Marduk

I read that the moon Titan (Saturn I think) is full of petroleum. I thought the working theory was that petroleum came from prehistoric plants & dinosaurs. Does this mean there were once dinosaurs on Titan or does petroleum form naturally? Are the oil companies fooling us into thinking the amount of petroleum is limited on Earth, when there could be 100 times the amount we think?
This theory comes from a book called 'The 10 wackiest ideas in Science', it received a 0 on the wacky scale by the author (who I forget at the moment) meaning the idea may not be so crazy after all. Any thoughts?

Abacus

I think there is evidence that there are hydrocarbons on Titan.

Marduk

I remember when Nixon was president, he actually ordered a feasibility study done to see if they could build a pipeline to Titan to get the petroleum. It’s in liquid form.

Abacus

I really find that hard to believe.

ps418

Oh, there may be some kind of hydrocarbons on Titan. There are abiotic pathways to form hydrocarbons.

Most of it is thought to derive from algae deposited in shallow marine environments, IIRC. Dinosaurs are not a source of petrol, nor are land plants a significant, although they may be preserved as coal, and may leave pollen traces in marine petrol. One of the ways we can know that this material is biogenic is because it is often packed full of biomarkers - chemical compunds associated with the source organisms. Check out Using biomarkers in petroleum exploration

Patrick

AtomSmasher

I doubt they mean petroleum in the common sense, which includes many different combinations of hydrocarbons (and other contaminants) with varying degrees of complexity such as gasoline and kerosene as well as viscous compounds such as tar and pitch. Hydrocarbons are fairly common in our solar system and probably elsewhere in space, but this is intruiging if they occur in unusual abundance on Titan.

If the author scored it a 0 on the wackyness scale, does that mean it's not wacky?

That's ridiculous, can you provide a source?

beausoleil

Liquid ethane, gaseous methane as I remember. Huygens is designed to float in liquid ethane since oceans may have been identified. (From memory, don't have time to reseach).

Marduk

“If the author scored it a 0 on the wackyness scale, does that mean it's not wacky?”

yes, he found it non-wacky

“ That's ridiculous, can you provide a source?”

searching now…….
Please stand by

Oolon Colluphid

And remember, (others, that is -- I'm sure you know, Patrick!), that even methane is a hydrocarbon. That's only CH4... and a long way from petroleum!

Which reminds me that I’ve heard chemistry illiterates saying that carbohydrates have been found in space... meaning hydrocarbons...

DT

Marduk

"“ That's ridiculous, can you provide a source?”

No luck, I e-mailed the guy who originally told me the story, this was his reply when I asked where he heard it:



"Sadly, no. I heard about it in my "Planetary Physics & Chemistry" class ca 1973 at MIT (from the professor). He swore there was an actual memo to NASA about it, but you never know."

maybe the professor was joking, it was quite awhile ago.