Oil from Dinosaurs? Make me believe...

[HydroHarold]

Do we have any geologists here on MTF?

I have a problem understanding the origin of crude oil. Oil comes from decayed dinosaurs? I find that hard to believe for some reason. Were there really that many dinosaurs that handily died all at once and wound up in those vast pools 10,000' or more under the surface of the Earth? And in different mineral structures at that, liquid crude in varying grades, tar sand, shale oil, Gilsonite (asphalt), etc. Enough of 'em to make all the oil we have pumped already AND will pump?

When I lived in Southern Utah a buddy drove me out to a place where dinosaur tracks were imprinted in the rock and there were fossils here and there. This area later became a famous "velociraptor" dig and is now off limits to everyone but science guys.

Looking at this and many other fossil beds in the Canyonlands, Arches and Western Colorado region one question struck me, "Where is the oil from THESE dinosaurs?" Fossilized bone all over the place and nary a drop of oil.

Plants made coal, OK I have some coal chunks with leaf impressions in them but convince me that there were enough dinos around to make all that dino-oil and asphalt and that plate tectonics folded all that stuff thousands of feet down into the rock and put natural gas in there with it. Or is it just another naturally ocurring mineral in liquid form that came with the Earth when we got it? And that "Barney" stuff, isn't that just a tall tale...? :confused:

[johnbron]

I agree that the oil supply never came dead dinosaurs or any other animals. I believe that oil is a continuing resource made by the earth and we could never use it all faster than its produced. The oil companies and the government feed us that hogwash for there own greed.

[Ingersoll444]

You know, I have never heard that oppioun Johnbron. Not saying I dont think its true, just never heard anyone bring it up. Any facts to back that clame up? theories to support it?

Agean not a slam, just never heard anyone say that. Fill me in.

[cadurning]

Oil from dino's. Pretty hard to believe. Don't know how it got there but it sure is good to have.

[DYT4000]

Here's an interesting article on the subject.....

http://www.geo.wvu.edu/~jtoro/download/27_Petroleum.pdf#search='where%20does%20oil%20come %20from?'

[mark777]

I understand that it was a process of decayed plant and animal life trapped between sediment rock, sand, mud and any form that covers biological material that is not exposed to the air, with both sea and fresh water and the anaerobic bacteria that converts all biological matter into a soup of hydrocarbons...(crude oil & natural gas).

Considering the land mass and amounts of all biological material that covered the Earth, compression of sediment, it all seems very likely true.

[chrpmaster]

Thanks for the link DYT!

I finally have some understanding of what my brother is talking about when I ask him how his work is going. He is a foreman at an oil refinery and is always talking about cat crackers and cetane and other weird stuff. I try to understand him but my high school science class was too long ago and too basic to keep up with him.

My understanding is that oil is made from plant and animal material laid down during the time of the dinosaurs, not just made from dinasaurs. Thats why the name dino oil came into being. since the dinosaurs were around for 100 million years or more in some form or another there was plenty of time to lay down massive layers of plant and animal material. I always think of how many leaves I haul from my yard each year then multiply that by 100 million. It would make a H$$$ of a compost pile. If you were to compress your compost pile for a long time I can see were the oil would start forming. Compression of the dino plants, which causes lots of heat, is done by covering them with lots of earth and left for a long time and yields oil.

I also don't think we will ever use up all the oil. We may use up the amount of oil that we can extract with one type of drilling/pumping but mankind is too creative to not think of another way that will get more from the existing wells and allow drilling in areas that used to not make sense. I heard on the radio the other day that there is enough oil in the shale deposits out west to exceed the amount of oil in the entire middle east. They just haven't figured out how to get it out economically yet but I think they will.

Just my .02
Andy

[johnbron]

You know, I have never heard that oppioun Johnbron. Not saying I dont think its true, just never heard anyone bring it up. Any facts to back that clame up? theories to support it?

Agean not a slam, just never heard anyone say that. Fill me in.


Paul I have no proof other than what I read. If you enjoy reading I suggest you buy or borrow the book titled "Black Gold Stranglehold". Here is a short review of it from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581824890/103-2526699-4818252?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

[professor]

John, thanks for that link- very interesting. I also have been concluding that there is just too much oil to think it came from the old dynos.

Mike

[Carl]

Somewhere in the resent past I read about oil. One of the things mentions is that Pennsylvania has some wells that have been dead for years. Except they were recently tested and found to have oil in them again. If I can find the site/information again I will share it.

One site that came to mind is this one. It is a Christian site that looks into the evidence that supports the bible's claims. It has a section that is called impact. I think that is the section with information about the creation of oil.

http://www.icr.org/

[steve42]

Try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiotic_oil

Also, here's an interesting study by Rand Corp. on Shale Oil under Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG414.pdf

[HydroHarold]

Now THAT was an interesting trip to the center of the Earth in search of the "Great Dinosaur" who along with his family and his vegetable environment gave his life for our little carburetors. Or did they? I totally enjoyed reading all the linked material and I think I'm understanding how it works...

