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Inorganic Origin of Petroleum

The theory of Inorganic Origin of Petroleum (synonyms: abiogenic, abiotic, abyssal,
endogenous, juvenile, mineral, primordial) holds that petroleum is formed by non-
biological processes deep in the Earth crust and mantle. This contradicts the traditional view
that the oil would be a "fossil fuel" produced by remnants of ancient organisms. Oil is a
hydrocarbon mixture in which the primary constituent is mainly methane CH4 (a molecule
composed of one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). The occurrence of methane
is common in Earth's interior, with the possible formation of hydrocarbons at great depths.
This hypothesis dates from the nineteenth century when the French chemist Marcellin
Berthelot and the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev proposed to explain the origin of oil
and their theories was revived in the decade after 1950.

Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907)

“The capital fact to note is that petroleum was born in the depths of
the earth, and is only there that we must seek its origin” — Dmitri
Mendeleev, 1877.
 Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907)

“Do these fuels result always and necessarily in one way from the
decomposition of a pre-existing organic substance? Is it thus with the
hydrocarbons so frequently observed in volcanic eruptions and
emanations, and to which M. Ch. Sainte-Claire Deville has called
attention in recent years? Finally, must one assign a parallel origin
to carbonaceous matter and to hydrocarbons contained in certain
meteorites, and which appear to have an origin foreign to our planet?
These are questions on which the opinion of many distinguished
geologists does not as yet appear to be fixed.” — Marcellin
Berthelot, 1866

The inorganic theory contrasts with the ideas that posit the exhaustion of oil (Peak Oil),
which assumes that the oil would be formed from biological processes and thus occur only
in small quantities and sets, tending to exhaust. According to the Abiogenic Theory
(Abiotic), hydrocarbons are very abundant on the planet, but the search for discovery of
commercial accumulations is not simple because it must pass through the understanding of
the geology of the favorable areas and especially to understand the real nature of oil and of
natural gas.
Comparisons between the theories
Oil Formation
There are two theories about the origin of natural hydrocarbons: the biogenic theory and the
abiogenic theory. These theories have been intensely debated since 1860 and less
frequently after the discovery of vast oil reserves. The postulation that the oil would be
formed from organic waste buried was originally proposed by Russian scholar scientist
Mikhail Lomonosov, in 1757.

Biogenic (Orthodox): remnants of buried plant and animal life (organic waste) hundreds of
feet deep. The action of pressure and temperature with time in geologic converts the
kerogen into hydrocarbons (catagenesis). It is noteworthy that at the time they were
proposed for the biogenic theory of oil formation has not yet had reports of space research
and technology of telescopes and probes, as is now known that the oil abundance on Earth,
in the solar system and universe.

Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001)

“The suggestion that petroleum might have arisen from some
transformation of squashed fish or biological detritus is surely the
silliest notion to have been entertained by substantial numbers of
persons over an extended period of time.” — Sir Fred Hoyle, 1982
Abiogenic: deep deposits of hydrocarbons trapped during the formation of the planet.
Hundreds of kilometers deep hydrocarbon molecules (mostly methane) that migrate from
the mantle to the crust forming complex molecules. In this migration, primordial gasses
such as helium and nitrogen may be present. The presence of hydrocarbons associated with
biological molecules is closely related to contamination by microorganisms (bacteria) that
feed on hydrocarbons and die into the oil leave your fingerprints. Almost all of the
hydrocarbons that are chemically form oil generated at great depths by abiogenic processes
and, therefore, the oil deposits in shallower crustal levels represent simple displacement of
oil from its original environment of formation, i.e. the Earth's mantle to shallower levels in
the crust. A variation of the abiogenic theory suggests that part of the oil can be formed
through reactions like Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis from serpentinization of mantle peridotite,
through hydrolysis reactions, producing hydrogen by reacting with other compounds of
carbon (methane), carbon dioxide carbonates produces carbon or hydrocarbons which later
migrate to shallower levels.

Coal formation
Biogenic (Orthodox): Coal is a material derived from organic waste (vegetable) that was
buried and compressed.

