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- Gaseous hydrocarbons
that occur in rocks. Dominated by
methane.
Source: Leet, L. Don. 1982.
Physical Geology, 6th Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
- A mixture of the low-molecular-weight paraffin series hydrocarbons
methane, ethane, propane, and butane, with small amounts of higher
hydrocarbons; also frequently containing small or large proportions of
nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, and occasionally small
proportions of helium. Methane is almost always the major constituent.
Natural gas accompanying petroleum always contains appreciable quantities
of ethane, propane, butane, as well as some pentane and hexane vapors, and
is known as wet gas. Dry gas contains little of these higher hydrocarbons.
The exact composition of natural gas varies with locality. The heating
value of natural gas is usually over 1,000 Btu/ft3 unless
nitrogen or carbon dioxide are important components of the gas.
See also: gas; sour gas. CCD, 2
Source:
Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms
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