The Abiotic Checklist

Jonathan Clarke's Abiotic Checklist

Biogenic Myth #1)

1) The almost universal association of petroleum with sedimentary rocks.

Laughable. This claim is so far removed from reality one need not consider any false claim of biogenic theory other than this one in order to understand it's falsehood. See here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Biogenic Myth #2, #3, and #3.1[LOL])

2) The close link between petroleum reservoirs and source rocks as shown by biomarkers (the source rocks contain the same organic markers as the petroleum, essentially chemically fingerprinting the two)

3) The consistent variation of biomarkers in petroleum in accordance with the history of life on earth (biomarkers indicative of land plants are found only in Devonian and younger rocks, that formed by marine plankton only in Neoproterozoic and younger rocks, the oldest oils containing only biomarkers of bacteria).

3)The close link between the biomarkers in source rock and depositional environment (source rocks containing biomarkers of land plants are found only in terrestrial and shallow marine sediments, those indicating marine conditions only in marine sediments, those from hypersaline lakes containing only bacterial biomarkers).

There are no biomarkers. All of the so-called biomarkers have been demonstrated to be abiotic. See here: Lack of C13 Isotope Proves Nothing. Also see Comment on Mantle Hydrocarbons. And The Inorganic Geochemistry of Oil.

Biogenic Myth #4)

4) Progressive destruction of oil when heated to over 100 degrees (precluding formation and/or migration at high temperatures as implied by the abiogenic postulate).

Ridiculous. See here: Brazil Oil Trapped By 500 Degree Heat.

Biogenic Myth #5)

5) The generation of petroleum from kerogen on heating in the laboratory (complete with biomarkers), as suggested by the biogenic theory.

The hydrocarbons in "kerogen" are inorganic. See Myths #3, 3.1, and here: The Inorganic Geochemisty of Oil.

Biogenic Myth #6)

6) The strong enrichment in C12 of petroleum indicative of biological fractionation (no inorganic process can cause anything like the fractionation of light carbon that is seen in petroleum).

See here: Lack of C13 Isotope Proves Nothing. Also see Comment on Mantle Hydrocarbons.

Biogenic Myth #7)

7) The location of petroleum reservoirs down the hydraulic gradient from the source rocks in many cases (those which are not are in areas where there is clear evidence of post migration tectonism).

We see blow outs not blowdowns. Petroleum has been observed deeper than water yet oil is lighter than water. "Remember no biological molecule can exist at the temperature higher than the critical temperature of water, strictly the critical temperature of salt water (there's not much difference) and the critical temperature of salt water is reached at a depth of about 3 kilometers [or] 5 kilometers depending on whether you are in a continental environment or marine environment." -- JF Kenney

Biogenic Myth #8)

8) The almost complete absence of significant petroleum occurrences in igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Laughable. See Myth #1.

The Biogenic theory, was what Karl Popper would call, a good scientific theory: it made definite predictions, which could be tested by observation, and possibly falsified. Unfortunately for the theory, they were falsified.