Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Science Line, 2011: Not just oil companies, but humans in the industrialized world are like vampires addicted to fossil fuels. But unlike vampires, who prey on the living, we mortals are living off ancient remains. In the video, the zombies are “oil company disciples” and politicians. For example, the oil company Exxon Mobil, portrayed as a monster in the video, funded groups and research skeptical of global-warming.
Live Science, 2013: Hers was a typical case of an accusation of vampirism following some calamity, such as a plague or a devastating crop failure. Accusing an individual of being a vampire was a not-uncommon way of finding a scapegoat for an otherwise unexplained disaster.
Yeah well, first off there is quite a large body of science that bedunks the notion that petroleum and coal are organic remains…fossil. The KT boundary is a dark line in the soil strata. The reason most of the dinosaur bones from the layer immediately below that KT boundary is that layer of coal….and uranium, iridium.
These are postulated as the byproduct of the violent magnetic reversals that took place at the time.
Visualize torential downpours of petroleum, or coal falling like snow…..natural nuclear blasts about 14/sq mile…..
The Russians have postualated that petroleum and NG are abiotic…forming in the deep crust…..
I’m not tremendously fond of hot weather but will opt for that rather than January “zero weather”. The dinosaurs prospered in a warm climate and high CO2.
Sasquatch, fossil fuels are “fossils” in that they are reduced carbon in one form or another that has stay reduced since ancient times despite the natural tendency of organic matter to oxidize, given time and exposure to air. Not that coal and oil are comprised of “fossils” although anyone who has looked at coal under a microscope can tell you that wood grain can commonly be seen in it.
Also coal and oil can be found in rocks laid down after the K-T boundary. Abiotic oil? May possibly exist. Does it make up a large part of our known reserves? No. If abiotic oil theories had any validity, they would point the way to future discoveries of oil reserves. That hasn’t happened yet.
The real deal-killer for the abiotic oil theory is that, deep in the crust, even if the chemical regime is such that short-chain hydrocarbons could spontaneously self-assemble, there is no room for them to accumulate. There is essentially zero porosity and permeability at those depths, because the very rock itself is plastic and flows like Silly Putty. Look at a block of gneiss or marble.
So what yer saying gordinkneehill is that the science is settled? Couldn’t resist. I don’t have a dog in this fight except to keep all options on the table until verified.
Yep, in this case it’s pretty much settled. If the proponents of the abiotic oil theory want to change that, it’s up to them to use their theory to predict a hitherto-unknown oil field, drill it, and produce commercial quantities of oil from it. The ball is in their court. Should they be able to do that, I’ll be happy to change my mind.