Of the two differing theories, plant/animal breakdown and natural production by the Earth, I like the second one the best Russian idea or not. I would bet both are correct producing two similar products from differing hydrocarbon sources. It always seemed to me that naturally occuring asphalt and crude oil had very different sources...

I visited a wildcat drill pad high in the La Sal mountains of S.E. Utah some years back. They were drilling in a basin at about 9,000' altitude. The final depth reached (highly unofficial) was 28k'. Shows you how much that stuff down there is worth putting that much pipe down that far. If you asked what they were finding they just shrugged... Nobody's supposed to know anything.

And for the Eco Concious among us, and we all are to one extent or another, I returned to that pad a year after the rig was pulled out. There was absolutely no trace of the rig, pipe racks, mud pits, equipment trailers or trash of any kind. Except for a sign explaining what had been there the area looked just the way it did before the rig got there. Gotta give the Eco's a HooRay for that, too many places out there are still scarred from mineral exploration.

Carl, I used to hunt an area below Corning NY (Alma NY) right on the PA border and one of the best places to hunt was the oil shale well areas. The area smelled of gas and crude and the deer could not get too good wind of you.

I spent some time investigating these wells. There would be about six to eight well bores each with a vertical pump system inside a shack. The power for all the wells in a group came from one mega-long stroke 1 cyl diesel engine running a horizontal eccentric wheel. Around the eccentric were rods that led to each pump shack with the rods supported by tree stumps. Run on a timer you'd hear the pump engine start it's racket and then the rods would start to move back and forth over the stumps, moving about two feet or so each way. The stumps were greased with crude and the ones that didn't have enough lube would make a noise like a crazed hawks. Deer couldn't hear you moving around there either!

All the wells pumped into a storage tank and every day a ten-wheel tanker would come in and pump out the tanks. I asked the guide about it and he said when a well stopped producing they cut off the connection at the pump and let it fill back in for a while and then hooked it back up. The guide had his own gas well in the back yard and everything from the freezers, lights and heat ran on it.

We do have some gas sources around here but have not exploited them to their full potential out of politeness... :D Thanx to all for the links and Hydro's continuing education...

[Carl]

That is the one thing that I don't recall being covered about well regeneration. It wasn't mentioned that oil could seep back into the well strata over time. Which could explain the regeneration of most wells.

If one is to side with the Bible then it is reasonable that God provided the original petroleum, and the mechanism for continued production.

[Wild Bill 83]

To take this thread, and do a little 'spin' on it.....

Remember when the Feds and Eco. people were saying that the Earth's Ozone layer had thin spots/holes in it?

They were saying we had to quit using certian kind of aresol propellant, make our vehicles less polluting, etc, etc....which is fine, I don't have any problems with that...BUT

What happens every time THEY send the Space Shuttle up for another mission...or another exploration satellite to map the solar system, or a unit to explore Mars....doesn't those space craft 'poke a hole' in the Ozone layer when it leaves/re-enters the Earth's atmosphere?

Also any living plant and tree on this planet produces Ozone 24/7/365.......can we honostly 'out do' the plants ability to replace the Ozone?

I'm not saying we should go on a wild -Destroy the Ozone layer- mission to find out....but it seems like somebody is BSing 'us' for some reason.......

[Carl]

Bill, I have thought about the ozone depletion chemicals in a rocket launch too. The solid fuel rockets produce quite a few ozone depletion chemicals.

Plants do not make ozone, I think that you mean carbon dioxide. Ozone is generated by electrical discharges like lightning, cosmic rays, ultra violet light, and other electro magnetic energys. Ozone is being created continuously. The ozone depletion chemicals can't remove it all, but can decrease the amount of it in the atmosphere. But volcanos produce more depletion chemicals that man does. So whats the deal? The holes seem to come and go, I don't think that they are man made. The big one in Antartica occured in an area of the earth that is the very last to receive polution. Polution is mostly generated in the northern hemisphere and migrates very slowly to the sothern hemisphere. Now the hole over Mass. that Ted Kennedy was worried about was probably produced by his hot air.

[HydroHarold]

Ahhh yes, "Ozone, the other gas!" As I recall ozone is produced by electrical sparks, etc. If lightning is good at making ozone then all the generating plants in the world make some too. So the more electricty we use the better off the third world countries will fare as they do their part in preventing ozonien porosity.

Now I finally realize what "Power to the People" meant! It's an "O-zone" thang!:D

(I'm heading right out to the shop and short out some batteries, sparks is goooood!J)