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A new potential source of fuel, buried deep underground ~ methane gas created in lab with rocks only
The Wichita Eagle ^ | Thu, Sep. 23, 2004 | BETSY MASON Knight Ridder Newspapers

Posted on 10/10/2004 11:11:47 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: Jackson Brown
Yes, it hasn't been that long ago that Gold's theories on oil generation at the earth's mantle was discussed on another thread.. ( 2 or 3 months ago )
Gold makes sense to me, and this may be the beginning of verifying his hypothesus..
22 posted on 10/11/2004 12:27:45 AM PDT by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Drammach
I've been following this theory for a while now. I find it interesting that the study of Mars and the search for life is now connected to what is potentially one of the greatest energy breakthroughs in our history. If this pans out, the discovery could not come at a better time for mankind.
23 posted on 10/11/2004 1:18:46 AM PDT by Route66 (America's Mainstreet)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Sorry to rain on your parade but anything that's 60 miles below the earths surface is going to require a awful lot of energy to bring to the surface.


24 posted on 10/11/2004 1:25:25 AM PDT by Odyssey-x
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

What is the source of methane hydrate?


25 posted on 10/11/2004 1:35:27 AM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them, or they like us?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Methane from onions! Many old timers swear by this theory, especially if they're fried.


26 posted on 10/11/2004 1:41:01 AM PDT by sully777 (Our descendants will be enslaved by political expediency and expenditure)
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To: farmfriend

BTTT!!!!!!


27 posted on 10/11/2004 3:01:15 AM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: TexasCowboy

ping


28 posted on 10/11/2004 4:14:37 AM PDT by B4Ranch (´´Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are our teeth for Liberty)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
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?

29 posted on 10/11/2004 5:19:48 AM PDT by Fredgoblu
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Our solar system is loaded with naturally occurring methane.

Why should earth be any different?


DOE Document #6642994

- Monodeuterated methane in the outer solar system. IV. Its detection and abundance on Neptune

Address:http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=6642994
30 posted on 10/11/2004 5:25:22 AM PDT by tpaine (No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another. - T. Jefferson)
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To: B4Ranch
As usual, we have a general misunderstanding of hydrocarbons.
This is a laboratory experiment which created a few bubbles of gas , not oil.

I, for one, have never believed that either came from the decomposition of organic matter.
It's been here since the formation of the earth.

Gas does exist at great depths, and it's conceivable that as it percolates through some porous rock it will cool and depressure enough to allow it to become condensate.
Of course, the limiting factor is the presence of porous rock.

At 60 miles below the earth's surface the overburden pressure is about 300,000 psi. I visualize the rock as being a solid, impenetrable mass.
If there is a regeneration of gas and if it does percolate through the mantle and crust with that much pressure and through that much rock, what keeps it from coming to the surface as a gigantic blowout?
The rock above the crust is much less dense than the crustal rock.

Thanks for the ping, B4. It's work time.

31 posted on 10/11/2004 5:32:05 AM PDT by TexasCowboy (COB1)
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To: AmericanVictory
Not sure.....Google turns up many references :

______________________________________________________________

USGS Fact sheet: Gas (Methane) Hydrates -- A New Frontier
... Methane hydrate is stable in ocean floor sediments at water depths greater than
300 meters, and where it occurs, it is known to cement loose sediments in a ...
marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html - 8k - Oct 9, 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Methane Hydrates - The National Methane Hydrate R&D Program
www.netl.doe.gov/scng/hydrate/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

Methane Hydrates: Methane Hydrates: All About Hydrates: Natural ...
Natural Methane Hydrate. ... Then, in the 1960s, naturally-occurring methane
hydrate was observed in Siberian gas reservoirs. As the ...
www.netl.doe.gov/scng/hydrate/ about-hydrates/about_hydrates.htm - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.netl.doe.gov ]

Methane Hydrate
You get a frozen latticelike substance called methane hydrate, huge amounts
of which underlie our oceans and polar permafrost. This ...
www.llnl.gov/str/Durham.html - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Methane hydrates
June 2000. Methane hydrates. Methane hydrate isn’ta familiar term to most,
but it is gaining popularity in the energy sector. In ...
www.ornl.gov/reporter/no16/methane.htm - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Methane Hydrate
... Core samples and soundings taken off the east coast of Florida indicate that massive
amounts of methane, stored as frozen hydrate in sediments on the ocean ...
healthandenergy.com/methane_hydrate.htm - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

NRL Hydrates ARI
... The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is conducting a broadly based research program
to study the dissociation and creation of methane hydrates, an ice like ...
www7430.nrlssc.navy.mil/7432/hydrates/ - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

CRS Report: RS20050 - Methane Hydrates: Energy Prospect or Natural ...
... Updated February 14, 2000. Summary. Methane hydrate is a methane-bearing, ice-like
material that occurs in marine sediments and in permafrost regions. ...
www.cnie.org/nle/eng-46.html - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

Arctic Methane Hydrate Research Well Program
Joint program of Canada and Japan. Site languages: English, Francais.
sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/page1/hydrat/hydrates.html - Similar pages

Methane Hydrates - Mining in Manitoba
... Scientists generally believe that most natural gas hydrate is formed from biogenic
methane (produced by bacteria), and that therefore it is concentrated 1 ...
www.digistar.mb.ca/minsci/future/hydrates.htm - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

32 posted on 10/11/2004 8:24:48 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: AmericanVictory
Try this one:

Methane Hydrates - Mining in Manitoba

33 posted on 10/11/2004 8:29:07 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
...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.

34 posted on 10/11/2004 8:30:31 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: chuckles
...then why do we find it as much as 20 miles deep?

Do you have a reference to such? The deepest well I've heard of is only 12,000 meters. That's far short of 20 miles.

35 posted on 10/11/2004 8:35:13 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: RichInOC

The temptation to post pictures of fart-lighting is almost more than I can stand, but I'll try to restrain myself.


36 posted on 10/11/2004 8:38:50 AM PDT by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that cannot trust you with guns?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

The article really presents nothing new - except perhaps to the author. Abiogenic methane is known from the creation of the solar system.


37 posted on 10/11/2004 11:25:13 AM PDT by capitan_refugio
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"There has been a lot of speculation about the origin of natural gas and oil," said Laurence Fried, a computational chemist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and a member of the research team."

"If methane gas was always the product of biological matter, then detecting methane in the atmosphere of another planet would be a sure sign that some sort of life form had existed there at some point, said geologist Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto."

Where do they get these people?

38 posted on 10/11/2004 11:28:26 AM PDT by capitan_refugio
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To: Route66
Not sure it's an energy breakthrough just yet, but it validates Gold, at least partially..
Maybe the scientific community will take him a little more seriously on this subject..
I'm guessing the energy industry is taking this new information seriously..
39 posted on 10/11/2004 4:12:37 PM PDT by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Route66

Would n't this mean that in or near a volcano you should be able to find Methane?

I remember some guy started drilling for gas in an old volcano crater in Europe and didn't find any. His idea was the same as this one.

"methane gas more than 60 miles below the Earth's surface"

I wonder how they are plannig on getting down that far. From what I know the largest rigs can only go to about 35,000 feet. How in the world would you pull a pipe that long out of the ground in order to change the drill bit.


40 posted on 10/11/2004 4:20:02 PM PDT by e_castillo
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