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Scientists find gases from Earth's mantle
'As the rocks were pulled from the water, bubbles of gas trapped inside them exploded'

October 11, 2005

Reaching 10,000 feet into the Pacific Ocean, marine geologists from La Jolla have snatched rare volcanic rocks off the sea floor, bringing to the surface chemicals direct from Earth's interior.

The rocks, dredged from a ridge 200 miles southwest of San Diego, popped like firecrackers as some of the high-pressure gas bubbles trapped inside them exploded as they were hauled onto the Revelle research vessel.

Finding volcanic rocks that still hold gases in large concentrations from Earth's mantle ? which lies directly beneath the planet's crust ? is a tremendous discovery, the geologists said yesterday upon docking in Point Loma. Scientists have located similar volcanic rocks in only one other place ? at a spot in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20051011-9999-1m11rocks.html

The search for methane in Earth's mantle
'The idea that methane could be formed nonbiogenically came from observing the solar system'

U.S. Department of Energy

Petroleum geologists have long searched beneath Earth's surface for oil and gas, knowing that hydrocarbons form from the decomposition of plants and animals buried over time. However, methane, the most plentiful hydrocarbon in Earth's crust, is also found where biological deposits seem inadequate or improbable?for example, in great ocean rifts, in igneous and metamorphic rocks, and around active volcanoes. Some scientists thus wonder whether untapped reserves of natural gas may exist in Earth's mantle.

A collaboration of researchers from Lawrence Livermore and Argonne national laboratories, Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, Harvard University, and Indiana University at South Bend is finding that methane may also be formed from nonbiological processes. Experiments and calculations conducted by the team indicate that Earth's mantle may provide the temperature and pressure conditions necessary to produce methane.

http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2005-08/drnl-tsf082205.php

An interesting science find from you Garry, quite a change from your usual posts.
It might be very interesting to see what gases are found in seabed rock/magma dredged up from the Marianna trench, (over 5 miles deep).
It might out-gas all the way up to the surface, even explode violently in the ships lab. Nessesitating for the sample to be put into a pressure vessel to conserve the gas for examination.

It would be interesting to see what gases they find in these explosive rocks. We could be prospecting for natural gas in the seabeds in future.

Thank you alot Mike, hopefully show of methane (analysis not released yet) Hopefully high BTU methane, every Texas field declining (except for Barnett Shale)

http://www.geomap.com/graphics/I-33.gif