Coal mining in Indonesia

Abiogenic: Coal (black only) is a material that can contain the presence of organic
compounds, but that was filled by inorganic hydrocarbons that migrated by continuous
upwelling and reached these deposits come from great depth and preserving fine debris and
cellular tissues of plants. Such a situation may occur in the surface migration of methane
and oil on areas of marshes or peat. Several metals such as Nickel, Vanadium, Chromium,
Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Selenium, among others, are also present in coal. Many
bituminous coals are sometimes and also have high sulfur content. As with oil, these metals
come from deep inside the Earth (mantle) and represent stages in high loss of hydrogen.
Nor is it a rare association of uranium deposits of coal. The association of mercury with
coal is a common fact. In many coal deposits in the world is common to have called
tonsteins layers consisting of kaolin material, sometimes interpreted as volcanic ash. Only
the brown coal (lignite) could be considered biogenic.

Coal layer over 100 ft - Powder River, Wyoming, USA

Modern Abiotic Theories about Oil Formation
Russian geologist Nikolai Alexandrovitch Kudryavtsev was first proposed the modern
theory of abiotic oil, in 1951. He analyzed the geology of the Athabasca bituminous sands
in Alberta, Canada (Athabasca Tar Sands) and concluded that no "source rocks" could form
the enormous volume of oil in those tar sands (currently estimated at about 1.7 trillion
barrels) and therefore the most plausible explanation is that oil is abiotic, abiogenic,
inorganic and that comes from deep inside the Earth through deep faults.

Kudryavtsev worked with such brilliant scientists as Petr N. Kropotkin, Vladimir B.

Porfir'ev, Emmanuil B. Chekaliuk, Vladilen A. Krayushkin, Georgi E. Boyko, Georgi
I. Voitov, Grygori N. Dolenko, Iona V. Greenberg, Nikolai S. Beskrovny, Victor F.
Linetsky and many others.

Nikolai A. Kudryavtsev (1893-1971)

Vladimir B. Porfir'yev (1899-1982)

“The overwhelming preponderance of geological evidence compels
the conclusion that crude oil and natural petroleum gas have no
intrinsic connection with biological matter originating near the
surface of the Earth. They are primordial materials which have been
erupted from great depths.” -- Vladimir B. Porfir'yev, 1956
The Russian-Ukrainian theory of petroleum, based on thermodynamic calculations, in
Ukraine was initiated by the scientist Professor Emmanuil B. Chekaliuk (1967), whose
studies indicated that the oil comes from and originates at high pressures and temperatures
in the Earth's mantle, without the participation of carbon of organic origin (plants or
animals). This theory is supported by several studies conducted experimental laboratory in
the United States by Dr. J.F. Kenney and other Russian scientists.

Emmanuil B. Chekaliuk (1909-1990)

“Statistical thermodynamic analysis has established clearly that

hydrocarbon molecules which comprise petroleum require very high
pressures for their spontaneous formation, comparable to the
pressures required for the same of diamond. In that sense,
hydrocarbon molecules are the high-pressure polymorphs of the
reduced carbon system as is diamond of elemental carbon. Any
notion which might suggest that hydrocarbon molecules
spontaneously evolve in the regimes of temperature and pressure
characterized by the near-surface of the Earth, which are the regimes
of methane creation and hydrocarbon destruction, does not even
deserve consideration.” — Emmanuil B. Chekaliuk, 1968
The American scientist astronomer and astrophysicist Thomas Gold was one of the most
prominent proponents of abiogenic theory in the Western. He claims that oil is a primordial
substance, formed deep inside the Earth and other planets also (especially in the form of
methane). The rise of methane, sometimes along with helium and nitrogen, reached
shallower in the crust, where the hydrocarbons interact with microbial life which
contaminates the primordial oil.

Thomas Gold (1920-2004)

“Hydrocarbons are not biology reworked by geology (as the
traditional view would hold), but rather geology reworked by
biology.” — (Thomas Gold, 1920 - 2004)
One of the predictions of abiogenic theories is that other solar system planets and their
satellites have oceans of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane). These hydrocarbons would be
present or in the formation of the solar system or were products of subsequent chemical
reactions. The hydrocarbons are present in the nebulae, commonly as complex Polycyclic
Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Hydrocarbons are very common in the solar system and universe

Image of Orion Nebula images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space
Telescope (SST). The colors in yellow due to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH's) that
are common in nebulae, comets. These aromatic compounds are also part of the oil.

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) has conducted conferences on

issues regarding the origin of oil (biogenic/Abiogenic) and involvement in exploration and
oil production.

