Two British scientists have made an important new discovery (scientific abstract here), mapping what lies beneath the Earth's crust: a vast "molten zone" of carbon beneath the western United States.

Scientists using the world's largest array of seismic sensors found a huge area of melting carbon covering 1.8 million km² (684 000 mi²), 350 km (217.5 miles) beneath the Western US. The discovery challenges accepted the understanding of how much carbon the Earth contains and suggests it is much more than previously understood. 

Using phased-array sensors is a well established technique for mapping used in radar, EEGs, and other applications.  It also enables the scientists to explore what lies deep beneath the Earth's surface.

But instead of celebrating the discovery and exploring the opportunities it raises, warmists have so demonized carbon that the author of the study told Business Insider:

"While there is no imminent possibility of this carbon making it to the surface, it shows that in absence of such a deep Earth reservoir this carbon would have to be accommodated in the surface, potentially leading to massive global warming," he said.  ...

"While between 30-40% of this carbon comes back to the surface through volcanoes, the rest get carried into the deeper mantle,"  Hier-Majumder said. "The partially molten region we see in the US is clearly adjacent to such an oceanic plate in the mantle."

Yep.  Volcanoes are scary.  Business Insider provides a helpful graphic:

Buzz Andersen / Unsplash

Even though all life on Earth is based on carbon, that basic and essential element has become the devil in the new religion popular among those Americans who regard themselves as atheists.  The Gospel of Global Warming offers a version of sin and redemption far less demanding than the Judeo-Christian faith tradition's.  Buy an electric car (heavily subsidized by taxpayers), carry your groceries home in a hemp bag (but watch out for those meat juices soaking in and contaminating the vegetables you take home next time!), and you're saved, without ever contemplating your actual sins against your fellow men and women and God.

The patina of "settled science" (an oxymoron) they seize upon disguises the blind demonology that motivates them and perverts genuine science to their own spiritual imperatives.

This new discovery seems to be consistent with existing theories of abiogenic petroleum, "which propose that petroleum and natural gas are formed by inorganic means rather than by the decomposition of organisms."  These theories suggest that the actual hydrocarbon deposits of the Earth are virtually limitless, since they are not dependent on dinosaur bones and plant life decomposing over millions of years, but rather come from below, the product of the very composition of the earth's interior.

Of course, at current oil and gas prices, drilling deep into the Earth's crust to tap deep gas and oil is not practical.  In fact, under current technology, it is impossible.  But this discovery offers tantalizing possibilities for understanding our world and eventually applying that knowledge to our needs.  Remember the looming doom of "peak oil"?  Fracking put that to sleep.

Instead, religious fanatics have seized upon this new discovery to hype their apocalyptic vision of doom that just has to exist, somehow, if we keep using carbon-based energy sources.

Meanwhile, unless you "adjust" the data, there has been no global warming for twenty years, almost.  But we're still doomed: the warmists have faith in that.

Hat tip: James Lewis