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Salient: Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Vol. 24, No. 7. 1961.

New Light on the Origin of oil and Gas

New Light on the Origin of oil and Gas

An eminent Soviet geologist believes that Europe's largest natural gas deposit—in the Ukraine—is of inorganic origin. He maintains that the geological structure and development of the earth's crust in the area show that the deposit was formed by the migration of gas. At the same time, however, the structure of the sediments show that the gas could not have reached it from neighbouring areas. Nor, apparently, could it have formed from organic materials on the spot. Geologists have long been arguing about the origin of natural gas and oil. As early as 1877 Mendeleyev put forward the hypothesis of the Inorganic origin of oil from carbides of heavy metals. The majority of scientists believe that gas and oil were formed from organic remains burled deep underground.