The notion that petroleum or crude oil comes from dinosaurs is fiction. Surprised? Oil formed from the remains of marine plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, even before the dinosaurs. The tiny organisms fell to the bottom of the sea. Bacterial decomposition of the plants and animals removed most of the oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur from the matter, leaving behind a sludge made up mainly of carbon and hydrogen. As the oxygen was removed from the detritus, decomposition slowed. Over time the remains became covered by layers upon layers of sand and silt. As the depth of the sediment reached or exceeded 10,000 feet, pressure and heat changed the remaining compounds into the hydrocarbons and other organic compounds that form crude oil and natural gas.
The type of petroleum formed by the plankton layer depended largely on how much pressure and heat were applied. Low temperatures (caused by lower pressure) resulted in a thick material, such as asphalt. Higher temperatures produced a lighter petroleum. Ongoing heat could produce gas, though if the temperature exceeded 500°F, the organic matter was destroyed and neither oil nor gas was produced.
Comments
I was told as a child that oil came from the dinosaurs. I didn’t believe back then. But according to your answer, I’d like to know how the oil in the tar sands of Canada was formed, and the oil in the shale in the USA was formed. Both are above ground, or at least shallow buried….
Its always been hard for me to believe that such large deposits of oil located so deep below the surface of the earth could come from fossil remains, whether from dinosaurs or plankton. Looks like some scientists are also skeptical.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090910084259.htm
I must have been lucky in my educational journey through life, its the first time I’ve heard this silly misconception (not a perception).
Oil and gas below landlocked regions? No problema, you just ned to be aware of Plate Tectonics and other geological processes; there are fossils of sea creatures near the summit of Everest! Of course some people choose mysticism and superstition to explain these things, which is where the dinosaurs and oil connection possibly originates – i.e from those who lump all (what to them are) “scientific mysteries” together.
Regarding the Oil Without Fossils; just reading the title of the Research Paper sheds some light as to where this is going: “Methane-derived hydrocarbons produced under upper-mantle conditions”. So these guys say no need for fossils to produce oil (i.e. not a Fossil Fuel), but where does the Methane come in / from? Yes, I’ll give it a read but I’m not hopeful they have overturned established theory just yet (always remember how the media reports Science – they love the controversial and the sensational).
I want to know, is there any positive effect of crude oil on the environment? Not long ago we discovered that microbes lived in extreme temperatures near thermal vents on the ocean floor, we never thought this was possible. There must be something that eats crude oil. Some other species must benefit from this bi-product of nature other than humans. Anybody out there have data to support this?
Certain bacteria digest crude oil. It leaks into the oceans naturally all the time, is “eaten” or broken down, and used as energy by the bacteria.
If it’s got carbon in it, something will figure out how to eat it.
How is it then that we have found petroleum on Titan (Saturn’s moon), which, as far as we know, has never hosted life?
This theory is at best flawed, and at worst, invalid. Obviously there are processes at work that don’t require dinosaurs, or plankton, or other living things to create hydrocarbons.
Couldn’t it then be assumed that dinos that fell into the sea or lived in the sea became petroleum in the same manner?
That was my thought too. That dinosaurs could also be the animals that became oil. I’m sure some oil existed before dinosaurs but if the theory is true, how could they not be a contributer at all?