Print this pageAAPG ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Making the Next Giant Leap in Geosciences
April 10-13, 2011, Houston, Texas, USA
Origin of Oil and Hydrocarbon Gases Within Our Solar System – Biogenic and Abiogenic?
(1) Global Geoenergy Research Limited, Halifax, NS, Canada.
The petroleum hydrocarbons (oil like components and gas) and kerogen macromolecule are abundant within the extraterrestrial atmospheric particles or gases, as reservoir of lakes and oceans or in hydrate forms in various planets (Earth, Mars, moons of Saturn and Jupiter), asteroid belts, carbonaceous chondrites, and as solid residue within the planets or moons within and outside our Solar System.
These discoveries clearly rekindled the very old debate over the biogenic or abiogenic origin on the genesis of these hydrocarbons. Several theories are prevalent for the abiogenic origin of petroleum: formation of gas by thermal tsunami; various deep polymerization processes in the upper mantle gases; gases evolved from a hot deep biosphere in the mantle. The origin of petroleum on Earth are overwhelmingly connected to the organic origin (thermal degradation of macromolecular kerogen). Earlier publications and our analysis of petroleum hydrocarbons within carbonaceous chondrites using biological, petrological, SEM/EDS, and petroleum geochemical methods may indicate that (1) they originated from archaea, bacteria, and primitive algal remnants; (2) the presence of three types of temperature events affecting petroleum generation within these carbonaceous chondrites: (a) lower temperature events (<200oC) in comets and cooler asteroids or planets (examples:. Murchison, Tagish Lake, Orgueil); (b) transitional temperature events (200 - 300oC) are associated within the deeper section of the comets, asteroids or planets (examples: ALH 840001, and NWA); (c) high temperature induced zones (>400-500oC) within asteroids or planets or moons (examples: Allende, Vigarano, EET).Organic matter is closely associated with the volcanics or intrusives.