Approachable processes Zolotov gathered data from volcanoes ranging from Mt. St. Helen's and Iceland's Surtsey to Sicily's Mount Aetna and Hawaii's Kilauea. All of the volcanoes arose from different geological settings and produced initial gas temperatures of varying ranges. The process is not very efficient today. For instance, at Kilauea, the hydrogen and carbon monoxide amounts of the gases are no more than 2 percent. But it still is a steady source for hydrocarbons to form.
All scenarios involve organic compounds.
Unlike spark discharge scenarios, the processes we are pursuing to study the origins of life, here, or on Mars, are normal, daily geological processes.