[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Methane From Marble:  An Abiogenic Source of Hydrocarbons in the Earth's Deep Interior?

Methane gas has been synthesized from wustite, calcite and water at high temperatures and pressures in the diamond anvil cell, demonstrating abiogenic pathways for the formation of hydrocarbons in the Earth's deep interior. Bubbles formed in the mixture (bottom, left and near the center in the photomicrograph above) upon decompression to 0.5 GPa after laser heating at 5.7 GPa give a Raman spectrum consistent with the formation of methane.  For more information, and to download a reprint of the paper [Scott, H., et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 101, 14023-14026 (2004)], see the links

,a href=http://cdac.ciw.edu/methane_marble.html>A Center of Excellence for High Pressure Science and Technology

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

[prisoner6]

Thanks for the post, E_A_T_B. Great news. Can't wait to show this to one of my friends who insists we are going to be out of energy within a few years. When I mentioned this before he shot back there had been no positive results from any experiments.

'Til now! hehehehehehe!

prisoner6

[AmericanVictory]

What is the source of methane hydrate?

[B4Ranch]

ping

[Fredgoblu]

Methane From Marble: An Abiogenic Source of Hydrocarbons in the Earth's Deep Interior?

Yeah...shale oil was so profitable...let's go for some 60 mile deep marble methane now.

Come to think of it, though...maybe that's how the Mole Men in Underdog were so successful. Could it be that they had marble methane long before we Surface Men even dreamed it up?

[Doctor Stochastic]

...marble, iron oxide and water...

Is there non-organically derived marble? Marble is metamorphicized limestone; which is in turn derived from deposits of shell, coral, etc., in sea beds.

I suppose it's possible that there is precambrian or even pre-life limestone and thus marble. The carbon had to be somewhere.

[djf]

Why go 60 miles? Haven't they already guesstimated the methyl hydrate in the oceans mucks amount to something like 1,000 times more energy than all the oil and coal ever mined or discovered?