Cassini Shows Titan Covered in Hydrocarbons

The latest Cassini data shows Titan to be covered in hydrocarbons, in amounts that dwarf all of the known (or admitted) reserves on Earth.

www.esa.int...

www.space.com...

This seems to me to be support for the abiotic theory of the origin of oil and gas, and a blow to the ’fossil fuel’ idea, as I doubt there were a bunch of dinosaurs on Titan. Here are some resources on the abiotic theory.

www.enviroliteracy.org...

www.fromthewilderness.com...

I am posting this in the Science forum in hopes of getting info from those with strong scientific backgrounds, as the peak oil forum tends to be more political in nature. All informed opinions are appreciated.

reply to post by resistor


We're not talking about crude oil here. We're talking about raw methane and ethane. These chemicals make up the atmospheres of most of the outer planets.

I see. So methane and ethane are still hydrocarbons right? If that’s the case, then what makes crude oil so different that it doesn’t occur in the same way? Is it just that much more complex?

I’m not trying to be intentionally obtuse here, I really don’t understand why crude oil has to come from dead animals when there is such an abundance of hydrocarbons in the solar system.