Natural gas and petroleum ARE NOT of fossil origin
The established and dogmatic paradigm of "fossil fuels" must be changed

Danilo Anton 

The paradigm of normal science defined by Thomas S. Kuhn is the set of theories, rules, procedures and knowledge that permeate a particular society at a particular time in its history. Today it regards to the scientific “model” widely adopted in contemporary global society.
The theme of hydrocarbons, as well as the geophysical and geological framework that would lead to their formation and evolution, is an estalbished paradigm that resists being changed despite the numerous data which should induce a radical and thorough review.
In this “globalized” society it is assumed that the official scientific model developed through the accumulation of scientific data would allow “progress” in knowledge, in particular achieving greater detail in the specific application of accepted scientific models.
Unfortunately, there is no official method in this paradigm (or any other dominant paradigm) that would accept other theories and apply other rules or procedures that may end modifying it radically.
For that reason, in the field of petroleum geology, it is so difficult to put into question the validity of many concepts whose accuracy are being contradicted every day by reality.
The difficulty of changing the official paradigm is that this modification, nor only modifying concepts, but mainly because it also alters power relations.
Politically, those who hold “the paradigmatic power”, are the same mechanisms that control decision-making.
From the economic point of view they are the ones who benefit from the decisions made based on the officially accepted postulates
In the academic sphere there are those who defend their prestige and economic security that give professional or academic positions they occupy and eventually would be threatened by a possible change of paradigm (Lovelock, 1988).
When we analyze the accepted theory about the origin of oil and natural gas, and its main defenders in the academic and industrial world, we find a similar a similar situation as was generally defined by Kuhn and Lovelock.
The biotic theory of petroleum formation involves the inevitability of future shortages, which produces price increases.
Companies and oil states are particularly interested in defending this point of view to sustain their huge income.
The interest of researchers and academics to maintain the paradigm of fossil fuels minerals is based on the privileges granted by the institutional structures and the economic and organizational power of the establishment.
In short, the struggle for the preservation of the paradigm of fossil fuels, is not just a theoretical discussion. Like so many other issues, it also arises in terms of economic, political and social power.
The ideas of Thomas Gold and other astronomers, astrophysicists and geologists who proposed the theory of planetary degassing have been ignored, and even desautorized, but not disproved with relevant scientific information.
We have no doubt that sooner or later the paradigm shift will occur. When the critical mass of researchers and scientists and support of the public is sufficient, when the decades passed and new data become available confirming the new vision of the history and dynamics of our planet, power structures will be disarticulated and a new paradigm based on the actual data will be officially accepted.

From "Unexhautible, Natural Gas and Petroleum", D.Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones

Abiotic Oil and Gas: A Theory That Refuses To Vanish

From peakoil news and message boards; Exploring hydrocarbons

In the West it is almost universally held that all oil and gas is derived from fossils. This is not the case elsewhere, particularly among Russian and Ukrainian scientists who have, over several generations, tenaciously propounded the notion that oil and gas are abiotic, can be found deep below the surface of the earth in most parts of the world and in very large amounts.

Western geologists and scientists find the theory either annoying or amusing and refuse to consider it seriously although there are exceptions. The theory continues to be held in much higher regard by Russian scientists and geologists (including some working in the West) for historical and perhaps ideological reasons.

Many Russian geologists and petroleum researchers credit the rise of Russia over the past 50 years as the largest producer of oil and second largest producer of natural gas in the world to the successful application of the abiogenic theory of oil and gas formation. The Russians claim to have successfully drilled over 300 ultra deep (around 40,000feet) oil and gas wells through granite and basalt based on this theory. These claims have been questioned by Western geologists and petroleum engineers.

The most recent attempt at gaining credence for the abiogenic idea was only a few months ago. A research team at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, led by Vladimir Kutherov, demonstrated that animal and plant fossils are not necessary for producing oil and natural gas. The team simulated the thermal and pressure processes that occur in the inner layers of the earth to generate hydrocarbons, the chief component of oil and natural gas. The team also noted that oil and gas has been found 7 miles below ground in Texas and fossil oil and gas could not, via, gravity have seeped down to such depths.

According to the Prof. Kutherov all types of bedrock can serve as reservoirs of hydrocarbon energy and their method of discovery can enhance exploration success rates from 20 % to 70 %. The research team has developed a new technique for locating oil and gas resources. It consists of dividing the globe into a fine grid, which corresponds to underground fissures or migration channels. Hydrocarbon resources will be found wherever migration channels intersect, predicts the team. 

An  abiogenic theory of petroleum is not new, dating from the 16^th century. In the 19^th century two very accomplished scientists, Alexander von Humboldt and Dimitri Mendeleev( of the Periodic Table fame) advanced the concept. In the 20^th century the Russian- Ukrainian School of geology emerged in the Soviet Union to vigorously formulate the modern theory of abiogenic oil and gas. In the West, the most eloquent and determined proponent was the famous astronomer Thomas Gold. After his death, Jack Kenney of Gas Resources Corporation has become the leading Western exponent.

The prevailing abiotic theory is that the full complement of hydrocarbons found in oil and gas are generated in the mantle (40 to 90 miles below the surface of the earth) by non-biological processes. These hydrocarbons then migrate out of the mantle into the crust where they escape or are trapped by impermeable strata that lead to reservoir formation.

Specific examples to support the abiotic theory have been cited over the years. Each example has been dismissed by the Western establishment as specious while it has been hailed by proponents as convincing. This is always so when a deeply entrenched belief and massive money flows encounter a subversive idea that profoundly threatens the prevailing order. The debate is becoming increasingly shrill as the two diametrically opposed views of Peak Oil and Abiogenic(Superabundant) Oil collide in a clash not only of science but, far more importantly, of money and ideology.

Specific examples cited are the impressive recharging from below, not the sides, of the Eugene Island field (wells in deep decline exhibiting sharply increased production; recovery far in excess of  estimated remaining reserves) off new Orleans; the White Tiger oil field in Vietnam( discovered by a Russian company, Vietsovpetro) in fractured basement granite; the Panhandle-Hugoton field (high helium content) in Teaxs-Oklahoma, the Shengli Field and Songliao Basin in Northeastern China( supposedly mantle derived natural gas), and the well known Chimaera natural gas seep in Turkey. This seep has been known to be continuously active for thousands of years and represents the largest cataloged emission of abiogenic methane on land. The vast amounts of methane released by the biggest mud volcano eruptions are allegedly greater than found in the most abundant natural gas fields in commercial production. The presence of considerable amounts of hydrocarbons not associated with tectonic structures is also presented as evidence and, of course, the enormous methane hydrate deposits found all over the world are asserted to be of abiogenic origin. Finally, theory advocates aver that the impressive record of recent ultra deep drilling in the Gulf of Mexico supports their idea.

