Abstract
THE volcanic origin of natural gas and petroleum is strongly advocated by Mr. Eugene Coste in a paper read before the Canadian Mining Institute (March 5). The author points to the complete analogy of the products of theoil and gas fields with the products of volcanic solfataric action. These products are water, chloride salts, sulphur, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid and hydrocarbons. He brings forward facts upon which he bases his view that all the petroleum, natural gas, and bituminous fields or deposits are essentially the products of solfataric volcanic emanations, condensed and held in their passage upward in the porous tanks (sands, limestones, Sic.) of all ages from the Archaean to the Quaternary. He instances the occurrence of carbon and hydrocarbons in gneisses and various ancient plutonic rocks. He likewise refers to the dolerite of the Lothians (described by Mr. H. M. Cadell), in which cavities of the rock are filled with a mineral wax not unlike the ozocerite of Galicia. The oil shales through which the igneous rocks have intruded were in Mr. Coste's opinion impregnated by solfataric emanations, for their bituminous-character is local, and in proximity to the igneous rocks. Allusion is made to the occurrence of asphalts and oils along; the faulted and broken margins of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, the great asphalt deposit of Trinidad filling, the crater of an extinct volcano. Again, natural gas and petroleum are associated with mud volcanoes. The author therefore concludes that carbon and hydrocarbons are derived, from deep-seated fluid magmas, in which they exist probably in the form of carbides. The “rock pressure” of natural gas is regarded as a remnant of the initial volcanic energy. This has been registered as high as 1525 lb. to the square inch, but is usually between 200 and 1000 lb., and is a constantly decreasing pressure from the time the gas is first used. The theory that artesian water is the cause of the gas pressure is regarded as untenable.
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W., H. The Origin of Natural Gas and Petroleum . Nature 68, 20 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068020b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068020b0