Evidences supporting Abiotic Theory

Supergiant oil fields
Russian geologist Nikolai Alexandrovitch Kudryavtsev was a prominent advocate of the
abiogenic theory. He argued that any oil produced in the laboratory from plants is similar in
chemical composition to natural hydrocarbons such as crude oil. He presented many
examples of that, substantial and sometimes commercial quantities of hydrocarbons were
found in the basement crystalline rocks or in sediments directly to them overlapping.

He cited cases in Kansas and California (United States), in western Venezuela and
Morocco. He also indicated that the oil reservoirs in sedimentary strata are often related to
significant fractures in the basement immediately below these accumulations. This is also
evidenced in the field of supergiant Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, in the Panhandle-Hugoton
field in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma that also produces helium in commercial quantities,
Tengiz, Kazakhstan, White Tiger, Vietnam and countless others. In the Last Soldier oil field
(Wyoming, USA).

Kudryavtsev established that in all horizons of the geological section, sandstones of the
Cambrian to Cretaceous cover the basement and have reservoirs of oil. A flow of oil was
also obtained in the very base. Gaseous hydrocarbons, he noted, are not rare in igneous and
metamorphic rocks of the Canadian Shield. Petroleum in Pre-Cambrian gneiss is found on
the western shore of Lake Baikal in Russia. He noted that oil is present in large or small
quantities, but in all horizons below any petroleum accumulation, apparently totally
independent of the variability of the conditions of formation of these horizons. This
nomination has become known as "Kudryavtsev's Rule" and many examples of it have
been recorded in various parts of the world. He concluded that commercial accumulations
of oil are simply found where permeable zones are covered with impervious areas.
Kudryavtsev introduced a number of other relevant considerations as arguments. Columns
of flames have been seen during the eruptions of some volcanoes, sometimes reaching 500
meters high, as during the eruption of Mount Merapi in Sumatra in 1932. The eruptions of
mud volcanoes have released huge amounts of methane so that even the most prolific gas
field overlying has been exhausted long ago. The water from the mud volcanoes of some
chemicals such as door Iodine (I), bromine (Br) and boron (B) that could not be derived
from the sediments and next that exceed the concentrations present in seawater at hundreds
of times. Mud volcanoes are often associated with volcanic lava (magma) and when near
the latter, the mud volcanoes emit non-combustible gasses, whereas when further away emit
methane.

Mud volcanoes, Salse di Nirano, north Italy

He knew of the occurrence of oil in basement rocks of the Kola Peninsula (Russia) and oil
leaks on the Siljan impact structure, Sweden. He noted, as mentioned above, that the
immense quantities of hydrocarbons in the Athabasca Oil Sands (Tar Sands), Canada would
have to contain a vast amount of "source rocks" according to the conventional model, when
indeed, none was found.

Map of the Athabasca Tar Sands oil sands, Alberta, Canada.

The estimated reserves are 1.7 trillion barrels of oil

Athabasca Tar (oil) Sands mining, Alberta, Canadá

 Map of supergiant Ghawar Field in Saudi Arabia. This field is 230 km long.
The estimated reserves are 250 billion barrels

Horst basement below the Ghawar Field

Seismic section in the southern part of Ghawar field. Note the deep fault in the basement,
through which hydrocarbons migrate and accumulate in the overlying sedimentary
reservoirs (from AAPG Explorer)
Methane and extraterrestrial hydrocarbons
Methane and many other hydrocarbons have been detected in several regions of the solar
system. Methane is a common constituent of the cosmos and the building was built to Earth
during its formation. Alternatively it could have been enriched through the Earth chondritic
meteorites. A special class of meteorites, chondrites designated carbon or carbon containing
about 3% of its weight in carbon, and can show various complex carbon-based compounds
such as porphyrins, amino acids, purine and pyrimidine bases, and carboxylic acids. This
implies a strong evidence for the presence of hydrocarbons in the deep past tenses of
planetary bodies that have disintegrated. In 2004, the Cassini-Huygens Mission (NASA and
ESA) confirmed abundant hydrocarbons (methane and ethane) on Titan, a satellite (moon)
from Saturn.

Titan, a moon of Saturn. Contains lakes and seas of

liquid hydrocarbons, mainly methane and ethane

Methane has been detected on:

Jupiter, Mars, Saturn (and its moons Iapetus, Titan, Enceladus), Neptune (Triton), Uranus
(Ariel, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, Umbriel), Pluto, Comet Halley, Comet Hyakutake and
cosmic dust, Nebulae and Interstellar gas.