The matrix of scientific, political and business interests in the West, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil (an emerging oil exporter of consequence) and Venezuela that refuses to countenance abiogenic theories is big and potent. These interests want oil and gas to be scarce and expensive for a variety of reasons. It is natural and understandable that no credible test of the theory will be attempted within the ambit of these interests.

The Russian authorities and oil and gas companies seem to be deeply conflicted between intellectual pride (it is their theory, after all) and the desire to keep oil and gas prices high via the idea of scarcity when talking to the rest of the world about their abiogenic oil and gas reserves.

It seems to the author, however, that China and India have compelling economic and national security interests in proving or disproving the theory, convincingly. If the theory is false then they are no worse off than today. If it is correct then they, of the major nations in the world, have the most to gain in subverting the prevailing oil and gas order of the world. So, of course, do scores of millions of ordinary Americans who care nothing about theories but want cheap, abundant, reliable oil and gas.

http://peakoil.com/geology/abiotic-oil-and-gas-a-theory-that-refuses-to-vanish

Structural location of some important oil fields

Danilo Anton

Many oil fields are found along certain geological structural lines or island arcs of great extent, often several hundreds or thousands of kilometers long.
An example can be seen in the island arc of Indonesia where there is several fracture lines that suggests a planetary opening for the rise of hydrocarbons.
Similar features can be observed in the oil and natural gas fields in the American ontinent. Many of them are aligned along and to the East of the mountain ranges according to the following sequence from South to North:
a) oil and gas fields of Patagonia, Neuquén, Mendoza, and Salta in Argentina
b) oil and gas fields in Tarija, Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz in Bolivia
c) hydrocarbon fields in the Andean foothills in Eastern Peru
d) oil fields in the Amazonian slopes of Ecuador
e) oil fields at the foot of the Andean mountain in eastern Colombia
f) oil fields at the foot of Andean Mountains and adjacent watersheds in Venezuela
g) oil fields in the eastern coast of Mexico (Veracruz)
h) oil fields in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains (Texas, Oklahoma, etc).
i) oil fields on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada
j) oil fields on the shores of the Arctic, Alaska and Northwest Canada sea.
A similar sequence occurs at the foot of the mountains and plateaus of Anatolia (Turkey) and Iran (Zagros Mountains) where several major hydrocarbon fields in the world are in a structural line beginning in northern Iraq and extends along the Gulf Coast.
The location of numerous oil fields in the continental limits, which are generally areas of fracture, is also easily explained by the rise of oil in those weakened areas of the cortex.

The origin of coal: a different approach
While there have been discussions about the possible biotic or abiotic origin of oil from the nineteenth century and still continue, in recent decades there was virtual unanimity that the coal was of biological origin.
In many cases, the fossilized plants have been well preserved.
Occasionally it is possible to appreciate that even the smallest details of leaf morphology, stems and many other features that undoubtedly have a vegetable origin.
However, despite these apparent evidence, Thomas Gold (2001) argues, with good arguments, that coal is also of mineral origin.
According to the theory of Gold, carbonaceous ascending fluids, increasingly enriched in carbon impregnated the accumulated plant remains resulting in carbonization of the formations without destroying the plants morphology.
This would be similar to silicification processes, where various fossils (eg fossil wood) are traversed by siliceous fluids replacing atoms and molecules of the original timber producing  the petrification.
Silicified wood or xylopals are relatively common. According to Gold, the same phenomenon occurs with coal.
This author argues that many carbonaceous layers are up to 10 meters thick with a mineral content of only 4%. 
Most of the carbon material includes some hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur.
Imagining a marshy origin for these layers with 300 meter accumulations a mineral contents less than 1% would be required.
 Such wetlands do not exist currently, and “ even if they existed at some point, it is unlikely that plants could grow in such circumstances.“
The abiogenic theory can explain the formation of coal in a more logical way. It would be the result of the rise of carbon enriched fluids through the organic layers. Thomas Gold concludes that, in its opinion, the coal deposits would be still forming today.
Other arguments raised by the author are:
1) If the coal was produced by the transformation of organic matter, it could not retain the morphological details.
In many cases it is possible to see perfectly preserved pieces of wood, sometimes without charring, even without signs of starting a process of carbonization, surrounded by nearly pure carbon. 
Gold concludes that these remains were not impregnated by the upward carbonaceous fluid.
2) The coal deposits are often found above the oil fields, which in turn are superimposed on gas fields. This sequence would be related to the enrichment in carbon of rising hydrocarbons.
3) The continuous emission of methane observed in the coal mines, which is one of the main problems of their exploitation, causing fires, explosions and asphyxiation of workers.
From "Unexhaustible? Natural gas and petroleum", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones.

Abiotic hydrocarbons

Life goes deeper

The living landscape all around us is just a thin veneer atop the vast, little-understood bulk of the Earth’s interior. A widespread misconception about the deep subsurface is that this realm consists of a continuous mass of uniform compressed solid rock. Few are aware that this mass of rock is heavily fractured, and water runs in many of these fractures and faults, down to depths of many kilometres. The deep Earth supports an entire biosphere, largely cut off from the surface world, and is still only beginning to be explored and understood.

The amount of water in the subsurface is considerable. Globally, the freshwater reservoir in the subsurface is estimated to be up to 100 times as great as all the available fresh water in the rivers, lakes and swamps combined. This water, ranging in ages from seven years to 2 billion years, is being intensely studied by researchers because it defines the location and scope of deep life. We know now that the deep terrestrial subsurface is home to one quintillion simple (prokaryotic) cells. That is two to 20 times as many cells as live in all the open ocean. By some estimates, the deep biosphere could contain up to one third of Earth’s entire biomass.

To comprehend the deep biosphere, we must look past the familiar rules of biology. On the surface, life without the Sun for an extended period of time is dangerous or deadly. Without daylight, no plants or crops can grow. Temperatures get colder and colder. Few organisms, including human beings, can long tolerate such conditions. For instance, people living within the Arctic Circle – as well as the maintenance staff at Antarctic research stations during winter – experience 24-hour darkness for several months each year. They are more vulnerable to health issues such as depression. They find ways to adapt and get through the long, dark, cold winter, but it isn’t easy.

