Originally posted by Banjamin Jefferson Madiso
reply to post by TheTruthSeeker1996
You see, I have my doubts that oil is plant matter, or just plant matter. It is what I have always thought also, but I dont see how, even with MAJOR
shifting, plant matter would wind up a mile below a mile deep ocean floor. The Deepwater Horizon didn't drill through sediment to get to the oil, it
drilled through a whole lot of rock. How would the oil get below all of that bedrock? Unless I am just not accurately envisioning the end result of
millions of years of shifting plates.
You aren't. It takes a long, long time.
There is very clear isotopic evidence that almost all petroleum is from decayed biological source material.
And the geology makes it pretty clear as well---economically substantial amounts of petroleum are found in just those places where the conditions were
right for certain biological transformations.
Think about it this way: the major petroleum companies will pay any ungodly amounts of $$$$ for good predictions of where to find oil and gas. And,
they all go for the biological hypothesis. Why? Because it's the only one that gives return on investment.They don't have any ideology, just profit
motive: whatever works.
In the short run, the clear path of least resistance for transportation is natural gas fueling---not much "alternative energy". CH4 requires no
fundamentally new technology, just capital investment.
Suburban motoring will keep going for another 25-30 years or so as we are not as far in the depletion curve with gas as with oil.
I'm not saying this is a good thing (I'd prefer a rapid build-out of modular nuclear plants), but it's what's most likely to happen when petroleum
hits $250 and stays there.
edit on 3-2-2011 by mbkennel because: (no reason given)
