Goldian Methane

Natural gas is mostly methane, normally more than 80%. Composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, methane is the simplest of the hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon compounds that form the world's oil and gas reserves have long been thought to form from decomposition of vegetable material many millions of years ago, and thereby to be in limited supply.

But now a bold new idea is circulating about the source of methane. Dr. Thomas Gold of Cornell University suggests that a vast store of methane was trapped deep within the earth when the planet was formed. Under high pressure from the weight of overlying rocks composing the solid outer part of the earth, Gold's methane, according to his suggestions, is trying to move upward and to seep out of the earth, a process called outgassing. Gold's idea has major implications about the world's available fuel reserves. If he is right, new exploration and deeper drilling methods can yield a huge supply of energy that might last a million years at the current usage rate. The idea has special interest for Alaska and the Canadian Arctic, too, since the upward migration of methane can be stopped by permafrost. Alaska's frozen North Slope and other Arctic regions with extensive permafrost may be major methane traps

Professor Gold's heretic concept also involves new thoughts on how tsunamis, earthquakes and earthquake lights are generated. His new ideas may be right or they may be wrong. Like many other highly respected and innovative scientists, Gold has been wrong before: years ago he predicted that when the first lunar landings were made the spacecraft would sink out of sight in a deep layer of dust. If he is right this time, future historians will probably acclaim him as a scientific hero of our times. Several of us at the Geophysical Institute are hoping to work with Dr. Gold in seeking ways to see if there really is a supply of "Goldian Methane" under Alaska