2
   

How Much Geological Energy Is From Sunlight?

 
 
Reply Sun 3 Jun, 2018 08:30 am
Hello, new to forum here. I have gotten into many heated debates about how much geological energy begins as sunlight and how much has always been present due to radioactive materials from beyond the solar system. Does anyone know how to approach this issue?

Maybe this sounds strange and/or metaphysical to trained geologists, but Earth seems like an organism where any external solar-powered biological growth can gradually be swallowed and digested to form a vein of fossil fuel. I.e. if a forest grows and drops sediments and those sediments keep building up without a forest fire or development interrupting the process, the forest will keep feeding biomass into the ground and as long periods of geological time pass, the result will be a vein of coal, shale, oil, gas, etc. depending on how the 'digestive' process works deep underground where those sediments are processed and their energy consolidated.

Now I know there are subduction zones where material is dragged down under a crustal plate, and volcanoes usually occur some distance from the subduction zone. To me it seems like the distance between subduction and volcano must have to do with the build-up and digestion/condensation of subducted fuel to the point where there is enough (vertical) energy to boil up. From animations I've seen, it appears that the subducting material curves downward from an initial feed-in angle that's mostly horizontal and gradually grows steeper. This suggests to me that as the angle steepens, there is more potential for energy to rise up through a vertical column and compound, which could result in it boiling up as a column.

Still, I understand that elements heavy enough to fission are not produced by our sun, because its mass is not great enough. A supernova is required to produce these nuclear fuels, so if that's the case then a great deal of the energy in the mantle/core would be due to nuclear fuel arriving from outside the solar system. Still, I wonder what role solar-generated biomass and fuel-fossilization/digestion plays in adding energy to the mantle. Does all subducted energy bubble up as volcanism, or does it also sink deeper and feed the mantle/core energy/heat that doesn't bubble up?

I would like to continue and discuss the subduction of the Indian subcontinent and the creation of the Himalayas, but maybe I should leave that for another thread. First I'd like to find out if others in this forum think about these issues and what you have to say about them. Thanks in advance.
 
rosborne979
 
  3  
Reply Sun 3 Jun, 2018 11:05 am
@livinglava,
All of the energy in fossil fuels (coal and oil etc) is from sunlight converted through biological processes in to chemical energy.

None of the energy from geological processes is from sunlight. All of that energy comes from nuclear decay and gravitational compression.

If a geological process like lava in a volcano happens to burn coal or oil as it goes about being lava, then the energy being released is a combination of geological and biochemical energy, but their sources are still separate.
roger
 
  1  
Reply Sun 3 Jun, 2018 12:09 pm
@rosborne979,
Thanks. I thought it was a kind of interesting question.
0 Replies
 
livinglava
 
  0  
Reply Sat 16 Jun, 2018 09:36 am
@rosborne979,
How do you know that is the case? Is this just a common assumption or is there clear evidence that demonstrates the distinction between primordial radiactivity and subducted energy?

Further, when you describe 'gravitational compression' as a source of energy, what do you mean by that? That there is potential energy in material bearing down, and that energy gets transferred under the crust? If so, what is the source of energy that piles material up on the surface for it to be able to bear down?
0 Replies
 
 

 
  1. Forums
  2. » How Much Geological Energy Is From Sunlight?
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.02 seconds on 05/16/2024 at 04:12:53