Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

About three years ago, on another forum, I posted a thread called The Void, in which I vexed the question, where is all this liquid fuel coming from (petrochemical). At that point in time I worked out that since taking up driving (1979), in volume, I personally had used 48 cubic metres of petrol, the equivalent of the volume of my living room, and in the ensuing three years, i have probably used the volume of our downstairs Loo. First off, if that is just my consumption, extrapolate that usage across the good folks of planet earth, and more importantly, what is going to fill this friggin great void.

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

Oil isn't usually in some big rock encased bubble, it's usually trapped in porous rock beneath an impervious layer and when it and any associated gas is extracted the matrix of the porous rock is sufficiently strong as to prevent the rock from collapsing – at least most of the time though over tens of thousands of years there will be some compaction in most cases.

There are exceptions, the so called “Salt Domes” being one such, where extraction does see a degree of subsidence but this is nowhere near as much as is the case of “conventional” mining where huge amounts of the rock is removed leaving cavities that will usually soon collapse.

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

Good evening Erinaceous, thanks for the clarification, I am at ease with the fact that implosion is not imminent, but what about the volume, one can only assume that whilst in the ground, the liquids mass is less than once extracted.

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

It's true that extraction of liquid or gas leaves voids but as the rock matrix is sufficiently strong in most cases to prevent collapse none takes place.

When a geological time-scale is considered this changes but as that is measured in at least millennia it's not a thing to loose much sleep over.

What IS worthy of concern is extraction from less than porous rocks where ”Hydraulic Fracking” is employed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

This process, is banned in a number of European countries yet is being increasingly undertaken in GB in spite of the known and established problems ranging from aquifer pollution to mini earthquakes.

I strongly recommend anyone interested in this little discussed subject to read the Wiki article. It's well written and unusually accurate for Wiki.

Just concentrating on unconventional extraction methods for fossil gas, here's the URL that shows a map of some of the sites and planned sites in GB.

http://frack-off.org.uk/new-homepage...uys/locations/

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

It would seem to be a bad time for Scousers and Mancunians, this subject was discussed on the Jeremy Vine programme about twelve months ago, and the pollution of the Water Table seemed to be of most concern.

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

I have used about another 4 cubic metres since this thread was originally posted, it's still flowing from somewhere.

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

What worries me more is how clean is the water I'm drinking? Surely it's ALL been drunk and urinated out by now?!!! And is it likely to get worse with an ever expanding population?

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

Thank you for bringing that back to my attention, I've been managing to put that at the back of my mind !!

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

Soz!

Re: Is there a Geologist (or Mathematician) on here

There are all sorts of opinions about just when oil and gas will actually run out but there is also increasing evidence from the Gulf of Mexico that some old oil fields are being refilled by petroleum surging up from deep below, scientists report.

That may mean that current estimates of oil and gas reserves are far too low! stevmk2