Now imagine the challenges in places that have been isolated from sunlight and organic compounds derived from light-dependent reactions for millions or even billions of years. It seems incomprehensible that anything could survive there. Yet scientists, including the members of our team at Princeton University in New Jersey, have found surprisingly diverse microorganisms in the deep Earth, adapted to a lifestyle independent of the Sun.

Sunlight can filter down to depths of about 1,000 metres in ocean water, but light penetrates no more than a few centimetres into soils or rocks. Cold is not a problem down there, however. Quite the opposite: rainwater that percolates kilometres deep into the crust along fractures and faults between rocks can reach temperatures of 60°C (140°F) or higher. The further down you go from the surface, the closer you are to the mantle. Heat rising from the inner Earth is what warms the fissure water. Additionally, the water is under high pressure, contains very little or no oxygen, and is bombarded by radiation from natural radioactive elements in the rocks.

Within this hellish environment, though, are crucial ingredients for nurturing life. Underground water reacts with minerals in the continental crust, and the longer the water has been trapped down there, the more time there has been for the results of those reactions to accumulate along the flow path. The slow reactions between water and rock dissolve minerals into the water, and break up some of the water molecules, producing molecular hydrogen. This hydrogen is an important fuel for microorganisms in the deep subsurface.

We are also beginning to map the different ecosystems and populations of the deep Earth. Generally speaking, the older subterranean fissure water is brinier (saltier) and has higher concentrations of dissolved hydrogen. Our studies and those by some of our colleagues have shown an apparent trend that the microbes living in older, more brackish water are distinctly different from ones in the younger, less saline water.

Old-water ecosystems are dominated by hydrogen-utilising microorganisms such as sulphate-reducing bacteria and methane-producing archaea. Those methane-producing archaea, or methanogens, are microbes that visually resemble bacteria but are so structurally and genetically distinct that they belong to a completely separate domain of life. Sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogens are among the life forms that appeared earlier in the evolutionary history. In contrast, young-water ecosystems are dominated by metabolically diverse and versatile bacteria of the phylum proteobacteria.

Studies of the deep ecosystem are already resonating across many fields of science. They are sparking new ideas about the origin of life and about the limits of metabolism. They are filling in new details about the cycling, distribution and storage of carbon on Earth. Deep continental ecosystems will aid the search for underground life on rocky planets such as Mars; deep-sea and sub-seafloor ecosystems, in turn, will help researchers assess the likelihood and possible nature of organisms living on the ocean moons Europa and Enceladus. The implications of this research are truly cosmic in scope.

Final del formulario

Subsurface microorganisms are estimated to be extraordinarily long-lived. In our studies, they show a turnover time as slow as 1,000 years, meaning that they divide only once every few thousand years. To put it in perspective, the common gut bacterium E.coli divides once every 20 minutes. One of the long-standing questions is, how do the deep microbes achieve such a slow-motion lifestyle?

It is not easy to make a living in the subsurface because the biochemical reactions to harness energy from minerals and geological gases – a set of processes known as chemotrophy – are not as efficient as photosynthesis, the process that green plants use to capture energy from photons of sunlight on the surface. Some subsurface microorganisms can form stress-resistant spores and remain inactive in order to withstand extreme subsurface conditions; otherwise, microorganisms have to invest at least a certain amount of energy, which varies from one taxa (evolutionary population) to another, to maintain the integrity and functionality of the cells.

Nowadays, genetic sequencing techniques allow us to investigate in great detail which organism has the potential to metabolise what component of the environment. We can also probe the metabolic potential of the community as a whole using metagenomics, a way to study the collective genetic diversity. Together, these approaches are revealing the overall structure and functioning of the deep biome.

Our studies of the proteobacteria-dominated communities (collected from several sites 1 to 3 km below land surface) show that they share a high degree of similarity with each other, as determined by a genetic marker known as the 16S ribosomal RNA. However, the same functional traits are carried out by different taxa. This variation cannot be explained by physical separation of the sites, nor by each location’s unique physico-chemical features – normally the most ecologically influential factors for such segregation. Neither depth nor water-residence time appear to be a significant contributor to differences, either. Future investigations on the origins of subsurface microorganisms, along with their evolution and movement over the geological history, will aid our understanding of the biogeography, or living landscape, of the subsurface.

Deep microbial groups have established strong, paired metabolic partnerships

We recently completed a study of subsurface microbes using high-throughput sequencing to look at the total population of RNA and proteins. In a 2015 paper, we described for the first time the comprehensive network of metabolic functions being actively executed in the subsurface. At 1.3 km below land surface at the Beatrix gold mine in South Africa, the active community was comprised of 39 phyla from all three domains of life: bacteria, archaea and eukarya – the domain of complex organisms that include humans. Overall, the ecosystem was dominated by proteobacteria.

The molecular data, together with isotope geochemistry and thermodynamic modelling, presented a unified story that the most successful group down there is the betaproteobacteria, a class of proteobacteria that obtain energy through a coupling of nitrate reduction and sulphur oxidation in order to fix carbon dioxide for cellular growth. The demand for nitrate among deep microbes was unexpected; it had gone unnoticed prior to our study because the measured nitrate concentrations in the subsurface water samples were tiny. More interesting, we deduce that deep microbial groups have established strong, paired metabolic partnerships, or syntrophic relationships, which helps the organisms overcome the challenges of extracting the limited energy that originated from rocks. Rather than competing directly with each other, these microbes establish a win-win collaboration.

Most of the carbon in microbial cells appears to be derived directly and indirectly from methane. This is true even though methanogens and methane-oxidising microorganisms together accounted for less than 1 per cent of the organisms in our samples – an astonishingly low fraction, given that methane was the most abundant dissolved gas (~80 per cent) in the water samples we studied. The different kinds of microbial taxa that recycle methane in the subsurface occur at varying abundance over time and space.

Despite the advantages of metabolic partnerships, some deep microbes have evolved to go it alone. Through metagenomics and genome-based analysis, the research scientist Dylan Chivian of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (building on work by Tullis Onstott, the head of our team at Princeton University) discovered a sulphate-reducing bacterium, Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator, that has complete self-reliance for living in the subsurface ecosystem. Since the publishing of this discovery in 2008, Ca. Desulforudis has been detected elsewhere in both continental and marine subsurface. Single-cell genomic data suggests that ancient viral infections transported archaea genes into Ca. Desulforudis cells, which gave the bacterium the genetic machinery for its self-reliance.

