Professor Has an Earthshaking Idea That No One Seems to Buy : Science: CSUN’s Lorence G. Collins says gases within the planet are behind quakes, oil and formation of the continents. Critics sneer at his theory.

Cal State Northridge geology professor Lorence G. Collins is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Rather than enjoying his recent retirement, Collins has taken up the task of selling his theory that miles-deep underground gases trigger earthquakes, create petroleum and explain how the continents were formed.

By contrast, most scientists believe that earthquakes come from land masses pushing against each other and oil is produced from dead plants and animals buried for millions of years.

But Collins says proof of his ideas is embedded in a rock outcropping he found near Temecula 25 years ago.

Trouble is, the more he talks about it, the deeper the hole he finds himself in. The science establishment not only does not believe him, it is no longer paying any attention.

“I can convince nobody that I’m right because it is a theory that is considered crazy,” said Collins, 60, whom colleagues describe as a serious scholar and hard worker.

If he is right, Collins will have explained a lot of Earth mysteries--including how the planet was formed--and probably earn a spot in future encyclopedias.

But so far, other scientists say Collins does not have enough data to back up the idea that gases trapped in the Earth’s core have since creation literally expanded the globe, thus creating several continents from a single one that once covered the Earth.

Collins earlier this month called a news conference at CSUN with an attention-grabbing news release titled “New Theory on the Evolution of the Earth.”

He and partner C. Warren Hunt--a Canadian geologist--paid $50,000 to publish a book this year on their joint theory. Critics sneer that legitimate theories are published on the basis of merit rather than money.

The two men met 18 months ago after Hunt learned of Collins’ work, and each has contributed half to the theory they now share. Since then, they have been trying to draw attention to their work.

Collins kicked off his news conference with the idea that “earthquakes are caused by gas explosions.” He also said some of those same gases, in a complex reaction, are creating nearly limitless supplies of oil and other hydrocarbons several miles below the Earth’s surface.

In response, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucile Jones--who is affiliated with Caltech--said the earthquake idea goes against “incontrovertibly proven facts,” underscoring how far most scientists would say Collins’ theories stray from the real world.

The accepted view is that earthquakes strike when big slabs of ground push against each other long enough and hard enough to cause a sudden movement.

Collins said later that “gas explosions” was an inaccurate way to explain his theory and he regretted having used that description. He said he used the phrase to more easily explain a complicated idea to reporters and other lay people.

Besides getting people to believe them, Collins and Hunt are having trouble claiming the theories as their own.

Retired Cornell University astrophysicist Thomas Gold said it was his idea that subterranean gases trigger earthquakes and are producing oil and natural gas. He said he is not familiar with Collins but knows about Hunt.

In 1980, Gold, in the June issue of Scientific American, presented his theory that gases trapped in the Earth’s core are escaping and combining with other elements to form hydrocarbons such as petroleum and methane. The process is said to be happening miles below the deepest oil wells.

Scientists--and most schoolchildren, even--will tell you oil and natural gas were formed by long-dead organic materials, such as plants and dinosaurs, and is limited in quantity.

If Gold, Collins and Hunt are correct, then petroleum supplies are virtually unlimited, provided engineers can find a way to drill deep enough to extract them. Hunt this year persuaded the Alberta government to lease him more than 2 million acres and is seeking investors to pay for drilling equipment to prove the theory.

But Gold said there is no basis to believe, for example, that pressure from natural gases has expanded the size of the Earth to create continents.

“The only correct thing is what they took from me,” said Gold, well-respected among astronomers but considered a maverick among geophysicists. “The rest is absolute bull.”

Closer to home, Collins’ boss, CSUN geology department chairman Peter Weigand, said he respects Collins’ efforts, even if he disagrees with his conclusions.

“I don’t know how history will look at Larry,” Weigand said. “But I encourage him to continue to present his views and his unconventional interpretations. That is in the best tradition of science.”

It is also, apparently, a tradition in the recent history of geology. The idea that continents were sitting on big slabs that moved about the Earth’s surface--crashing into each other like bumper cars and forming mountains and the like--was ridiculed and dismissed when it was first presented during the early part of the century.

By the 1960s, the idea--now known as plate tectonics--was being incorporated into textbooks.

“When I was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, I attended a lecture by a man on this and then watched in amazement as all the professors said he had to be wrong,” said Collins, who went on to earn his Ph.D. in geology there.

Collins is hoping that science will eventually accept his theories. They grew from observations of an outcropping he found in Temecula that shows the gradual transformation of one type of rock into a type of granite. Conventional science--which argues that granite is formed from molten rock--does not fully explain what he found, said Collins, but his gas theory does.

But even CSUN graduate students have steered clear of Collins during the past 25 years. Only one student, Dave Liggett, had Collins supervise his master’s thesis during that time.

“Early on, I was very interested in his theory,” said Liggett, now a technician in the CSUN geology department. “It was interesting and sounded like it was on the cutting edge. His ideas flew in the face what we were learning at school.”

But Liggett found another topic of interest and his thesis ended up on more conventional ground.

“Most people look at his stuff and say, ‘This guy has been smoking something,’ ” he said.

Collins has heard plenty of such talk. So did his father, a research chemist who faced similar skepticism over his research in soybean production.

Collins said his father found that exposing soybean seeds to massive doses of radiation, 10 times more than the amount needed to ruin the seeds, would instead produce plants four times the size of normal ones.

Collins said that professional jealousy by his bosses at the University of Illinois prevented Collins’ father from getting credit for his work in the U.S., although the results were eventually published in India.

“I picked up from my father the idea that it is worth the risk of looking foolish or crazy to pursue something you believe in,” Collins said. “Some scientists are afraid to try something new because of the threat of ridicule, but I have no regrets.”