Methane in Mars
Cosmic and Planetary abundance of carbon
The element carbon (C) is the fourth in order of abundance cosmological, preceded only by
hydrogen (H), helium (He) and oxygen (O). The available carbon in the nebula that gave
rise to the solar system was built to Earth in the process of planetesimal accretion. The
primary geochemical differentiation made heavier elements stay concentrated in the
nucleus. Partial melting processes in the continued evolution of the mantle, crust,
hydrosphere and atmosphere. Most of the carbon remained in the primordial mantle.

Tectonic processes of high-magnitude enable rise of volatiles from the mantle to shallow
crustal levels on Earth. The reactivation of the mega-structures in sedimentary basins over
its geological history can also promote the upwelling and migration of hydrocarbons.

Cosmic abundance of the elements

According to studies performed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to

estimate the distribution of carbon on Earth is:

Biosphere, oceans, atmosphere ........ 3.7 x 10e+18 moles

Crust
Organic carbon ............................. 1100 x 10e+18 moles
Carbonates ................................... 5200 x 10e+18 moles
Mantle .................................... 100000 x 10e+18 moles

Earth's Carbon Budget (MIT)

Earth's mantle contains according that estimative about 20 times more carbon than in the
superficial layers of the planet. This carbon within the mantle is in the oxidized form such
as carbon dioxide, carbonates, not oxidized as diamonds, oil and possibly metal carbides.

There is a serious problem when we use the word "organic carbon" or organic chemistry.
Dr. Thomas Gold reminds us that we can read a whole book of organic chemistry without
mentioning any organism (biology). A rock that contains carbon does not mean that all or
part of this carbon there is of biological origin, i.e. carbon of organic origin, fossil. This
carbon may have migrated in the form of hydrocarbons and inorganic interacted with the
rock at low pressure, including reworking by deep biosphere, by microorganisms that feed
on hydrocarbons (archaea) which also leave their impressions as (biomarkers).

Many people related to geosciences claim that oil is formed, for example, in shales, which
are thin and laminated argillaceous rocks. However, oil, gas or bitumen that can be
associated with a shale can be allochthonous material and therefore not formed in situ. The
hydrocarbons that migrate to the laminated rocks also promote conservation of fossil and
the very abundance of the latter may relate to local emanation of hydrocarbons, in which the
bodies approached. If not consider these arguments leads to confusion and misinterpretation
that oil is produced from fossil fuels (sic).

Cold planetary formation

In the late nineteenth century it was believed that early Earth was extremely hot, completely
melted during its formation. Many planetary scientists now believe that the formation of the
Earth was relatively cold. Recent studies in older zircons (4.4 billion years) suggest that the
rocks were formed at low temperatures, sufficient to maintain liquid water. The moon
would have formed shortly after this time.

Existence of hydrocarbon deposits

The conventional oil reserves would disappear in no more than a million years, based on the
rate of escape of hydrocarbons to the surface (seeps, seepage). If there are a limited number
of sources of hydrocarbon deposits in the context of geologic time, it would be a surprising
and amazing coincidence to know that there still are now. If deposits are feeding on
themselves, their present existence becomes less surprising.

The crucial issue for the concept of the organic model is how it could support any
mechanism to supply oil reserves faster than its exhaustion. Geological facts collected from
all oil basins testify that, geologically, the fields of oil and gas are formed very quickly,
which contradicts the time required for maturation of organic rocks is based concepts as
biogenic. This is a crucial observation for this traditional model.
Some believe that abiogenic origin has a difficult mission for the hydrocarbon deposits
were not as plentiful as the sources are largely abiogenic. Thinking that mantle volatiles are
alleged as rare in the superficial layers of the Earth is interesting to note that solid rock of
the lower crust and upper mantle cover vast desert areas (as examples granulitic belts and
ophiolite). In addition, outcrops of rocks off the mantle of the ocean floor and throughout
the global system of mid-ocean ridges are plentiful on this planet. Also, it is often assumed
that earthquakes cause massive discharges of hydrocarbons (e.g. oil seeps ''catastrophic'' oil
slicks in the oceans) due to rupture of impermeable rocks, however, it is considered that the
constant fluid seeps always migrate to the surface that day-to-day, called the ''cold''
outgassing such moves as much or even more help in relation to catastrophic events.

