CompuServe Messages

Hi, Mike– The quantities are there in the meteorites, _if_ the hydrocarbons can survive the early Earth. Carbonaceous chondrites often have a percent or three of carbon compounds, as I understand it. Let a bunch of them clump together to form the Earth, and the whole planet has a percent or three of hydrocarbons, which is a _lot_ of potential proto-petroleum (say that 3 times fast!). Now all we have to do is get the stuff through the magma ocean… These meteorites are not easy to come by; it seems possible that they have still more complex carbon compounds, not yet found because we don't have enough in the way of samples. I took the lack of pre-Cambrian oil as prime evidence of a bio origin; did someone take it otherwise? Buckyballs have been found in soot; while it was likely artificial soot, I suspect the natural kind also has them. –Doug