From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jul 26 2003 - 17:32:07 MDT
--- Spike <spike66@comcast.net> wrote:
<snip>
> Humans have rescued the life on this planet from
> universal extinction. The nearby stars might have
> planets with carbon that is already mostly coal
> and the life thereon nearly dead. It is our sacred
> duty as technologically capable beings, to get there
> with our nanoprobes, determine if the case requires
> our help and if so, start digging out that coal and
> oil and burning it, forthwith. Every moment we
> hesitate, more potential lives are being nonlived.
>
> spike
I still think spike is enjoying a dry technoweenie
style amusement with the above ongoing theme of
humanity showing up just in the nick of time and
saving the planet from carbon exhaustion. But the
repeated overconfident and unskeptical acceptance of
the biogenic (ie, fossil) origin of petroleum and coal
which underlies the joke has been like an itch that I
gotta scratch.
Ever since Mitch's post:
HydroCarbons: Gulf of Mexico
http://www.extropy.org/exi-lists/extropians/0306/10577.html
---I've been nibbling away at this question.
I googled up the current theories on planet/sun
formation from the planetary/solar nebula. Sought the
primordial composition of the nebula, and the sequence
leading from nebular gas/dust to gas/dust disk to
planetesimals to proto-earth to earth (as well as to
the sun and other planets). In the process I took
note of the current theory seeking to explain the
different compositions of the different planets,
innermost to outermost (which, if I got it right, is
held to be the consequence of a radial temperature
gradient: hot close in to cold further out). I came
to suspect, but couldn't find clear confirmation, that
the temperature profile had a time factor as well.
That is, the original nebula was thought to have a
(uniform?) temperature of 30-50 deg Kelvin. Then the
temperature increased and differentiated concurrent
with the structural evolution. I mention this last
because I was looking for a definite statement of the
primordial composition of the earth--methane and other
carbons sources in particular--and the temperature in
the planetary disk at the various stages of planetary
formation seemed to me, from what I was reading, to be
critical.
I came to the conclusion that the earth accreted in a
relatively cool manner. Coolest early on from small
cool bits, and getting larger and warmer only
gradually. Only later would the planet heat up, as a
result of the combined effects of radioactive decay
and heat retention due to size. As the heat-up
proceeded, the planet would evolve structurally, part
of which evolution would be the "outgassing" of
volatiles. Primordial volatiles.
This leads directly to the carbon question. I'm with
Thomas Gold on this. Ain't no dinosaur and
prehistoric leaf litter involved (I assert). That
theory needs a place on the bookshelf reserved for
historical amusement and humility alongside tomes on
the flat earth, Phlogiston, spontaneous generation,
Lamarkian evolution, etc. Time to move on IMO.
One more thing. If the name Thomas Gold provokes in
any degree an "Oh, that crank!" response, step back
and take a look at that reflex attitude. As always,
an old and comfy habit (of thinking in this case) is
old, and comfy, but that don't make it true. Be not
complacent.
Also, small recommendation. The first link below is
long and dense, the second short and very fun. Some
people like to eat dessert first.
--------------------------------------
The Origin of Methane (and oil) in the Crust of the
Earth — This is a major paper, outlining the reasons
why an origin from non-biological materials accounts
better for the facts, than an origin from buried
biomass (approximately 31 printed pages).
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21/usgs.html
The Deep, Hot Biosphere — Reason for suspecting
massive microbial life in the crust of the Earth.
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21/DHB.html
Best, Jeff Davis
"When I am working on a problem I never think about
beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong."
- Buckminster Fuller
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