Some think that this argument would be somewhat strange because there is evidence of
fossils in tar pits (lakes of bitumen) covering a wide range of periods and therefore many of
them are important sources of fossils. This certainly proves the fossil organic matter
replenishment through geological time (hundreds of millions of years) with which the
biogenic origin alone explains sic. However, this has nothing in common with the rapid
formation of gas and oil fields (around 10 to 40 thousand years), and geologically rapid
deterioration.

Hydrocarbons disappear quickly while there was dissipation, evaporation, and deep
oxidation intense biodegradation. So the clue to solving this problem lies in the global
balance of carbon and hydrogen flows and exchange rates. When scientists and researchers
give attention to these facts and better understand the Earth system, integrating the
knowledge of physics, astrophysics and astronomy will be clear that hydrocarbons (oil and
natural gas) are primordial materials, and therefore prior to emergence of life.

Methane on Earth
Methane gas is typically found on Earth, if not in natural gas deposits, deposits of methane
hydrate under high pressure in the abyssal plains of oceans, often reworked by bacteria
levels in most shallow gas hydrates frozen soils under permafrost "or from the degradation
of biogenic materials. Methane is a greenhouse gas that causes greenhouse about 20 times
more potent than carbon dioxide, CO2 (carbon dioxide).

It is possible that the major extinctions of life that occurred in Earth's history are due to the
increase of methane in the atmosphere through geological processes, such as demotions sea
level or meteorite impacts, which could destabilize gas hydrates in the oceans. It is possible
that this situation would have occurred either during the Permo-Triassic crisis, with the
fragmentation of the supercontinent Pangaea with expressive or meteorite impacts during
the transition from the Cretaceous to Paleogene (Old Lower Tertiary).

Methane reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide when it interacts close to the
volcanoes of magma (lava). Methane reacts with water, oxygen and calcium to form
carbonate cements and concretions in sedimentary reservoirs of oil.

Microbial life that live inside the Earth or near the bottom of the sea feed on methane,
creating spectacular ecosystems, with bizarre life forms and as yet little studied, such as
chemosynthetic communities and deepwater corals.

Methane interacts with argillaceous rocks rich in organic matter (kerogen) and can produce
smaller contributions to the formation of hydrocarbon oil, due to production of real
biomarker (e.g. hopanes, terpanes which are derived from cell walls of bacteria) and
unsaturated (alkenes), but not exactly oil. It can also interact with peat swamps forming
deposits of coal, bringing great depths metals like mercury (as methyl or dimethyl
mercury), arsenic, nickel, vanadium, cadmium, lead, selenium, uranium, among others.

Hopanes are a class of isoprenoids present in small quantities in oil. Its origin is related to
traces of cell walls of bacteria (archaea) that feed and die in the midst of abiogenic
primordial hydrocarbons. These traces are called biomarkers

Methane (and the same or carbonates from methane oxidized) can polymerize inside the
Earth through reactions catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch type synthesis, forming liquid and
gaseous hydrocarbons (oil) by serpentinization of peridotite (dunite) of the mantle produces
hydrogen in the presence of metal catalysts such as nickel, iron, etc.

Sudden shifts large amounts of methane in Earth's interior can cause large earthquakes, as
pointed out by scientist Thomas Gold. The sudden escape of methane to the surface land
surface or on the seas can also be a cause of some plane crashes and shipwrecks. Loss of
support could occur if the route of vessels or aircraft to coincide with a large flux of
methane which would result in a decrease in the density of air or water.
Methane has a wide range of thermodynamic stability. Experiments of high pressure and
temperature confirm this statement.
Unusual deposits
Hydrocarbon deposits are found in areas condemned by orthodox traditional biogenic
theory. Some oil fields are being fed back from deep sources, although this is not a rule for
a "biogenic source rock" deep.

Example noted of oil fields that refilling was reported in Eugene Island, Block 330, in the
Gulf of Mexico. The Russians also have found refilling at Romashkinokoye supergiant
oilfield, like the Americans also saw the same phenomenon in Prudhoe Basin, North Slope,
Alaska. This is a common phenomenon in most fields of oil and natural gas. When the
critical pressure is exceeded or when an earthquake can be replenishment of the reservoirs if
which the structural configuration allows it.

