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I'm not saying I believe it, but the mantle does contain natural hydrocarbons and it's not just "rock" - it's a very slow moving liquid under immense temperatur

• pixl97 7y ago
  And it helps to remember that hydrogen is the most common element in the solar system. Its not common on the surface, but huge amounts of it are trapped in the earth's interior.
  • a1369209993 7y ago
    It's not hydrogen that's the limiting factor, it's the carbon. Carbon, like silicon (in rock), tends to bind to oxygen whenever possible. So long-chain hydrocarbons would have to in highly anoxic regions. And there's also the issue of reacting with all that abundant hydrogen to form methane, although I'm not sure offhand which direction the binding energy difference favors on that one.