RE: Declining water and oil

From: Roger G. Olson (rogero@saintjoe.edu)
Date: Thu Nov 13 2003 - 21:00:42 EST

  • Next message: bpayne15@juno.com: "Re: Declining water and oil"

    Thanks for the reply, fellas!

    I guess my main point was that the article and abstract specifically
    mentioned "plant matter", which apparently is a minor component of
    the organic input to the biomass of petroleum formation. No big deal,
    I understand the analogy concept -- the equivalent amount of modern plant
    matter -- trees, grass, soybeans, etc. But, the article is technically
    misleading -- petroleum is of a shallow marine origin. Actually, the
    author of this article should have made the even stronger point that
    existing petroleum deposits would require much more than the (whatever
    multiplier was mentioned) amount of photic marine organisms to produce
    the petroleum that we're gulping (especially us 'mericans) at an obscenely
    fast pace.

    I hope this is not just a niggling point -- I like *technical* correctness,
    not just rhetorical correctness (or should I say *political* correctness
    -- eewwww!).

    Thanks again!

    Roger

    >
    > Glenn Morton wrote in reply to Roger Olson:
    >>> A quick technical question --- doesn't most petroleum originate from
    >>> the
    >> burial and thermal maturation of marine protists (zoo- and
    >> phytoplankton) rather than "plant material"? Or is this article simply
    >> giving a plant analogy of the sheer volume of equlivalent organic
    >> material needed to produce a gallon of petrol?
    >>
    >> Thanks for clearing this up. I'm not a geologist, but take some
    >> interest in the subject.<<
    >
    >>>Oil is formed by the decay of marine organisms, plants and animals, with
    > some minor input from land plants which get washed to sea and buried. As I
    > read the article he is drawing an analogy.<<
    >
    > Thanks Glenn, I was hoping that you would jump in on this one. My
    > personal
    > knowledge of petroleum geochemistry and source materials is way out of
    > date
    > ... by at least 25 years!
    >
    > The original study in the Climatic Change journal can be found at
    > <<http://reo.nii.ac.jp/journal/HtmlIndicate/html/vol_issues/SUP0000001000/JOU0001000096/ISS0000020282/article_list_en.html>>
    >
    >
    > You can read the abstract here but I think you need a $1,976.00
    > subscription to actually download the article.
    >
    > Steve
    > _____________
    > Steven M. Smith, Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
    > Box 25046, M.S. 973, DFC, Denver, CO 80225
    > Office: (303)236-1192, Fax: (303)236-3200
    > Email: smsmith@usgs.gov
    > -USGS Nat'l Geochem. Database NURE HSSR Web Site-
    > http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/ofr-97-0492/
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > 

    -- 
Roger G. Olson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Environmental Science
Saint Joseph's College
Rensselaer, IN 47978
(219) 866-6295

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