Neerajkumar Bhusari 200903041018

Abiogenic petroleum origin is a hypothesis that was proposed as an alternative mechanism of petroleum origin. According to the abiogenic hypothesis, petroleum was formed from deep carbon deposits, perhaps dating to the formation of the Earth. Supporters of the abiogenic hypothesis suggests that more petroleum exists on Earth than commonly thought, and that petroleum may originate from carbon-bearing fluids that migrate upward from the mantle (Very viscous layer of earth between crust and outer core).

Although the abiogenic hypothesis was accepted by many geologists in the former Soviet Union, it fell out of favor at the end of the 20th century because it never made any useful prediction for the discovery of oil deposits. The abiogenic origin of petroleum has also recently been reviewed in detail by Glasby, who raises a number of objections, including that there is no direct evidence to date of abiogenic petroleum (liquid crude oil and long-chain hydrocarbon compounds). Geologists now consider the abiogenic formation of petroleum scientifically unsupported, and they agree that petroleum is formed from organic material. However, the abiogenic theory can't be dismissed yet because the mainstream theory still has to be established conclusively..

The word petroleum means literally rock oil. It was thought to be a completely different oil than that which comes from vegetable sources such as the olive, but modern research has traced its origin to the lipids (oils) of planktonic (free floating) plants and animals which live in brackish water such as blue-green algae and foraminifera. The brackishness is essential because aerobic bacteria does not live in brackish water. Aerobic bacteria would decompose all of the organic matter.

In brackish water the organic matter of the planktonic plants and animals sinks to the bottom and is incorporated in clay sediments which ultimately become sedimentary rocks. This is the origin of the oil shales. Under high pressure and temperature the oil of clay shales can be squeezed out into porous rock. In porous rock the oil can travel until it reaches an impervious barrier such as a salt dome.

Also millions of years ago bodies of plants and animals which are rich sources of hydrocarbons got burried in the deep layers (But upper layars not very deep) of Earth. There due to pressure of earths surface and some geological catalysts, metallic oxides etc.the fossils of plants and animals got converted into mineral oil with high % of hydrocarbons. About 150 years ago humans discovered this valuable energy source, which can be drilled out from earths surface layers.

The evidence for the organic origin of petroleum is overwhelming: Petroleum is found only in association with sedimentary rocks. There is no petroleum associated with igneous or metamorphic rocks. Polarized light passing through all petroleums undergoes a rotation that is the same as for the organic oils. Chlorophyll and hemin are found in petroleum.

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/petrori gins.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petro leum_origin