Half-lives in the Hydrocarbon Household

摘要

Since there has been life on Earth, dead organic material has been depos- ited and as a consequence of geological pro- cesses has subsided into depths displaying increased temperature and pressure. Under these conditions fluid hydrocarbons are gen- erated from the buried biomass, which try to travel towards the surface of the Earth, by virtue of their low density and mobility, and to return there as changed organic material into the cycle of nature. In an initial analysis the processes under the surface of the Earth are assumed to be in balance.