Debunking the Myth: Oil’s Origins and the Dinosaur Misconception
The common notion that oil is derived from decomposed dinosaurs, a belief often associated with pumping refined velociraptors into vehicles, is a prevalent misconception. Contrary to this widely held belief, fat does not originate from the remains of ancient dinosaurs.
Geologist Reidar Müller from the University of Oslo clarified, “For some strange reason, the idea that oil comes from dinosaurs has stuck with many people. But oil comes from trillions of tiny algae and plankton.” The process involves the demise of algae and plankton tens to hundreds of millions of years ago, as their remains sank to the ocean floor.
Over time, layers of sediment buried them, subjecting them to high pressure and low oxygen conditions. This extended process, akin to cooking, eventually transforms them into the familiar sticky black oil that fuels our modern world.
As this oil migrates upwards, it encounters rock barriers, necessitating human intervention through drilling or, in some instances, natural disasters for its release.
The likelihood of marine dinosaurs or a land-based T. Rex becoming oil sources is improbable. This is due, in part, to the fact that an oxygen-deprived environment is crucial for the conversion of organic matter into oil. Once deceased, these creatures would have become fodder for smaller aquatic organisms, undergoing decomposition well before reaching the burial stage necessary for oil formation.
Read more: The Petroleum and Gas Drilling Engineer, Talks about Renewable Energy.