Single-cell genomic data has not only permitted us to investigate cell-to-cell variations in the genomic materials of subsurface microbes, but also to recover the genomic blueprints of microbes that cannot be cultivated. These overlooked organisms are sometimes called ‘microbial dark matter’ because they evade detection by conventional laboratory methods. As with astronomical dark matter, microbial dark matter vastly exceeds the amount that is ‘visible’ to us. Some 99 per cent of the microorganisms do not grow under artificial laboratory conditions. We must rely on single-cell genomics and metagenomics to hunt for microbial dark matter in the deep subsurface.

Even after we and several other research teams realised that bacteria and viruses have colonised the harsh, deep subsurface, most scientists still considered it unlikely that anything more complex than these unicellular organisms would be able to survive down there. More complex, multicellular organisms generally cope less well with low oxygen levels and high pressure, and they require more food. All the same, in 2006 our group (led by Onstott and Gaetan Borgonie) started to look for nematodes at great depths.

Nematodes (commonly called roundworms, not to be confused with earthworms, which belong to a group all of their own, the Annelida) are extremely common multicellular organisms. Together with insects, they are the most dominant animals on the planet. Nematodes are mostly very small. Although some can range up to several metres in length, most are less than 1 mm long. Their origin extends back 1.1 billion years, to a time not long after the divergence of plants and animals in evolution. Nematodes are considered to be among the oldest multicellular organisms still known on the planet. They have conquered almost any niche on the planet from soil to oceans; some have even evolved to parasitise plants and animals, including humans.

What made nematodes a logical choice to look for in the deep subsurface is their proven track record for being able to survive in extreme environments. Many species are able to alter their life cycle when confronted with life-threatening conditions. They form a survival stage in which their metabolism is greatly reduced. In this way, they are able to withstand anoxia, heat, drought, freezing and toxic conditions for several decades, and then revive when wetted or when conditions are adequate again.

Nematodes can withstand huge pressures, too. When the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry in 2003, a biological experiment on board containing nematodes made a free fall from an altitude as high as 42 km. Their canister hit the ground with a force of roughly 2,500 g. (Transient centrifugation at up to 10,000 gs, which would liquefy a human, is a common manipulation in standard nematode laboratory procedures.) A few weeks later, the experiment was recovered. The nematodes inside the canister had not only survived the ordeal, they were reproducing. Furthermore, humans need 21 per cent oxygen in our atmosphere to be able to breathe. Nematodes can make do indefinitely with only 0.5 per cent oxygen, and many species can survive extended periods with less or no oxygen at all.

This effort resulted in the discovery of a whole zoo of invertebrates in water that was 12,300 years old

Our search for deep-Earth nematodes resulted in the 2011 discovery of a new species of nematode, Halicephalobus mephisto. Its name literally means ‘the devil worm’. The nematode was recovered from water that flowed out of a fissure at a depth of about 1.3 km in the Beatrix gold mine. Carbon-dating showed the water there to be around 3,000 years old. In the years that followed, we found more nematodes living at an even more remarkable depth of 3.8 km.

After the discovery of the devil-worm nematode, we performed a long filtration sampling setup that lasted two years. During that time, we filtered 12,845,647 litres of water at a depth of 1.4 km. (The search for deep life is painstaking work!) This effort resulted in the discovery of a whole zoo of invertebrates in water that was 12,300 years old. We recovered species of flatworms, nematodes, rotifers, arthropods, annelids, fungi and protozoa, a whole community thriving inside the filter.

Genetic analysis revealed that none of these was a new species, but that they were all species already known from the surface. Further investigation revealed that nearly all the complex subsurface dwellers shared a common characteristic: they were known to be cosmopolitan, and therefore well-suited to living in extreme environments. At that time, we also made the first video footage of a biofilm – a thin, self-contained living layer – attached to crevices deep inside the rock. The biofilm is composed of bacteria and organic matrix, and it is home to all these animals.

We also found several non-animal species, such as fungi and protozoa, living in deep fissure water that ranged in ages from 7,000 to 500,000 years old. Often their abundance in the fissure water was low, just one specimen per 10,000 litres. In contrast, in certain areas we found patches of bacterial biofilm containing worms at population densities of more than 1,000,000 individuals per square metre. Because the known subsurface animals are small, a cavity the size of your thumb can hold an entire ecosystem containing several hundred small invertebrates, fungi and protozoa.

The commonality of species on the surface and subsurface posed a consistent research challenge. At all times, we had to make extensive analysis to be sure that any specimen found was not the result of contamination of the mines where we were executing our research. We also measured the age of the water to be sure it was not recent, using both chemical and bacteriological techniques. And we had to maintain aseptic conditions at all times. These are similar to, though milder than, the kinds of precautions that might soon be needed for analysing samples from Mars for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Except for Halicephalobus mephisto, we never did find any completely new species of multicellular organisms in the Beatrix mine. This seemed counterintuitive at first, as we expected that a long process of adaptive selection in the deep subsurface would lead to novel life forms. With the advantage of hindsight, though, it is not so surprising.

If you consider any patch of soil anywhere in the world, the nematodes (or any other small invertebrate) living there undergo a daily and seasonal cycle of stress. On bright days, sunshine can dry out the soil; when it rains, puddles might cut off all oxygen; at night, the freezing of water or a bigger animal stepping on that patch adds pressure and disturbs the soil. In summary, animals living in the soil on the surface already experience stress every day. Many of the organisms transported to the deep subsurface would have adapted to extreme conditions long ago, so they would not need a long adaptive selection process to be able to survive. That would account for the paucity of undiscovered deep species.

It’s an enigma: how did a salt-dependent surface worm get that deep without meeting deadly fresh water?

Even after we got past the surprise of what organisms we found living in the subsurface, we were still caught off-guard by where we found them. During our survey of the Beatrix mine, we discovered nematodes living inside salty stalactites at a depth of about 1.4 km. Moreover, this species of nematode was adapted to living in salty water and could not even survive in fresh water. On the surface, this species had been found years before to live in brackish water conditions. Although the Beatrix mine is situated in a dry salt pan, it is still an enigma how a salt-dependent surface worm managed to get that deep without encountering a deadly layer of fresh water in between.

The process of transport to the deep subsurface is not yet understood, and is the subject of much current research. Even in the absence of answers, the broader realisation that complex surface life forms can also survive indefinitely in the deep subsurface is good news for the search for life on planets and moons in our solar system. A similar process of migration could have transported life forms to the deep subsurface long before the surface conditions became inhospitable on Mars, for instance.

