDT by jokar (The Church age is the only age man will be able to glorify Christ, http://www.basictraining.org/)
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To: Red Badger

been saying it for years...”peak oil” is a myth...

What we have is “restricted production”...


6 posted on 04/18/2011 6:23:08 AM PDT by Crim (Palin / West '12)
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To: Red Badger

Fossils From Animals And Plants Are Not Necessary For Crude Oil And Natural Gas, Swedish Researchers Find
http://www.viewzone.com/abioticoilx.html

Discovery backs theory oil not ‘fossil fuel’
New evidence supports premise that Earth produces endless supply
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=45838#ixzz1Jse7llLT


7 posted on 04/18/2011 6:26:18 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. TR)
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To: Red Badger
"Galli and colleagues used the Mako computer cluster in Berkeley and computers at Lawrence Livermore to simulate the behavior of carbon and hydrogen atoms at the enormous pressures and temperatures found 40 to 95 miles deep inside Earth."

40 to 95 miles deep, that is one heck of a long straw to get at it...

8 posted on 04/18/2011 6:26:51 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Crim

We were put here with God given talents on a planet with more resources than we can use in the time we have before the Revelation,

and of course, the left, under the direction of the “god of this age”, their ideological father, wants to restrict our usage of those God-given resources.


9 posted on 04/18/2011 6:27:16 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Crim

My guess is that we are currently using oil faster than the earth is producing it, but it does show that there is a lot more out there than previously thought and we should go use it. The more oil they find and the more we use, the more skeptical I am that it was formed only from decomposing animal matter. There is too much oil in too many different rock types and formations for that.

Coal, on the other hand, while also plentiful, is more than likely formed from decaying plant matter. It does have the fossils in it. Lots more plant matter than animal matter. Always has been.


10 posted on 04/18/2011 6:29:42 AM PDT by henkster (Every member of Congress must put the fate of the nation over their next re-election campaign)
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To: bunkerhill7

And what about the methane lakes found on Saturn’s moon, Titan?


11 posted on 04/18/2011 6:32:46 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: henkster

Considering we can make light, sweet crude from our own garbage, I would say that the idea that oil can only be made of decaying animals is a fantasy that should have been removed from the public idea 50 years ago.


12 posted on 04/18/2011 6:33:37 AM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Jack Hydrazine
And what about the methane lakes found on Saturn’s moon, Titan?

You never heard of Titanic dinosaurs?

13 posted on 04/18/2011 6:34:25 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: ClearCase_guy
"Renewable resource"

As long as living things continue to die. . . . . . . .

14 posted on 04/18/2011 6:34:34 AM PDT by DeaconRed (Tobacco: The only industry that kills it's customers. . . . . . . Legally. . . .)
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

the abiotic process of oil confirmed once again. we just need to pump the existing out to order to give the new more room into which to rise.


15 posted on 04/18/2011 6:45:25 AM PDT by stickywillie
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To: Voter#537

I find it hard to believe that the (compacted, concentrated, partially converted to hydrocarbons) mass of dead plants and animals is greater than the amount of oil we have consumed to date.


16 posted on 04/18/2011 6:45:53 AM PDT by jdsteel (I like the way the words "Palin for President" make progressives apoplectic.)
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To: Abathar

I guess that it oozes to the top like a big zit..............


17 posted on 04/18/2011 6:46:16 AM PDT by Red Badger (Mitt Romney: The Harold Stassen of the 21st century........)
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To: henkster
"oil in too many different rock types"

Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary.

If you find hydrocarbons located within the igneous rock, you can make the case for abiotic oil, but if you find the hydrocarbon trapped by the igneous rock, you can't make the case.

If you find hydrocarbons located within metamorphic and/or sedimentary rock, you made the case for an organic origin. If you find hydrocarbons trapped by metamorphic and/or sedimentary rock, you can't make the case for abiotic oil.

18 posted on 04/18/2011 6:48:55 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: Red Badger

Nice mental image Red... :)


19 posted on 04/18/2011 6:51:55 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: henkster

And there are more than a dozen different varieties of coal.


20 posted on 04/18/2011 6:52:46 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Go Hawks !)
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