In the field of White Tiger, Vietnam and many fields in Russia, oil and natural gas are being
produced in reservoirs located in the basement granites, with some wells showing the
presence of hydrocarbons over a thousand feet below the top of the granitic basement. In
the case of Vietnam there is no source rock below the biogenic theory and the producer
would have to be a migration of tens of kilometers to the oil migrated laterally, when
through a logical analysis becomes easy to conclude that migration of hydrocarbons is from
the deep fault affecting the basement and allow communication with the mantle.

Model of White Tiger Field, Vietnam. Oil production is done in fractured granitic rock of
the basement, more than 1000 meters below the top

The "black shales" of the Achaean Pilbara Craton (3.25 Ga), Australia, have fluid inclusion
oil and pirobitumen. There is much evidence of bitumen in very old rocks, mainly
associated mineralizations. The primordial hydrocarbons also may lead metal compounds
and deposit them in hydrothermal processes.
Microbes deep inside the Earth
Microbial life has been discovered 4.2 kilometers deep in Alaska and 5.2 kilometers in
Sweden. Metanophillic organisms are known a long time and recently found microbial life
in Yellowstone Park, USA, and are based on the metabolism of hydrogen. Other bodies
deep and warm environments (extremophiles bacteria) remain to be discovered and those
who support extreme environments such as hypersaline lakes. Proponents of Abiogenic
Theory or inorganic origin of oil indicate that the deep biosphere is responsible for
biomarkers present in the oil, i.e., these biomarkers are actually organic contaminants of
natural hydrocarbons.

Microbial life feed by primordial hydrocarbons in depths. An artistic conception of

Deep Hot Biosphere (The Deep Hot Biosphere, Thomas Gold, 1999)

Helium
Association of helium in natural gas fields and oil is quite common. While 3He is a
primordial gas found in mantle, 4He is also generated from the radioactive decay of
uranium.

Helium is commonly associated with light oils, often accompanied by nitrogen and
methane. These gasses aid in the migration of liquid oil and other gasses from deep levels
in mantle to shallower levels in crust.

No known biological process produces helium, so its close relationship with oil is a strong
argument for abiogenic theory. Commercial accumulations of helium are generally rare,
however, are always associated with oil and natural gas. In the gas field Panhandle-Hugoton
in Kansas and Texas, there is significant production of helium. There are also other fields
such as Algeria and Russia with important content.

The retention of helium requires specific conditions, for example, be an extremely effective
seal rock overlying reservoir, usually salt (also called evaporites). The radiogenic helium
formed in crustal levels would not itself sufficient pressure to embed from the rocks beside
the reservoirs of methane and light oils. The most logical assumption is therefore that
migration comes from its deep (mantle) bringing other hydrocarbons. Sometimes helium
occurs associated with carbon dioxide gas, both primordial.

Trace element and associated metals

Nickel (Ni), Vanadium (V), Lead (Pb), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Cobalt
(Co), Chromium (Cr), and other metals are often found in petroleum, mainly Nickel and
Vanadium. Some heavy oils, such as some crude oil from Venezuela, have up to reach 45%
of Vanadium (pentoxide) in the ashes, values which are even commercials. These metals
and their paragenesis are common in Earth's mantle.

These trace elements are also called biomarkers, or non-"abiomarkers" but through the
paragenesis of the metals is possible to establish signatures for identification of origin of
crude oil (petroleum).

The presence of mercury (Hg) is remarkable in many gas fields and also oil, oil shales,
black coal and also peat. Mercury, as already mentioned, can migrate in the form of
organometallic compounds such as methyl or dimethyl mercury. It is a highly toxic
element, biocide, and has no intrinsic relationship with biological activity. Until the
mercury present in peat could come from upwelling through deep faults below that bring
methane to the surface levels.

Analysis of 22 trace elements in 77 oils, chemically correlate best with the composition of
chondritic meteorites, serpentinized peridotite in the mantle and fertile primitive mantle
than oceanic crust or continental, and show no correlation with the distributions of the
chemical in water sea (Szatmari et al., 2005).