And our journey into the inner life of the Earth is just beginning. We are interested in determining whether species from the deep subsurface truly are as isolated as they seem, and if the migrations go in both directions. It is possible that some subsurface organisms reappear on the surface via hot springs. Our analyses of hot-spring waters in the Limpopo region as well as the southern and western Cape regions of South Africa did not turn up any evidence of such resurfacing. Nevertheless, this is a provocative issue that we are continuing to investigate because it will tell us how frequently genetic materials are being exchanged between the surface and the deep subsurface.

Finally, we recognise that we have probably explored only a tiny fraction of the deep biosphere, and might not yet have encountered its most significant inhabitants. It stands to reason that, if cosmopolitan species from the surface can survive in the deep subsurface, isolated from their surface brethren, then over a long period of time some organisms might have adapted to even more extreme conditions deeper in the subsurface. It could be that the real treasure trove of new and weird life forms still awaits discovery far beneath our feet.
Reproduced from Aeon: : https://aeon.co/essays/deep-beneath-the-earths-surface-life-is-weird-and-wonderful

 Are fossil fuels really formed from fossils?

Hydrocarbons have been found in great abundanc  elsewhere in the solar systemwhere there is unlikely to be evidence for life past or present. No fossils involved. Petroleum and natural gas wells that have gone dry 50 years ago, are found replenishing a fraction of their output. No fossils involved. Vast biomass of micro-organisms and extremophiles beneath earth surface estimated to be several times the size of the surface biomass found deriving their chemical energy for life from methane and oxygen pulled from sulfates and ferrous oxides. The source of methane way too deep to come from fossils. No fossils involved. These recent findings and other evidence were foretold by the late scientist and researcher from Cornell, Thomas Gold, who authored "The Deep Hot Biosphere". After seeing evidence of extremeophiles in relative abundance in even the deepest of mines , Gold ties the sub-surface biosphere to the "Deep Earth Gas theory" to show a more plausible primordial explanation of hydrocarbon fuel formation than the generally accepted "fossil" theory. He posits that "Hydrocarbons are not biology reworked by geology (as the traditional view would hold), but rather hydrocarbons are geology reworked by biology." In other words, as in Saturn’s moon Titan and other hydrocarbon rich areas of the solar system, the source of hydrocarbons is primordial; but as they upwell into earth’s outer crust microbial life uses it as energy source. While the details of the Deep Earth Gas Theory are beyond scope of elaboration in this question area, the main points which Dr. Gold supports, and provides evidence for are: Hydrocarbons are primordial. IOW, hydrocarbons like elsewhere in the solar systems are here since the planet's birth. The earth was subjected to only a partial melt. Hydrocarbons are stable to great depth. High pressure greatly stabilizes hydrocarbons against thermal dissociation. Rock at depth contains pores. Primordial hydrocarbons are still upwelling from the deep earth. some sub-points worthy of mention: It more adequately explains why Helium is only present in the earth at any mine-able quantity in natural gas. There are no pure Helium wells. Why the strong association of hydrocarbons with Helium, an inert gas that can have no chemical interactions with fossil organic materials or with hydrocarbons? This is known to geologists as the "Petroleum Paradox" and cannot be explained at all by a sedimentary origin of hydrocarbons. The presently accepted theory of fossil fuels is that the hydrocarbons formed from the decayed remains of ancient organic matter (fossils) that somehow sank down into the deep earth and got trapped in sedimentary rock formations where increased pressures assisted in converting the organic material over time to hydrocarbons. Well, hydrocarbons are found in depths where no surface life remains could have possibly geologically submerged to. The physics of how the ancient organic materials or the resulting hydrocarbons sank deep into the earth have yet to be explained. Also, hydrocarbons have been found in igneous rock formations, which the accepted surface to sediment theory cannot explain. Can we still say that fossil fuels are really from fossils? Reproduced from:

https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/10823/are-fossil-fuels-really-formed-from-fossils/10827

 Prologue to the book "Unexhaustible? Oil and Gas"

Petroleum issues are constantly on the front pages of the newspapers.
It is considered the most valuable resource in our contemporary energy hungry civilization.
Oil and its derivatives are essential to move cars, airplanes, thermoelectric plants and plastic industries. Its economic importance is indisputable.
Geopolitical interests have generated instability in several oil producing countries leading to conflicts and wars and sustained variation in prices. 
Sharp increases during the period 1970-1980 (from U$S 10 to U$S 100) per barrel, decreasing in the 1980s  and increasing again in the first decade of the 21st century. During the last two years a sudden retreat of barrels price took place, and by November 2015 it has reached 40 U$S. In 2017 the prices stay around 50 U$S dollares.
One of the main arguments for the 1970s price increase was based on the widespread belief that the genesis of oil and other hydrocarbons was biological in nature, and therefore oil fields would be restricted exclusively to the sedimentary basins of the world.
Most scientists assume that it is in these basins that fossil plants and/or animals have accumulated to give rise to oil and natural gas.
So much so, that in the common vocabulary, hydrocarbons are called “fossil fuels”.
According to this reasoning, stocks of oil and gas would be limited and would be, by definition, non-renewable resources.
The predicted relatively low volumes of hydrocarbons, their non-renewable nature and their widespread need, would explain and justify  past and potential future price increases and their importance in the economy of  many countries.
At present these premises are generally accepted and political strategies of governments and business organizations are based on them.
It is the theory of biological origin or biogenic of  hydrocarbons.
However, with the currently available evidence, and based on the views of some astrophysicists and geologists, one can say that the belief that oil and gas have a fossil origin has a very weak scientific backing.
The substitute abiotic theory, which considers more adequately the data of reality, sustains that oil, natural gas and hydrocarbons have a mineral origin and their stocks are virtually inexhaustible.
According to this approach, the hydrocarbons are generated through processes of planetary degassing. These are processes by which the various compounds of carbon and hydrogen rise from the planet’s interior and recombine in the upper mantle (adapting to new conditions of temperature and pressure) ascending into the Earth crust to accumulate in areas where this rise is obstructed (often in the sedimentary basins).
Some adherents to the mineral theory, particularly the Austrian astrophysicist Thomas Gold, argue that rising oil oxidizes in depth mainly a result of the action of certain bacteria (hyperthermal bacteria), forming water and carbon dioxide, and leaving behind reduced waste minerals (including some metallic ores).
These phenomena would occur in all planets of the solar system (and probably in other star systems) where temperature is appropriate. Therefore it would be reasonable to assume that this type of underground life would be the rule while the shallow life (as in the Earth) would be the exception.
Similarly, Gold says that the movements of hydrocarbon fluids in depth and their surface emissions are causing the majority of seismic events and tsunamis (perhaps all).
In short, the integral and systemic theory developed by this Austrian astrophysicist radically rethinks, not only the beliefs about the origin of oil and other hydrocarbons, but the very foundations of geology and planetary astrophysics.
The book presented here aims to provide a synthesis of these ideas, framed in the new approaches about the nature of life and their distribution in space, developed by Fred Hoyle and other researchers from the Institute of Astrobiophysics of Cardiff.
We aim to introduce new evidence on an issue that until now has been considered unilaterally, and even in a dogmatic manner, by many scientists and academics, with significant implications in terms of the economy and society.

