Tiny and Mighty Origins of Oil

Author: Heather Stanford; Published: Aug 9, 2010; Category: Energy, Energy sources, Geology, Science; Tags: Energy, Geology, natural gas, oil, Petroleum, science; Comments: Comments Off

Did you know that what lived over a million years ago provides most of the energy we use today? We don’t mean dinosaurs!  These little critters were as tiny as the head of a pin.

It’s popular belief that oil comes from dinosaur fossils. Even beloved children’s author, Dr. Seuss, featured a peculiar dragon that resembled a dinosaur throughout a 15 year advertising campaign for Standard Oil in the late 1920s and 1930s perpetuating this belief.

Today, scientists are consistently finding that oil largely comes from one of the tiniest organism of life. While any kind of organic material can contribute in the making of oil, most of it was formed around millions of years ago in the Carboniferous period before the dinosaur era.

Millions of years ago, these one-celled microorganisms lived and thrived in warm ancient waters. They were so small that more than a million could be found in a single drop of seawater. Over time, they died and decomposed making what is called “black mud” that rested at the bottom of the sea bed.  Heavy sediments quickly settled over the black mud burying the organisms and preserving the organic richness.  Layer upon layer of sedimentary rock pressed them down deeper toward the core of the earth.  Through millions of years of increasing pressure, hot temperatures, and multiple chemical changes, the organisms transformed from black mud to inanimate crude or oil.

Today’s geologists use several indicators to locate were these ancient organisms might exist today. Understanding of ancient seas, sea beds where black mud laid, and the catalogue of ancient organisms commonly found in pockets of deep oil are all used as indicators in the search for oil. See the recent New York Times article “Tracing Oil Reserves to Their Tiny Origins” to learn more.

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