Comparison of average trace element of Brazil's 67 oil (ppb) with chondrite, UB-N
serpentinized mantle, primitive mantle, spinel peridotite mantle and depleted mantle
(ppm). The correlations are better with the serpentinized mantle. Szatmari et al. (2007)
Diamondoids
Tiny diamondoids occur in petroleum (oil, gas and condensate). Are molecules that have a
similar arrangement of the structure of atoms as diamonds, that is the cubic crystal system,
and it is suspected that its origin is also linked to the environments of origin of kimberlites
and lamproites, which carry natural diamonds, from the ultra high pressures and
temperature in the Earth's mantle, bringing them to the surface. These diamondoids found
more abundantly in condensates, which are very light oils. Diamondoids are excellent raw
material for nanotechnology.

Diamondoid tiny crystals have an ubiquitous presence in hydrocarbons,

mainly in gas and condensates
Hydrogen
Petroleum is composed mainly of alkanes (n-alkanes, paraffins). Sir Robert Robinson,
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1947) studied the constitution of the natural oil in great detail
and concluded that there was much excess hydrogen to that was the product of organic
waste from plants or animals. Olefins (alkenes), which are unsaturated hydrocarbons, are
what should be expected if the source was organic. He then wrote:

Sir Robert Robinson (1886-1975)

“Actually it cannot be too strongly emphasized that petroleum does
not present the composition picture expected from modified biogenic
products, and all the arguments from the constituents of ancient oils
fit equally well, or better, with the conception of a primordial
hydrocarbon mixture to which bio-products have been added.” — Sir
Robert Robinson (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1947)
Thermodynamics
The Second Law of Thermodynamics prohibits the spontaneous formation of hydrocarbons
heavier than methane at low pressures. Thermodynamic calculations and various
experimental studies performed in Russia and the United States confirmed that n-alkanes
(common components in oil) do not evolve spontaneously from methane at pressures
typically found in sedimentary basins, so the theory for the origin of hydrocarbons
Abiogenic suggests deep generation (below 150-200 km, according to studies leading by
Dr. J.F. Kenney and Russian colleagues.

Stability of hydrocarbons at temperatures and pressures in the Earth (from Chekaliuk,

1976). Methane (CH4) is the most stable molecule of the hydrocarbons, most of it would
survive at all levels down to 300 kilometers, provide the temperature there did not exceed
2000 oC. For the other components of natural petroleum-paraffins, aromatics and
naphthenes - the percentages in equilibrium are shown, these would be the values most
likely to be produced from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon. Methane streaming from
great depth could bring up, in solution, significant fractions of these petroleum
components.

“The Hydrogen-Carbon system does not evolve spontaneously at

pressures less than 30 Kbar, even in the most favorable
environmental conditions. The HC system evolves hydrocarbons
under pressures found in Earth's mantle at temperatures consistent
with that environment” — J. F. Kenney and collaborators, 2002
Biology
Life as we know it is fundamentally based on carbon. The primitive organisms (archaea)
derive energy from primordial methane or oil (hydrocarbons) that are deep within the Earth.
Many microbes also draw oxygen from the reduction of sulfates and produce hydrogen
sulfide (H2S). This deep biosphere as contaminants in oil shares and becomes the so-called
biomarkers found in natural petroleum.

Photosynthesis is a very complicated process that primitive organisms have evolved to

assist them in the conquest and survival on the planet surface. This may have occurred
when the local source of hydrocarbons may have ceased. The astrophysicist Thomas Gold
mentioned that the primitive bacteria invented photosynthesis to conquer the surface to
make your own food, i.e. autotrophs beings.

Phylogenetic Tree of Life

Black smokers on the ocean floor and associated chemosynthetic communities

Serpentinization and chemical synthesis of oil - Fischer-
Tropsch Synthesis
Another possible formation of inorganic oil is through the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. The
Fischer-Tropsch catalyst converts carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane in various
forms of liquid hydrocarbons. Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is generated by the
partial oxidation of coal or fuel wood. This process was developed and used extensively in
World War II by Germany, which had limited access to oil supplies. Is still used today in
South Africa to produce diesel from coal.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is used worldwide to produce liquid hydrocarbons from CO (or

CO2) gas by reductive polymerization in hydrogen, at medium pressures and temperatures
(200-300°C), over transition metal catalyst. (Szatmari, 1989)

Serpentinization of ultramafic peridotite reactions involving carbon-rich Fischer-Tropsch

and is believed to occur at depth where the mantle peridotite is hydrolyzed becoming
serpentinite while there is hydrogen evolution. In the presence of transition metal catalysts
(Fe, Ni, Co), hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide from carbonate rocks and result in n-
alkane hydrocarbons including linear saturated hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones,
aromatic and cyclic compounds. It is also possible that the methane in the deepest regions
of the mantle is polymerized by the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis forming n-alkanes and other
hydrocarbons.