From "Unexhaustible? Oil and Gas", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Academic dogmatism and the needs for heresies

Danilo Anton

The paradigm of normal science defined by Thomas S. Kuhn is the set of theories, rules, procedures and knowledge that permeate a particular society at a particular time in its history. Today it regards to the scientific “model” widely adopted in contemporary global society.

The theme of hydrocarbons, as well as the geophysical and geological framework that would lead to their formation and evolution, is an estalbished paradigm that resists being changed despite the numerous data which should induce a radical and thorough review.
In this “globalized” society it is assumed that the official scientific model developed through the accumulation of scientific data would allow “progress” in knowledge, in particular achieving greater detail in the specific application of accepted scientific models.
Unfortunately, there is no official method in this paradigm (or any other dominant paradigm) that would accept other theories and apply other rules or procedures that may end modifying it radically.
For that reason, in the field of petroleum geology, it is so difficult to put into question the validity of many concepts whose accuracy are being contradicted every day by reality.
The difficulty of changing the official paradigm is that this modification, nor only modifying concepts, but mainly because it also alters power relations.
Politically, those who hold “the paradigmatic power”, are the same mechanisms that control decision-making.
From the economic point of view they are the ones who benefit from the decisions made based on the officially accepted postulates
In the academic sphere there are those who defend their prestige and economic security that give professional or academic positions they occupy and eventually would be threatened by a possible change of paradigm (Lovelock, 1988).
When we analyze the accepted theory about the origin of oil and natural gas, and its main defenders in the academic and industrial world, we find a similar a similar situation as was generally defined by Kuhn and Lovelock.
The biotic theory of petroleum formation involves the inevitability of future shortages, which produces price increases.
Companies and oil states are particularly interested in defending this point of view to sustain their huge income.
The interest of researchers and academics to maintain the paradigm of fossil fuels minerals is based on the privileges granted by the institutional structures and the economic and organizational power of the establishment.
In short, the struggle for the preservation of the paradigm of fossil fuels, is not just a theoretical discussion. Like so many other issues, it also arises in terms of economic, political and social power.
The ideas of Thomas Gold and other astronomers, astrophysicists and geologists who proposed the theory of planetary degassing have been ignored, and even desauthorized, but not disproved with relevant scientific information.
We have no doubt that sooner or later the paradigm shift will occur. When the critical mass of researchers and scientists and support of the public is sufficient, when the decades passed and new data become available confirming the new vision of the history and dynamics of our planet, power structures will be disarticulated and a new paradigm based on the actual data will be officially accepted.

Hydrocarbon Fuels Aren't Fossils


by Paul Sheridan 

Gold's theories are always original, always important, usually controversial - and usually right. It is my belief, based on 50 years of observation of Gold as a friend and colleague, that the deep hot biosphere is all of the above: original, important, controversial - and right." - From the Foreword by Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

The Deep Hot Biosphere is a culmination of more than 50 years of the life of its remarkable author, astrophysicist Thomas Gold, of Cornell University. Gold was a founding director for the Cornell University Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, chairman of Cornell's Department of Astronomy, and is the author of more than 280 papers in the areas of cosmology, zoology, physics, and astronomy.

Gold's thesis in The Deep Hot Biosphere is simple: Hydrocarbons have been in existence since the earliest times of the universe, and are part of the process of planetary formation. Their constituents, hydrogen and carbon, originated in the "primordial soup"from which Earth was formed. Earth's methane and petroleum, Gold says, are abiogenic - without biological origin.

Contrary to the currently promoted explanation, Cold says that hydrocarbons did not disso-ciate during these early times because of high temperatures of planet formation, as theorists claim. Current geological science, he shows, affirms that the temperatures were not high enough, especially when depth-related pressures are taken into account.

Gold contends that hydrocarbon sources can be found at great depths below the surface, not a few miles, but a few hundred miles. The deep-Earth sources of hydrocarbons are still wor-king to this day, pumping tons of petroleum and methane gas up through the deep Earth's cracks and pores to the shallow sedimentary levels. It is here that drilling rigs access the upwelling that has been vertically dammed into reservoirs, Gold says. Hydrocarbons did not come from rotting prehistoric plants; they were here a few billion years before life occurred.

Gold discusses the latest space research in-formation, much of which he discovered or pro-posed, which confirms that hydrocarbons are present on lifeless heavenly bodies such as moons, asteroids, comets, and, of course, the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptu-ne. In fact, the blue coloration of planet Uranus is the result of methane, a so-called fossil fuel. As Gold comments, "I am sure there are no big stagnant swamps on Titan or Pluto."

 

To support the abiogenic theory, Gold notes several points:

1. The geographical patterns that emerge from the oil fields, whether in the Middle East or Indonesia, all exhibit a correspondence to deep-Earth geological structure. This is in stark contrast to the haphazard deposition we find with surface life, and its subsequent fossils, which have never exhibited such patterns.
2. Hydrocarbons from a particular oil field do not exhibit chemical changes as the depth of their extraction increases. But the fossils above them have constantly changing biologi-cal "signatures," which relate to their particular paleontological periods.
3. Hydrocarbons are found in geographic areas where the amount of prehistoric life known to be at that location could never have provided the quantities of hydrocarbons involved. Most surface life is comprised of 90 percent water and 10 percent organic compounds. So, even if that 10 percent that is organic compounds had been entirely converted to "fossil fuels," it would not come close to the mass of hydrocarbons already extracted during the last 130 years.
4. Because hydrocarbons are so consistent, the use of distinct trace metals can be used to identify their geographic: origin.
5. The existing petroleum reservoirs are refilling themselves - from the bottom! Gold ex-plains: "The phenomenon of petroleum reservoirs that seem to refill themselves is widely reported, notably in the Middle East and along the U.S. Gulf Coast. I regard these occurrences as strong evidence for the deep-Earth gas theory." 

