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Many People Have No Idea Where Oil Actually Comes From. It's Not Dinosaurs
IFL Science ^ | July 26, 2025 | James Felton

Posted on 07/30/2025 11:12:34 AM PDT by Red Badger

No, your car isn’t running on liquefied dinosaurs.

The good stuff, unless you want a stable environment, of course.

Image Credit: Alexander Knyazhinsky/Shutterstock.com

At some point, you have probably heard somewhere that oil comes from dinosaurs, as if every time you fill up at the gas station, you are pumping refined velociraptor into your Volvo. It’s a vivid image, but it’s not true. Despite how widespread the belief is, oil isn’t made from decomposed dinosaurs.

“For some strange reason, the idea that oil comes from dinosaurs has stuck with many people," geologist Reidar Müller from the University of Oslo explained to Science Norway. "But oil comes from trillions of tiny algae and plankton."

As algae and plankton died tens to hundreds of millions of years ago, they sank to the bottom of the sea, where they accumulated and were buried by layers and layers of sediment. Eventually, after millions of years in a high-pressure and low-oxygen environment, the algae and plankton got "cooked" and turned into that sticky black oil we humans apparently can't get enough of, despite the threat of a climate emergency. From here, it seeps upwards until it hits rock it can't make it through, requiring humans to drill it out (or some other natural disaster to set it free again).

VIDEO AT LINK................

While marine dinosaurs – or a T. Rex that discovered its arms weren't particularly well-adapted to swimming – may find themselves on the bottom of the ocean after death, it's unlikely they would get converted into oil themselves.

This is partly because an oxygen-deprived environment is needed to convert organic matter into oil. Once dead, they would have become a meal for smaller aquatic creatures, picking them apart until they got down to the bones, long before they could be buried.

Now to explain why, "if dinosaurs actually existed", their bones aren't everywhere.

An earlier version of this story was published in 2023.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: abiogenic; algae; carboniferousperiod; carbonpropaganda; climatehoax; deeplife; ecoterrorism; ecoterrorists; fakenews; fakescience; globalwarminghoax; greennewdeal; jamesfelton; oil; plankton
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To: xp38

It’s strange that God made one mass land in America and then decided to add earthquakes to split into seven parts. Why not just put the seven parts separately to begin with?


21 posted on 07/30/2025 11:36:31 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: Red Badger
T Rex that discovered its arms weren't particularly well-adapted to swimming – may find themselves on the bottom of the ocean after death, it's unlikely they would get converted into oil themselves.

Well there is a surfer girl, who other than her odd arms and hands is very cute on instagram ; livstone is her name. When you mentioned T rex and oil Liv Stone
22 posted on 07/30/2025 11:37:01 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Schiff to GITMO)
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To: Red Badger

Microscopic organisms are currently dying and drifting down to the bottom of the world’s oceans. Under certain conditions, this organic matter can be preserved if there is anoxia (a term for a lack of oxygen in the sea water). With oxygenated water, there are organisms like worms that live on the bottom of the ocean that will consume this organic mush. If there is anoxia, it can be preserved.

Most of the world’s oceans are in what are known are passive margins. That means that they are slowly sinking as more sediment is eroded from the land and deposited in the sea. Allow this process to go on for a few million years and the organics (mostly algae) are now down around 10,000’. The heat of the earth cracks them much like a refinery and out comes oil and gas. It migrates mostly upwards due to buoyancy. Unless it finds a trap, it will make it to the surface. I have two ponds in Texas and they always have a small oil sheen on them.

Abiotic hydrocarbons are up there with Loch Ness, Bigfoot, and an honest politician. There may be small amounts of methane coming from the bowels of the earth but not enough to accumulate. That is why 99% of all hydrocarbons are found in sedimentary basins.


23 posted on 07/30/2025 11:37:53 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: Red Badger

Mobile or Exon had a fun little cartoon style video from the 60’s or 70s of talking dinosaurs (e.g., ‘race you to that next tree!’) which was meant to educate the public - teach them that oil was based on dinosaur bodies. Since there are no more dinosaurs, the public was to believe oil was scarce and limited.


24 posted on 07/30/2025 11:38:07 AM PDT by ransomnote (IN GOD WE TRUST)
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To: Red Badger

AND a wind mill for the electric power the EV needs.


25 posted on 07/30/2025 11:39:20 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement! ThereonMaube)
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To: Red Badger

“Fossil fuels”: Yet another psyop.


26 posted on 07/30/2025 11:39:30 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: chud
The Sinclair dinosaur is my favorite gas station logo.

My favorite is the Flying A--the letter A with wings. The Flying A logo disappeared in 1966 when Phillips 66 took over the company.

27 posted on 07/30/2025 11:39:52 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Paco

You also have to ask where water came from, both saline and fresh. Then too, oxygen we breathe. It’s made up of seven different elements any one of which breathed separately will kill you but in combination keeps us alive. Go figure.


28 posted on 07/30/2025 11:40:49 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
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To: fso301
Sinclair gas stations still exist

29 posted on 07/30/2025 11:40:49 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Schiff to GITMO)
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To: Red Badger

I thought it came from rotting vegetation. I think I’ve got some started in my vegetable bin...


30 posted on 07/30/2025 11:41:04 AM PDT by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: Red Badger

I hate that small print. Fiddle.


31 posted on 07/30/2025 11:41:27 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
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To: chud

Wasn’t it’s name Dino?


32 posted on 07/30/2025 11:41:54 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
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To: C210N

Agreed. The term “hydrocarbons” is much more descriptive and doesn’t promote the “peak oil” narrative.


33 posted on 07/30/2025 11:41:56 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Flaming Conservative

Yes, my refrigerator is an oil generator.........


34 posted on 07/30/2025 11:42:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: ransomnote

No one in the oil and gas business believes that hydrocarbons come from dinosaurs. It was probably put out there by the same people who said the earth was flat.


35 posted on 07/30/2025 11:42:43 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: xp38

👍


36 posted on 07/30/2025 11:43:07 AM PDT by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: Red Badger

I have long been fascinated by the research done for the use of algae for diesel oil. Economical and cost-effective algae biodiesel production is in the research and development stage.


37 posted on 07/30/2025 11:44:21 AM PDT by jonrick46 (Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: SkyDancer

My mom worked for Sinclair and always brought home their various dinosaur toys for me.

Wish I still had them.

/kinda loves the thought of pouring velociraptor jelly into the belly of the Hemi


38 posted on 07/30/2025 11:44:27 AM PDT by Salamander (Please visit my profile page to help me go home again. https://www.givesendgo.com/GCRRD)
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To: Rio

Trippy.

( does Exxon use saber tooth tigers?)


39 posted on 07/30/2025 11:47:25 AM PDT by Salamander (Please visit my profile page to help me go home again. https://www.givesendgo.com/GCRRD)
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To: fso301

Fond childhood memories.


40 posted on 07/30/2025 11:49:31 AM PDT by Salamander (Please visit my profile page to help me go home again. https://www.givesendgo.com/GCRRD)
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