Mars Global Surveyor Images - July 10-16, 2003

o North Polar Sand Dunes (Released 10 July 2003)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/.../10/index.html

With all that sand, can oil be underneath?

Perhaps, if you believe in some abiogenic hydrocarbon theories.

(rick++) wrote in message . com...
o North Polar Sand Dunes (Released 10 July 2003)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/.../10/index.html

With all that sand, can oil be underneath?


Very likely.
Both sand and oil are products of midocean ridge volcanism.
At great ocean depths (2.5 km), primordial silicon and
methane dissolve in water to form silicates and methane
hydrates, respectively. But, when the water recedes to a
depth below ~900m, primordial silicon and methane are no
longer soluble in water and they bubble to the surface.
On contact with air(oxygen), the bubble of silicon
becomes a particle of quartz and the bubble of methane
is oxidized to CO2. Both return to the ocean and cover
the methane hydrates with layers of sand and limestone.
When the midocean ridge emerges above water, it becomes
a guide to the underground oil. Ancient midocean
mountains such as the Urals, Appalachians and the
Continental Divide are surrounded by oil, gas, coal
and sand. From the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, coal of Wyomoing, oil of Alberta and
Prudhoe bay on its north slope, the Continental Divide
serves as an illustration. John Curtis

In article , rick++
writes
o North Polar Sand Dunes (Released 10 July 2003)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/.../10/index.html

With all that sand, can oil be underneath?

Perhaps, if you believe in some abiogenic hydrocarbon theories.

Robert Ehrlich in his book 'Nine Crazy Ideas in Science' (Princeton
University Press, 2001) makes out a good case for the abiogenic
(non-organic) hydrocarbon theory (chapter seven - oil and gas are not
fossil fuels) which is applicable to Earth but might also apply to Mars
and other planets.
The author invites readers to send him any other (non-nutty) crazy ideas
about science at but my email sent to this address was
rejected and I have not been able to obtain the present address of
Robert Ehrlich. If anyone can provide this information it would be much
appreciated.
The crazy idea I wish to suggest is the belief that solar
characteristics are mainly caused by powerful magnetic fields. The idea
that magnetic lines of force extend and twist like rubber bands until
they break with immense release of their stored energy is generally
accepted, but it this is as crazy as a belief in a flat earth or
epicyclic orbits. Magnetic lines are virtual, not real, and were
invented by Faraday to indicate the strength and direction of a magnetic
field. The problems of the 'mainly magnetic' theory of solar physics and
the solution are described in my website:-

http://www.brox1.demon.co.uk/sun2.htm
(New Light on the Sun)

As Robert Ehrlich states (p122) "It often takes an outsider to reopen
the matter {a generally accepted theory] since practitioners in a field
may have too much at stake in the status quo to notice the gradual
build-up of inconsistencies."

--
Eric Crew