Natural gas at thermodynamic equilibrium Implications for the origin of natural gas |
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Authors: | Frank D Mango Daniel Jarvie Eleanor Herriman |
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Affiliation: | (1) Petroleum Habitats, 806 Soboda Ct., Houston, Texas 77079, USA;(2) Worldwide Geochemistry, 218 Higgins Street, Humble, Texas 77338, USA |
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Abstract: | It is broadly accepted that so-called 'thermal' gas is the product of thermal cracking, 'primary' thermal gas from kerogen cracking, and 'secondary' thermal gas from oil cracking. Since thermal cracking of hydrocarbons does not generate products at equilibrium and thermal stress should not bring them to equilibrium over geologic time, we would not expect methane, ethane, and propane to be at equilibrium in subsurface deposits. Here we report compelling evidence of natural gas at thermodynamic equilibrium. Molecular compositions are constrained to equilibrium,
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