The Carbon Case

Life as we know it is based on the chemical properties of carbon. Although there is discus-sion that silicon is another element that could provide a basis for life, carbon-based life is all that we have observed thus far. The origin, quantity, and duty cycle of carbon is thus funda-mental to a complete understanding of life on Earth. As it turns out, certain chemical forms of carbon are also crucial to the preservation of life.

The land and ocean areas contain sedimentary rocks which have great quantities of carbon-based chemical materials called carbonaceous compounds. A full 80 percent of this material contains oxygen; for example, calcium carbonate, better known as limestone, is an oxygena-ted material. The other 20 percent that is not oxygenated, is comprised of the hydrocarbons - oil, coal, and methane. There is also a tiny fraction of not-yet-decomposed biological debris that is included in the carbon content of the sedimentary layer.

Carbonaceous compounds are also found in the atmosphere, mostly as carbon dioxide or methane. Together, atmosphere and the sedimentary layers of the land and ocean comprise what is called the atmospheric-ocean pool. The total amount of carbon in this pool is enor-mous, and the overwhelming majority of this "near surface enrichment" of carbon is in the sediments, not the atmosphere.Venus and the Global Warmers:Environmentalists argue that this near-surface enrichment of carbon originated from the prehistoric atmosphere, and they promote the notion that the Earth's early atmosphere was very similar to that of Venus. Earth's carbon, they say, was "precipitated out" from atmos-pheric carbon dioxide into the atmospheric-ocean pool; absorption of carbon by prehistoric plants also occurred.

To hard-sell the global warming agenda, these theorists emphasize that Venus has vast quantities of the "greenhouse gas" carbon dioxide and, as a result, the temperature on its surface is about 700 degrees. However, these environmentalists usually fail to mention that Venus is 26 million miles closer to the Sun, or that its orbit is a near-perfect circle!

Unlike computer climate modelers or politicians with degrees in theology, Gold is an astro-physicist who has spent decades deciphering the details of how planetary bodies form. According to Gold, the general cosmic conditions that formed Earth and Venus were similar, but the devil is in the details. The early Earth was not characterized by the capture of gases from space, as was Venus. An indication of this is Earth's very low quantities of atmospheric krypton and xenon, compared with the rest of the solar system.

Gold also points out that if the carbonate rocks got their carbon from an early atmosphere, the deeper sedimentary layers should possess higher densities of carbonaceous compounds. If the carbon was "precipitated out" from an early atmosphere that was originally rich in carbon dioxide, then shallower rock specimens should show a successive decline of carbonaceous compounds.

The geological records prove otherwise, as Gold shows. There is no successive decline of carbonaceous compounds; the density is steady throughout geologic time. "The only sound explanation," Gold says, "is that atmospheric gases have derived mainly from outgassing of volatiles derived at depth from buried solid materials, not from an initial large atmosphere acquired at the Earth's formation or by later capture of gases from space."

More compelling, in my mind, is the issue of carbon-13. In the last decade, it has been proven that plants do not inhale carbon dioxide containing the heavy isotope C-13. The process of diffusion used by plants during respiration allows only the carbon dioxide containing C-12. Now, C-13 occurs in nature at a rate of just 1 percent. This means that if the hydrocarbons that were layed down over millions of years are the result of decomposing plant life, then these "fossil fuels" should show an absence of C-13. However, the samples of hydrocarbons taken from deep wells show no such isotopic constituency.

What is found is the original stellar nucleo-synthesis constituency of 99 percent C-12 and 1 percent C-13. Gold cautions that a process of geological fractionalization, especially of methane, must be accounted for when discussing similar constituencies of the carbonate rocks.

The Helium Issue:
Permeating every oil find throughout the history of the world, is the presence of outgassing helium. In fact, it is so plentiful at the well sites, that petroleum companies now use helium detectors as one of their oil prospec-ting tools, and commercial quantities of helium are piped, and repackaged for sale at well sites. Gold says: "The association of helium with hydrocar-bons is probably the most striking fact that the biogenic theory ("fossil fuels") fails to account for, and therefore it has been for me of greatest interest."

Helium is inert, it does not react. It is not a member of the "primordial dozen." (Recently, bio-physicists de-termined that the stable nuclides that were the original minimum required for life to begin on Earth are hydro-gen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, sulfur, chlorine, potassium, calcium, and iron.) Plant life does not use helium for anything, and it is not derived from life.

However, it is a fundamental product of stellar nucleosynthesis. It is also a known byproduct of the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium. Both of these heavy nuclides are known to exist at great depth, about 200 miles down.

Curiously, helium is not found in meaningful quantities in areas that are not producing oil or methane. When the constituents of oil wells are examined for mixing ratios of helium, the data patterns are consistent throughout the world. Alone, helium does not possess the fluid pressu-res required to reach the surface in the manner observed.

The only way that such quantities and consistencies of helium mixing are possible. Gold ex-plains is by virtue of a deep source carrier gas" such as methane. The depth of these sources is far below the penetration depths of surface life of their fossils. (Sec Figure 1.)The Diamond Evidence:
Another item supportive of the abiogenic theory is the data Gold gathered from diamonds, which are a pure form of carbon. The temperatures and pressures required to form diamonds begin at depths of 70 miles. This far down, where the pressures are nearly 600,000 pounds per square inch, is far below the reach and survival of fossils. Environmentalists and others claim that hydrocarbons cannot be created in the domains of such high temperatures; dia-monds would disassociate there, they say, and, therefore, could not have possibly been crea-ted there. But such claims have failed to take into account the stabilizing, effects of high pres-sure on temperature-related excitation. In any case, Gold has confirmed that between the interstitial spaces of the carbon crystals that comprise the diamonds, one finds hydrocarbons. The biogenic theory of "fossil fuels" has no explanation for this fact of nature.The Siljan Ring Experiment:

Another example Gold uses to illustrate the abiogenic theory is that of the Siljan Ring, a mete-or impact structure in the central part of Sweden, near the city of Rattvik. Because the location is so far north, it is not considered a site where one would find an abundance of "fossil fuels." The interior of the impact structure has very few sedimentary rocks, as a result of the impact explosion. The interior also has a basement rock that is very thin.

In 1906, Gold and his Swedish and American colleagues drilled holes reaching nearly 5 miles down from the impact interior. The idea was to penetrate the lower crust, and possibly the upper mantle. At these depths, and in this location, no surface life that was decomposed over time could possibly have existed, which makes it an excellent choice for scientific research intended to test the abiogenic theory of hydrocarbon formation.

I emphasize "research" here, because the intention was not the large scale production of na-tural gas or crude oil. Despite this format, by 1991, the Siljan Ring experiment was producing 80 barrels of crude oil per day. These are not commercial quantities, but that was not the intention of the project; science was the intention.

