CompuServe Messages

Im not a geologist either but I do believe organic material has been found in cambrian and precambrian era rock. i agree this is rare and there may be very good reasons for it. one point is clear- petroleum is primarily found in sedimentary rock that is associate with marine or plant life. it is not found in igneous rock. this lends credence to an organic source. The theory for inorganic sources for hydrocarbons has been around for many years (1920's and earlier). New theories or a revival of old ones may be due to the presence of methane detected on other planets where life presumably did not exist. Methane and lighter hydrocarbons supposedly can also be produced in the lab by inorganic sources. If the discussion were limited to the formation of methane (and ethane) then an inorganic source may have credibility, but we're talking about petroleum and that includes more than a couple of light gases. The present effort to drill to and below granitic basement rock to find methane has been tried before, as i recall, in the mid-1980's in europe (or greenland?). I dont recall success there either. I doubt if anyone can produce hard "data" to justify any arguement, but if it walks like a duck quacks like a duck looks like a duck maybe its just a duck