Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!mcvax!kth!draken!chalmers!tekno.chalmers.se!f86_lerner
From: f86_lerner@tekno.chalmers.se (Mikael Lerner)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Primordial Hydrocarbons
Message-ID: <662@tekno.chalmers.se>
Date: 3 Apr 89 18:36:56 GMT
References: <space-request+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU> <Added.UY_0i1y00Ui3Mhhk9N@andrew.cmu.edu> <986@calvin.EE.CORNELL.EDU> <291@v7fs1.UUCP>
Organization: Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Lines: 30

In article <291@v7fs1.UUCP>, mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
> <Thomas Gold, an astronomer/geologist, has suggested that there are plenty of
> <hydrocarbons on Earth that are _not_ due to metamorphosis of dead plant
> <and animal matter.  Having heard him speak on this topic, I can say that 
> <he makes a convincing case.  Some outfit in Sweden is digging for some of
> <his "primordial" hydrocarbons on the rim of an ancient meteor strike.
> 
> As luck would have it, last night's NOVA episode was on exactly
> this topic.  The outfit in Sweden found methane, but not enough
> to make the well viable at this time.  They said that the gas
> had been verified as being of non-biological origin, but they
> didn't explain how they had verified this.

	Please, notice the word 'digging'! The drill hasn't stopped
	yet! Almost a kilometer of drilling remains. The goal is
	7500 m, where the large amounts of gas is thought to be found.
	
	Anyway, the methane concentration has increased steadily
	with increasing depth. And the latest news I have read,
	says that the bottom of the hole is filled with oil, and
	preliminary analysis shows that this oil is of the same
	type found in small amounts on other places in the neighbor-
	hood.

	So ... We keep our fingers crossed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikael Lerner                               "This is the way the world ends,
F86_Lerner@tekno.chalmers.se                 not with a bang, but a whimper."
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden                      T.S. Eliot