Posted on 09/11/2009 9:55:50 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
There is widespread evidence that petroleum originates from biological processes1, 2, 3. Whether hydrocarbons can also be produced from abiogenic precursor molecules under the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions characteristic of the upper mantle remains an open question. It has been proposed that hydrocarbons generated in the upper mantle could be transported through deep faults to shallower regions in the Earth's crust, and contribute to petroleum reserves4, 5. Here we use in situ Raman spectroscopy in laser-heated diamond anvil cells to monitor the chemical reactivity of methane and ethane under upper-mantle conditions. We show that when methane is exposed to pressures higher than 2 GPa, and to temperatures in the range of 1,000–1,500 K, it partially reacts to form saturated hydrocarbons containing 2–4 carbons (ethane, propane and butane) and molecular hydrogen and graphite. Conversely, exposure of ethane to similar conditions results in the production of methane, suggesting that the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons is reversible. Our results support the suggestion that hydrocarbons heavier than methane can be produced by abiogenic processes in the upper mantle.
fyi
The only problem is that there are tiny fossils in oil that shows that petroleum is biologically-based.
I’m still wondering whatever happened to that “trash into oil” thing that Changing Worlds Technology was trying to commercialise.
Troll farts?
I’ve been wondering the same thing.
Last I heard, they claimed they were having to pay too much for trash.
“On February 28, 1928, through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the Raman effect. It was instantly clear that this discovery was an important one. It gave further proof of the quantum nature of light. Raman spectroscopy came to be based on this phenomenon, and Ernest Rutherford referred to it in his presidential address to the Royal Society in 1929. Raman was president of the 16th session of the Indian Science Congress in 1929. He was conferred a knighthood, and medals and honorary doctorates by various universities. Raman was confident of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics as well, and was disappointed when the Nobel Prize went to Richardson in 1928 and to de Broglie in 1929. He was so confident of winning the prize in 1930 that he booked tickets in July, even though the awards were to be announced in November, and would scan each day’s newspaper for announcement of the prize, tossing it away if it did not carry the news. He did eventually win the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him”. He was the first Asian and first non-White to get any Nobel Prize in the sciences. Before him Rabindranath Tagore (also Indian) had received the Nobel Prize for Literature.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman
-—maybe Tom Gold is smiling somewhere—
I love it when you talk deep hot biosphere...
—I suspect that the depth of and the speed with which the process occurs may make it irrelevant to the tiger I’m going to put in the tank this afternoon-—
Yep, plenty of oil field geologists say oil production is natural and continuous. Doesn’t mean that dino droppings cannot make methane, just go out in the Everglades Swamp and smell the methane and see the gas flares, but it means the principle mechanism may in fact be geologic.
The cold dead world of Titan confirms that.
We know the universe ‘made’ all the elements ...
The pros and cons will continue on this issue that is for sure.
Problem with that is there is a thick, impermeable layer of salt above the mantle that would not allow that gas to make it towards the surface. The replintishment that you are talking about is minor compared to the flush production that came from the fields and is just hyrdocarbons migrating up the faults from the source beds below.
What about Titan?
Do you know there were no dinosaurs on Titan?
Oh, my God! You’re right!
I plastered in all the thomas gold keyword topics over in the other topic you posted. :’)
Water in Mantle May be Associated with Subduction
(More water below oceans than in?)
Oregon State University | August 19, 2009 | Unknown
Posted on 08/30/2009 2:39:28 PM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2328160/posts
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