The Russians have taken note of Gold's scientific: findings; the. major American petroleum companies have not yet done so. As of 1998, the Russians have more than 300 wells, drilled into the basement rock on the basis of the Siljan Ring experiment, all of which are producing commercial quantities of crude oil and natural gas.

Using the knowledge and experience gained from Gold, the Russians have transferred their drilling technology to their former allies in Vietnam. So far, in what is called the White Tiger Field, they have drilled 20 wells into the basement rock. The Vietnamese are producing in excess of 6,000 barrels of crude oil per day per well, in an area in which the biogenic theory of "fossil fuels" maintains there will be no hydrocarbons. It appears that the debate is over. 

Ref:  The Deep Hot Biosphere, Thomas Gold, New York, Copernicus, 1999
From: http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/Ingles2/FossilFuels.html

also "Unexhaustible? Petroleum and natural gas", D.Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Where does Earth carbon come from?

D,Anton

The importance of the element carbon in planetary and geological processes has been sometimes underestimated. In the Solar System carbon is found in unoxidized form in rhe outer giant planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. In those planets it appears as methane, ethane and other hydrocarbons. In Venus and Mars carbon is oxidized into CO² representing above 95% of the atmospheric masses. In the Earth, carbon is found in unoxidized forms (coal, crude oil, natural gas, etc) and in oxidized forms as CO² in the atmosphere (400 ppm) and as carbonates in limestones and other calcaire geological formations.

The question thar arises is the following: Where does the carbon on earth come from? The answers are several but two possibilities are prevalent. It may be an original compound from the moments in which the planet.was formed or resulted from the ascent of methane (and other hydrocarbons) through the crust. The first theory relates to the biogenic theory of petroleum formation and the second to the abiotic hypothesis. Thomas Gold was a energetic supporter of the second theory. Here we reproduce his views on the carbon cycle on earth.

Clues about Earth carbon in the carbonate record

T.Gold

"The surface and subsurface sediments on the earth contan approximately one hundred timesas much of the element carbon as would have derived from the grinding up of the basementrocksthat contributed to the sediments. This surface is thus enormoously enriched in carbon. This enrichment requires an explanatiion.

The total quantity of carbon contained in the sediments and on the surface isestimated to average about 200 tons per each square meter of the earth surface area.

One-fifth of all this carbon is in unoxidized form, including various forms of coal, crude ols, kerogen (carbonaceous compounds diffusely distributed in the rocks), and natural gas, either as free gas or in the form of methane hydrate ices. In addition, there is the thin veneer of living and not-yet-decomposed biological material. This latter category- in my opinion the only demonstrably biological component-represents only a very small fraction of the total unoxidized carbon.

The other four-fifthof the carbon is the oxidized form, mostly limestone (calcium carbonate), and dolomite (a blend of calcium and magnesium carbonate). Much of this carbonate was deposited in oceansm, having derived the carbon from the atmospheeric-oceanic pool of carbon dioxide. Carbonate precippitates naturally out of the water column from dissolved carbon dioxide and calcium and magnesium oxides. It can also be precipitated out of the water biologically, by organisms that build carbonate shells or skeletons."

Reproduced from "The Deep Hot Biosphere", Thomas Gold,  2001.
More information in "Inexhaustible? Petroleum and Natural Gas",  D.Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

The Deep-Earth Gas Theory vs. the Fossil Fuel Theory

   

Reproduced from:

Meta Research Bulletin On-Line

2007 Sept. 15 issue

      

Petroleum, coal, and methane are the most commonly known of the hydrocarbons. Carbon and hydrogen combine in molecules in a variety of shapes and sizes to form the hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are believed to be the decomposed remnants of life; dinosaurs, and of all the plants and animals that lived on the earth millions of years ago. High-carbon hydrocarbons form coal in sedimentary layers, believed to be the decomposed remnants of ancient swamps. Carbon in its purest form becomes graphite, and under extreme pressures, diamonds. In sedimentary strata deep and shallow, organic material and living organisms are found in petroleum and other hydrocarbons. Methane, the primary ingredient in “natural gas,” and the simplest and most abundant of the hydrocarbons found on earth, is also thought to be solely the product of biological activity. Methane is known to be the by-product of the metabolism of certain animals and micro-organisms.

          But astronomers have found methane to be abundant in the atmospheres of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, where no life is known to exist. Moreover, spectral analysis reveals that methane is a commonly occurring substance in the universe, found in many planets and asteroids. Instead of serving as a reality check for the biogenic or “fossil fuel” theory for hydrocarbons on earth, which was formulated in the nineteenth century when much less was known about the formation and composition of other planets; this discovery prompted speculations that life must exist on Jupiter. Gold draws a different conclusion:

It would be surprising indeed if the earth had obtained its hydrocarbons only from a (biological source). While the planetary bodies bereft of surface life would have to receive their hydrocarbon gifts by purely abiogenic causes. (46, parenthesis added, all page references from, The Deep Hot Biosphere)

          One of Gold’s major premises, reflected in the title of his book, The Deep Hot Biosphere, ^[3], is that bacteria-like micro-organisms can live in the extreme pressures of the deep earth, and by extension, possibly also in the interiors of other planets as well, and that these bacteria can “eat” or metabolize non-organic hydrocarbons as an energy source, provided that oxygen is readily available. Moreover, he proposes that these organisms may have first evolved deep inside the earth, and may have been the progenitors of all life on the surface of the earth. Thus he offers two mutually interdependent paradigm challenging theories at once, which are synthesized and extended by him from preliminary work done by others. They are interrelated because organic residue, and even life, is known to be associated with hydrocarbons on earth.

         But the crucial question for us is which came first: If hydrocarbons are the remnants of decomposed surface plant and animal life, then they should be found only in or near the sedimentary surface rock layers of the earth, and only in very limited quantities. But if Hydrocarbons are primordial and originally non-organic, that is, if they are naturally occurring molecular substances found in the universe, then the way we should search for them, where we should expect to find them, and in what amounts, will be very different. In the abiogenic theory there should be vast supplies of petroleum and almost limitless supplies of methane found in the deep reaches of the earth, far below the crustal sedimentary layers. And, of course, if the biogenic theory is correct, we should be running out of our preciously scarce “fossil fuels” very soon. In a candid world of open-minded science, this should be a hot topic, and a key question in the forefront of scientific debate, but we rarely here of it.

From:

http://metaresearch.org/publications/bulletin/2007issues/0915/Mrb07cp5.asp