Research Finds Life 1000 Feet Beneath Ocean Floor

spaceref.com ^ | 3 Jan 03 | staff

[RightWhale]

Did oil and natural gas production by the planet stop the day the first oil well tapped in? No, of course not. Oil and natural gas are being constantly renewed, it cannot be otherwise. The rate of renewal versus the rate of usage might be a question, and perhaps these can be brought into balance by increasing production artificially and reducing usage by going to other energy sources. Achieving that balance will also be more expensive than now. Oil and natural gas are about the cheapest commodities there are.

[aruanan]

Hopefully scientists will discover the microbes that create oil and oil will become a renewable, low cost, high quality energy source.

Microbes more likely than not live off the oil/methane rather than create it. The degree of light rotation in petroleum is too little for it to be product of biogenesis; however, it's just about right if the oil were of abiogenic origin and contaminated by bacteria. For a good summary of the abiogenesis versus biogenesis points go to The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth by Thomas Gold, U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1570, The Future of Energy Gases, 1993.

[Dan Day]

I was thinking of Stephen Jay Gould.

Since Gould is dead, it would take some *really* controversial things to get him "invited on radio interviews". ;-)

[RightWhale]

Gould is dead

It appears so. An illness took him early. An evolutionist crusader. Did the microbes in the earth's crust under the seabed evolve from the same hypoothetical original living thing that we did?

[Dan Day]

Did oil and natural gas production by the planet stop the day the first oil well tapped in? No, of course not. Oil and natural gas are being constantly renewed, it cannot be otherwise.

Correct, of course.

The rate of renewal versus the rate of usage might be a question, and perhaps these can be brought into balance by increasing production artificially and reducing usage by going to other energy sources.

Then again, "perhaps" not.

I've heard a lot of people get all excited about that prospect, but most likely the "renewal" rate is glacierly slow compared to the rate we're consuming it. For example, if it takes a "mere" ten million years for a reservoir to form, that means that we're using it up roughly a million times faster than it can be renewed. Even if we could speed up the natural process by a factor of ten-thousand-fold, it would only increase our actual pumping yield by a whopping 1%...

Achieving that balance will also be more expensive than now. Oil and natural gas are about the cheapest commodities there are.

The other catch is that it's likely that speeding up the natural process would necessarily involve our *adding* energy to the system -- at least as much (and probably more) than we'd get from subsequently using the resulting "fast oil". There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, energy-wise.

[Dan Day]

Did the microbes in the earth's crust under the seabed evolve from the same hypoothetical original living thing that we did?

For your answer, reread the original article: "DNA analysis of these microbes suggested they are closely related to known sulfate and nitrate "reducers" that are common in other environments."

Short form: "Yes".

[RightWhale]

Was thinking of huge factories with vats of oil microbes bubbling and making oil for our machines, and nuke power plants taking over primary energy production from oil and natural gas. Coal-fired plants would work for a couple of centuries more, too, and then we could migrate to charcoal. It will cost more than our present bargain, but there is no need to fear running out of oil.

[lepton]

The other catch is that it's likely that speeding up the natural process would necessarily involve our *adding* energy to the system

Maybe we can use nuclear power for that... :)

[Gary Boldwater]

Thank you for the very informative link.

[aruanan]

Maybe we can use nuclear power for that... :)

With fast breeder reactors, we can have all the electric power we'll need for tens of thousands of years.

[lepton]

With fast breeder reactors, we can have all the electric power we'll need for tens of thousands of years.

Ummm. Actually I was thinking of the ridiculous idea of using nuclear power to take CO2 and water to make gasoline and asphalt. Nuclear power is the way to go for high-density electrical production. ...but the greenies oppose it religiously.

[VOA]

bump

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[JoeSixPack1]

1,000 feet? That translates to 5,000 toes!

Or 5,000 Rat votes, depending on the paperwork involved. :-)

[ContentiousObjector]

Care to bet it will be the Chinese who find out and not us?

[ContentiousObjector]

Ping

[RightWhale]

We can't be worrying about Chinese. China is going into space, China has to find a replacement for their limited petroleum sources, and China has some embarrassing neighbors such as Pakistan and N Kor.

But we have our own problems. We're not going into space [ISS is a non-starter,] we're not building nuke plants, and we have embarrasing neighbors. China isn't worried about us, and we shouldn't worry about China.

[PatrickHenry]

Life everywhere! Ping.

[This ping list for the evolution -- not creationism -- side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. To be included, or dropped, let me know via freepmail.]

[stanz]

Stephen Jay Gould 1941-2002

This was taken a few years before his illness.