Although this type of reaction can form some hydrocarbons at low pressure and
temperature, the products are not petroleum. Thus these reactions, although not all forms
molecules present in petroleum, could contribute to the formation of the hydro-
polymerisation of methane and carbon dioxide.

Petroleum synthesis in collision zones. Water and CO2, expelled from understhrust shelf
carbonates, cause serpentinization and carbonatization in basal peridotites of overriding
oceanic lithosphere (Phiolite suite), with attendant hydrogen and hydrocarbon formation.
(Szatmari, 1989)
Association of oil with deep structures
Oil and gas fields are mainly found on the deep structures present in the basement, related
to lithospheric plate boundaries, structures of meteorite impact (impact craters). This
association may be observed according to the distribution of oil fields along the arcs, such
as Indonesia, Persian Gulf, the Apennines (Italy), Alaska, Barbados Arch and its continuity
to Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela among others. Divergent margin basins or even
aborted rifts, petroleum occurrences are associated with faults of great magnitude that
communicate the crust and mantle in elevation. Reactivation of important geological along
the fill of sedimentary basins facilitates migration of hydrocarbons to structural highs where
these accumulations can form when they find reservoir rocks and impermeable rocks (seals)
above, forming traps.

Why oil is often found in sedimentary basins?

Sedimentary basins fill depression areas where there were deeply faulted, associated with
plate boundaries (rifts, convergence compression or collision between two continental
lithospheric plates).

The sedimentary strata form excellent reservoirs (pore spaces) and sealing rocks which
when combined can form traps for hydrocarbons. These traps are connected with deep
sources, related to very deep faults also, having interactions with the mantle during the
evolution and reactivation of the basin.

Oil also occurs in basement rocks, although the accumulations are more rare, because the
ignorance of the geology of this kind of terrane, and there is little effort to exploratory
drilling and surveys in this context. The success of the discoveries of the oil and natural gas
accumulations in sedimentary basins is due to the remarkable development of seismic
reflection methods, which allow better identification of structures and prediction of
reservoirs.

Hydrocarbons (oil, gas) migrating through faults from deep to the host sedimentary rocks
are mainly in the reservoirs (rock porosity), however it is fairly common interaction
between alocthonous hydrocarbon and interstratified rocks such as shales and / or
alternating thin shales and carbonate rocks, leading to erroneous interpretation that these
lithotypes are "source rocks" of oil (sic).
Example of oil trends in areas of compressional regimes

Oilfields in the Middle East. The Arabian Plate has relatively small size and suffered several
tectonic events and recurrences. The oil fields are related to deep structures in which the
hydrocarbons migrate to excellent reservoirs in sedimentary basins in the Precambrian to
the Cenozoic due reactivation of old deep structures

Structure of the Arc of Indonesia. The occurrences of oil and coal are related to
seismogenic zones, mud and lava volcanism on the plate boundary. Deep structures
promote hydrocarbon upwelling and migration besides descompression and partial melting
forming lava volcanoes

Structure of the Caribbean Plate. The occurrence of oil in Venezuela and neighbors
countries follow the plate boundary, where there are deep faults that allow for the rise of
the hydrocarbon to sedimentary basins above
Conceptual models of extensional regimes which show
interaction between mantle and oil trends that follow
megastructures

Model of ocean opening and extensional basin formation of divergent margins. Reactivation
of old rift structures that formed the sedimentary basins will rise hydrocarbon from Earth's
mantle to the crust, where rocks of sedimentary basins form the best reservoirs and
sealing systems in favorable structural situation for the hydrocarbons accumulations

Model for the Viking Graben in the North Sea. Large hydrocarbon accumulations of this
area clearly follow the extensional trend of the rift where there is interaction with deep
mantle through deep faults that allow the rise of primordial oil to the sedimentary basins
and their consequent accumulation
“Geology is the prisoner of several dogmas that have had widespread
influence on the development of scientific thought.” — William R.
Corliss, 1975

“It is a singular and notable fact that, while most other branches of
science have emancipated themselves from the trammels of
metaphysical reasoning, the science of geology still remains
imprisoned in ‘a priori’ theories.” — Sir Henry H. Howorth, 1895