What if we found oil on Mars?

O.K. a little odd of a thought. But lets say we make it to Mars (either human or robotic) and do some drilling and accidentally "strike" oil on Mars. Ignoring the inevitable political jokes about big-oil, American's "war for oil", knocks on Bush, or anything of that nature...What would the discovery of oil say about Mars' past?

Does it mean that perhaps oil is not formed they way we think it is, by decayed organic matter?

If oil is formed the way we think it is, would that be solid evidence of a lush Mars in the past?

How long does it take oil to form? And how long does it hang around under the surface? Would it be possible to have oil deposits so old that any and all evidence of the life that formed it would have vanished, perhaps, billions of years ago? Would oil hang out underground for billions of years, or would it be chemically altered into something else after that long? If so, could we search for those trace chemicals that would indicate oil -was- present in certain rocks?

A lot of questions, I know. But might promote a neat discussion?

edit to add I just did a search about this topic and found a few, so ignore this one if you want. But some of the other topics were more along the lines of other things than what I had in mind

[edit on 16-12-2007 by IgnoreTheFacts]

well there have been theories that oil is formed from the core or mantle areas of the inner earth , and then it may seep upwards by some form of pressure dynamics

i honestly dont know and im afraid most people do not either

but i do find it to be very possible that you could find oil in many places, depending on where it actually comes from of course

[edit on 26-5-2009 by muzzleflash]

If we are right about the process of oil creation, it would prove carbon-based life existed on Mars millions of years ago. That, or it would prove that there are multiple ways that oil is created, besides from dead carbon-based life over time.

if we are wrong (see abiotic theory) I'm not sure what it would prove. It wouldn't be evidence for or against life.

What a fantastic thread. I almost didn't read it because I had assumed it would say something like, "If we found oil on Mars, could we bring it to Earth?" But you present some very interesting questions. I'm ashamed to say that I can't answer any of them... But I wanted to point out what a great thread this is. S&F.

You have asked very good questions. To be honest Im not sure how oil is made but I was under the impression it was made from dead carbon-based lifeforms.

Which has always made me wonder... Why do they find oil in such large amounts underground? If oil is just dead animals why do we find huge deposits of oil underground. Did all this animals die in the same place? Probly not so how did all the oil get to the same spot ? SO I have always wondered the same what REALLY is oil.

Sorry about the side thougth..... I hope they do find it on Mars. If they did find oil on Mars there would be a space race you wouldnt believe lol. Every contry with any type of space craft will be trying to stake a claim. Also if oil really is dead carbon-based life it would prove that Mars had things roaming on it. Either way, where ever they find oil... they will invade.

Although it is commonly believed that oil originated from decomposed carbon based life forms, new research has suggested that various hydrocarbons can be formed by other methods, such as the ultra compression and heating of geothermal gasses.

I know this isn't quite the same as nasty old crude oil but Saturn's moon Titan is Raining Hydrocarbons with rivers and lakes of Methane and Ethane.

What if oil was discovered on mars? And you bashed my post. Funny one.reply to post by IgnoreTheFacts