The theory of abiogenic petroleum origin states that petroleum (or crude oil) is primarily created from non-biological sources of hydrocarbons located deep in the Earth. The theory stands in contrast to the more widely held conventional view that petroleum is created from the remains of ancient living matter. The constituent precursors of petroleum (mainly methane) are commonplace and it is possible that appropriate conditions exist for hydrocarbons to be formed deep within the Earth.
Although this theory is supported by a large minority of geologists in Russia, where it was intensively developed in the 1950s and 1960s, it has only recently begun to receive attention in the West, where the biogenic theory is still believed by the vast majority of petroleum geologists. Planetary scientist Thomas Gold was one of the abiogenic theory's greatest proponents in recent years. Although it was originally denied that abiogenic hydrocarbons exist at all on earth, this is now admitted by Western geologists. The orthodox position now is that while abiogenic hydrocarbons exist, they are not produced in commercially significant quantities, so that essentially all hydrocarbons that are extracted for use as fuel or raw materials are biogenic.
A variation of the abiogenic theory includes alteration by microbes similar to those which form the basis of the ecology around deep hydrothermal vents.
One prediction of this theory is that other planets of the solar system or their moons have large petroleum oceans, either from hydrocarbons present at the formation of the solar system, or subsequent chemical reactions.
That this theory is receiving increasing attention from Western geologists is indicated by the fact that the American Association of Petroleum Geologists scheduled a conference A Cool Early Earth." Zircons Are Forever. Accessed on April 11, 2005.
- ^ Chapelle, F.H., O'Neill, K., Bradley, P.M., Methe, B.A., Ciufo, S.A., Knobel, L.L., and Lovley, D.R. (2002) "A hydrogen-based subsurface microbial community dominated by methanogens". Nature 415, 312-315.
- ^ "The Prohibition of Hydrocarbon Genesis at Low Pressures." Gas Resources Corporation. Accessed on April 15, 2005.
- ^ Article link
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