The first person in the world who tried to explore the origin of oil was Russian lomonosov. As early as 1763, he put forward the following viewpoint: underground fertile substances, such as oil shale, asphalt, carbon, oil and amber, all originated from plants. Because oil shale is nothing but rotten grass and leaves washed down by ancient rain and black soil transformed from forests, it sinks like mud at the bottom of the lake ... The light weight of resin and oil and the flammability of resin indicate that their causes are the same.
1876, another famous Russian figure, Mendeleev, the founder of the periodic table of elements, put forward a completely different view: the earth is rich in iron and carbon, which may be converted into a large amount of iron carbide at the early stage of the formation of the earth, and then react with overheated groundwater to generate hydrocarbons, similar to oil. The generated hydrocarbons rise to a suitable position along the cracks in the earth's crust for storage and condensation, forming oil deposits. 19 At the end of the 20th century, the "carbonation theory" was popular, but it was gradually rejected because there was no sign of iron carbide in the depths of the earth and there could be no groundwater in the depths of the earth.
During this period, astronomers used spectral analysis to find that hydrocarbons exist in the atmosphere of some planets in the solar system and the nucleus of comets. They obviously have nothing to do with biological behavior. Russian sokolov put forward the "cosmology" of the origin of oil in 1889, arguing that the earth absorbed hydrocarbons in the primitive atmosphere when it was still in a molten fireball state at the beginning of its birth. As the earth continues to cool, the absorbed hydrocarbons gradually condense and are buried in the earth's crust, forming oil. Opponents point out that the atmospheric composition formed by the earth is similar to that of the modern atmosphere, and it is impossible to have a lot of hydrocarbons; Even if there were, the molten earth would have decomposed when it met with high temperature.
People call "carbonation theory" and "cosmology" inorganic genetic theory. There is also an inorganic genetic theory called "Volcano Theory". Not many people hold the "volcano theory". They think that oil is the product of volcanic eruption, but after all, there are few oil mines in the volcanic belt in the world. This theory cannot explain the formation of a large number of oil mines that do not exist in volcanic areas.
1888, Jeffery inherited lomonosov's theory of organic origin and challenged the theory of inorganic origin. He believes that all oils are formed by a series of changes in the fat of marine animals. Soon, it was put forward that plant debris was influenced by temperature and pressure in lakes or seabed to generate organic matter, which was then converted into oil. Some emphasize the importance of marine plants, while others say that terrestrial plants are more conducive to oil generation.
In 1930s, the former Soviet Union scientist Gu synthesized two opinions and published "On the Causes of Mixed Animals and Plants", arguing that the mixing of animals and plants was more conducive to the generation of oil after a series of changes. According to the latest theory of petroleum organic matter formation, the organic matter forming petroleum and natural gas includes terrestrial and aquatic organisms, and plankton is the most productive. They are deposited with sediments and other minerals in low-lying shallow seas, bays or lakes. First, organic sludge is formed, which is covered by new sediments, resulting in a reducing environment isolated from the air. With the subsidence of low-lying areas and the thickening of sediments, the pressure and temperature of organic sludge are also increasing, and it is gradually transformed into oil and natural gas through biochemical, thermal catalysis, thermal cracking and high-temperature quality stages.
In the 1940s and 1950s, it was generally believed that petroleum hydrocarbons were transformed from organic matter dispersed in sedimentary rocks in the early stage of diagenesis. Some people have found hydrocarbons formed almost at the same time as sediments in modern sediments, and on this basis, they have put forward the early oil generation theory of organic origin, also known as molecular oil generation theory.
In 1960s, the late oil generation theory replaced the molecular oil generation theory. The late oil generation theory holds that when sediments are buried to a great depth, the insoluble organic matter contained in rocks in the late diagenesis will reach mature pyrolysis to generate oil, so it is also called "acid anhydride tyrosol oil generation" theory.
However, the inorganic genetics school has not died out. 195 1 year, Kud Yantsev, a geologist of the former Soviet Union who has been an organic geneticist for 40 years, made a sudden 180 degree turn and founded the "magma theory".
He is convinced that there are not only carbon and hydrogen in the magma deep in the earth, but also trace elements such as oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen in oil. In the process of magma changing from high temperature to low temperature, they will have a series of chemical reactions, thus forming a series of compounds in oil. Then, with the intrusion and eruption of magma, these petroleum compounds migrate and gather in favorable parts of the earth's crust, forming petroleum deposits.
Gauld, an astronomer at Cornell University in the United States, has proposed many times since 1977 that oil comes from the depths of the earth and was produced as early as 4.5 billion years ago when the earth was formed. His reasons for refuting the organic theory are: the scale of oil mines in the world is much larger than that of any other sedimentary ore body, and the proven oil and gas reserves are hundreds of times higher than originally estimated according to the biogenetic theory; The most difficult thing to explain is that many oil and gas are accompanied by helium, but organisms have no effect on the concentration of helium; Moreover, the biological action shows that the global oil fields are highly concentrated (referring to the Middle East). In addition, according to the traditional theory, granite is igneous rock, and there can be no oil and gas. However, Gauld predicted that the largest meteorite impact crater in Europe, the annular Siriyan area, located in central Sweden, was made of granite, but the meteorite impact caused huge cracks, which were enough to make hydrocarbons in the deep underground flow to the crust surface. Therefore, the Swedish National Energy Administration has drilled seven exploratory wells with a depth of about 500 meters in the crater, and all of them have seen a small amount of natural gas, which seems to confirm Gauld's hypothesis.
It can be seen that it is too early to draw conclusions about the origin of oil.