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metamorphosed state, during their formation would have complex hydrocarbon molecules. Hydrogenation is a reaction destroyed any organic materials with which we are familiar. Jf that combines hydrogen with unsaturated organic compounds "oil" were formed in the decay of surface organisms, how (hydrocarbons). Unsaturated organic compounds have at least would it ever get down into the regions where it can be found _ one pair of carbon atoms connected by a double or triple bond. now? When an unsaturated compound is treated with hydrogen at a In his earlier book, The Millennium of Methane (see footnote suitable temperature and in the presence of a catalyst (some 14), Gold presented data on the isotopic composition of the heli- substance which has to be present during a chemical reaction um content of the methane (natural gas) which accompanies crude without being materially involved in it, such as finely divided oil. Were this oil derived from the remains of "normal" organ- nickel, platinum or palladium), the multiple bond between the isms that live in what we usually consider the biosphere, then the carbon atoms is broken and a hydrogen atom attaches itself to helium present in trace amounts should have the isotope mix of each carbon atom. For example, when ethylene (C Hy) is 3He/4He that occurs in the atmosphere—not the 4He which is hydrogenated, the product is ethane (CH6). observed to emanate from the inner parts of the Earth in rift zones Hydrogenation is also used with more complicated molecules, and from volcanoes and other environments that are linked to the yielding a great variety of synthetic products that are important in deeper parts of the Earth. Gold provides a wealth of analytical the laboratory and for industry. data to show that helium associated with crude oil (via the asso - The Bergius process—named after the German chemist ciated methane) has an isotopic composition commensurable Friedrich Karl Rudolph Bergius (1884-1949; Nobel Prize winner with a "deep" origin! in 1931)—is used on a large scale in many The physical impossibility of any "normal" parts of the world where petroleum resources life existing at the pressures and temperatures are low. It utilises coal and coal tar as a start- prevailing at a depth of five kilometres and ing material. The coal, mixed with a heavy the trace amounts of isotopic helium occur- . oil, is ground to a fine paste and heated with ring with the methane associated with crude Hydrogenation hydrogen, under pressure, in the presence of oil are conveniently not considered when the processes of some sort, a catalyst composed of metallic sulphides. going paradigm" of oil formation is dis- The resulting oil is further hydrogenated, and cussed. The bacteria living within the Earth operating within the a third hydrogenation yields gasoline. One derive energy from reductive processes (of bowels of the Earth tonne of coal yields about 304 litres (about methane and to a lesser extent of sulphates) , 80 gallons) of gasoline. rather than from oxidative processes, like all seem to be a far more The Fischer-Tropsch process (named after other "normal" life upon Earth. i its developers, the German chemists Franz "Extremophile" life is found everywhere likely mode of . Fischer and Hans Tropsch) was used exten- that researchers care to look—in nuclear formation of crude oil sively in Germany in the 1930s to pro- reactors, volcanic vents, deep-sea grabens, even in space!'* This is not a "modern" phenomenon. Paul Rincon (BBC News Online, 22 April 2004) reported that researchers have found evidence for early life on Earth having thrived in submarine lava flows. Microbes broke down volcanic glasses in pursuit of sustenance in "pillow lavas" of the Barberton Mountainland in southern Africa as long ago as 3.5 illion years. By metabolising these materials, they left behind tubular found in places such as: structures within which are traces of ¢ the Californian coast, which is over- organic carbon. Modern such structures also contain nucleic acids lying a subduction zone (where the Pacific oceanic crust dips and increased traces of carbon and nitrogen—the key elements of under the North American continent) and is in close proximity to ife. the San Andreas fault zone, one of the most mobile regions of the The textbooks on the genesis of crude oil" all regurgitate the Earth's crust (this might not be a "despite", but a "because" type of "story" that had seemed to make sense when "Colonel" Drake relation); duce synthetic petroleum and diesel fuel. It uses a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases with a catalyst containing nickel, cobalt or modified iron. Hydrogenation processes of some sort, operating within the bowels of the Earth, seem to be a far more likely mode of formation of crude oil than what the apostles of the religion of "fossil fuel" are sermonising us with. This would explain why there is oil than what the apostles of the religion of "fossil fuel" are sermonising us with. drilled a hole near Titusville in Pennsylvania in the fateful year of * the Bight of Biafra, where the African continent is fractured 859.” His brief had been to prospect for salt—but he discovered eastwards as is evidenced by geomorphology; oil! There being coal seams in the general area led to an immedi- ¢ on the other side of the Atlantic, off the Brazilian coast, where ate knee-jerk reaction of know-it-all science: the oil had to be a oil-producing wells drilled in some of the deepest water to date segregation from the coal, which because of its content of fos- make a complete mockery of the "going paradigm" as well; silised wood had to derive from plant matter. ¢ the Muglad Basin in Somalia, which is rather close to the East In the more than 150 years since, there has been not a single African graben, along which the eastern parts of Africa are sepa- experiment that has succeeded in "creating" oil from plant (or rating from the rest of the continent; animal) matter!*' Despite this, institutionalised geoscience keeps * the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, a still-active orogen telling its students that oil is "fossil fuel" and has derived from the (region of mountain building); remains of organic matter. ¢ the North Sea, where an impact structure dubbed "Silverpit"”, Chemists have long since known how to synthesise more dated at roughly the same age as the Chicxulub impact structure Hydrogenation processes of some sort, eet ee Sanf. ae " operating within the bowels of the Earth, likely mode of formation of crude oil sermonising sa us with. | 36 = NEXUS seem to be a far more than what the apostles of the religion ' of "fossil fuel" are www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST —- SEPTEMBER 2004