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.

Lunar Organic Chemistry

Although it is highly unlikely that there is life on the moon, the nearest target of space explorers probably does contain a layer of organic molecules, formed in its early atmosphere and now buried in dust roughly 10 metres deep, according to calculations by Carl Sagan of the Yerkes Observatory. Contamination of this material with micro-organisms or organic matter carried by rockets, he writes in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, "would represent an unparalleled scientific disaster."

The author suggests that the early moon, like the early earth, probably had an atmosphere of methane, ammonia and water-vapour. This composition may have persisted for 10 to 100 million years, nourished by gas leaking out from the Interior. Thus there would have been ample time for ultraviolet light and electrical discharges to convert some of the mixture to organic molecules, Including amino acids. Sagan calculates that enough of this material fell to the lunar surface to make up a layer as dense as 10 grams per square centimetre.