Abiotic Theory of Oil Formation

The Environmental Literacy Council ^

[meatloaf]

Given the age of the Appalachians, how are the discoveries of oil at much greater depths than accessed by conventional drilling explained?

[FrankR]

"I wonder why the dryer always gets blamed."

Well, the dryer is generally on the LEFT...(ahem).

[Aquinasfan]

The prevailing explanation for the formation of oil and gas deposits is that they are the remains of plant and animal life that died millions of years ago and were compressed by heat and pressure over millions of years.

Never thought much of this theory, although I don't have a better one. Maybe this guy does.

[Lael]

The theory was first proposed in the 1950s by Russian and Ukranian scientists. Based on the theory, successful exploratory drilling has been undertaken in the Caspian Sea region, Western Siberia, and the Dneiper-Donets Basin.

I had the pleasure of reading a translation of the Russian Textbook "Exploration Geochemistry" [with a Preface written, which disagreed with the oil formation info, by Shell exploration types, out of California], curtesy of the largest LENDING Library on the Planet...the Ingersoll Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Also read there the original "Power From the Wind", a book documenting the HUGE wind generating station on Grandpa's Knob in New England in the early 1940's.

[RightWhale]

lot of dinosaurs

That was the problem in the valve guide seals in my Chevy. Bits of dinosaur bones would get stuck in there and chew up the seal and next thing you know the Chevy is burning oil.

[FrankR]

"Bits of dinosaur bones would get stuck in there and chew up the seal and next thing you know the Chevy is burning oil..."

...not to mention those teeth fouling up the oil pump...

[yhwhsman]

There was a science fiction short story many years ago with the premise that all those extra hangers, socks, etc. that accumulate are a form of mimicry by alien life forms

I remember that story. I believe the infant 'aliens' looked like paper clips, then grew into wire coat hangers, then became bikes as adults.

[Dog Gone]

In fact T.Gold is considered a crackpot by many in the industry.

Nobody that I've ever met in the industry believes this theory. We wouldn't plug wells if we did.

However, anyone who wants to purchase a well that we're about to plug is welcome to freepmail me. The buyer can then watch and wait for the well to magically refill.

[dirtboy]

Given the age of the Appalachians, how are the discoveries of oil at much greater depths than accessed by conventional drilling explained?

I'm kinda curious what A has to do with B.

[dennisw]

It's made out of microscopic dead marine algae. The biomass of marine algae is beyond belief.

Also land vegetation biomass and vegetation from swampy land areas. This (swamps) might have been very extensive back then. Swamps are full of algae and slimy vegetation.

[null and void]

There was a science fiction short story many years ago with the premise that all those extra hangers, socks, etc. that accumulate are a form of mimicry by alien life forms ~ skepsel

I remember that story. I believe the infant 'aliens' looked like paper clips, then grew into wire coat hangers, then became bikes as adults. ~ yhwhsman

IIRC, the big question was why we weren't knee deep in coat hangers? What was eating the paper clips before they grew up? The title was something like "All the seas with oysters" from the analogy that we'd be able to walk across the pacific on oysters if all the larvae grew up.

The guy who was asking the question eventually ended up dead in a closet, with a coat hanger wrapped tightly around his neck.

*eyes shifting to my closet...*

[djf]

I think the story you mentioned was written by Philip K. Dick

[null and void]

Found it!

Or All the Seas with Oysters (short story 1958, novel 1962) by Avram Davidson

I read the short story, didn't even know there was a novel, will have to look it up...

[djf]

I know Dick did write a short story where aliens of some type disguised themselves as common items like towels, etc. But they were hostile, and some guy gets strangled by them. The people end up leaving the planet, and can take nothing with them, so they run to the rocket ship totally nude.

At least they think it's their rocket ship...

[null and void]

Sounds a bit like Asimov's "Misbegotten Missionary" (aka "Green Patches")...

[VOA]

bump

[MistrX]

I have always been skeptical that there could have beenenough dead dinosaurs and plants to account for so much Texas tea.

[narses]

See http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2002/11nov/abiogenic.cfm

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

I know MY dryer is on the left. It never occurred to me what it was up to, though.

[meatloaf]

A lot of the Appalachians was eroded and went into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic before man probably walked on two legs. Conventional drilling is accessing depths in the Appalachians that aren't touched in other areas of the US simply because of lot of the higher layers were gone long before us. Now we've learned that there's oil and gas at much deeper depths in the Appalachians.

If that holds true for the Appalachians, what about other areas?