So, toanswer William's question:
oil, coal =biogenic
natural gas =?????????????? biogenic and abiogenic
What if the (from Wiki)
Quote:
The Farallon Plate was an ancient, wholly oceanic plate, which began subducting under the west coast of the North American Plate— then located in modern Utah— as Pangaea broke apart during the Jurassic period. Over time the central part of the Farallon Plate completely subducted under the southwestern part of the North American Plate. The remains of the Farallon Plate are the Juan de Fuca Plate subducting under the northern part of the North American Plate, the Cocos Plate subducting under Central America and the Nazca Plate subducting under the South American Plate.
It is thought that much of the plate initially went under North America (particularly the western United States and southwest Canada) at a very shallow angle, creating much of the mountainous terrain in the area (particularly the American Rocky Mountains). A large fragment of the subducted plate is believed to presently be in the mantle under eastern North America.
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contained (from Wiki)
Quote:
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Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrate, is a form of water ice that contains a large amount of methane within its crystal structure. Extremely large deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth.
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How deep would the Farallon plate be under, say, Utah?
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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily available to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)
"
Quaerendo inventis"
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