{"id":268144,"date":"2023-07-18T16:09:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T14:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268144"},"modified":"2023-07-18T16:09:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T14:09:33","slug":"the-biggest-myth-about-fossil-fuels-and-dinosaurs-debunked-by-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268144","title":{"rendered":"The biggest myth about fossil fuels and dinosaurs, debunked by\u00a0science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Tallbloke’s Talkshop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 15, 2023 by\u00a0oldbrew<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Credit: fuelfix.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In case you weren\u2019t quite sure\u2026<\/em>
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013
Is your car really powered by dinosaurs? \u2013\u00a0asks BBC Science Focus<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u00a9 Dan Bright<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most oil reserves were formed between 65 and 252 million years ago. While this does overlap with the \u2018dinosaur times\u2019, oil is a marine sediment made of the remains of algae and plankton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skeletons of prehistoric reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs (neither of which count as dinosaurs) have been found in the same geological layers as oil and they may have contaminated the oil deposit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to say that oil is made from dinosaurs is like saying that bread is made from insects, just because the odd one occasionally falls into a flour mill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil sediments formed in shallow seas that were teeming with life near the surface but stagnant and dead on the seabed. As dead plankton and microorganisms rained down, they buried the ones below them faster than they could decay. This trapped the organic matter in an oxygen-deprived layer that sank lower and lower as it was compressed from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 100 million years of this, the bottom layers were under several kilometres of clay and sand, and the heat and pressure at these depths converted the organic material into oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, a five-tonne plesiosaur falling dead to the seafloor would be very unlikely to remain undisturbed for long enough to be safely buried. Instead, it would be a temporary oasis for fish, crustaceans and worms that would quickly strip away the organic parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see this happening today when whale corpses fall to the seabed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full article\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case you weren\u2019t quite sure\u2026 Most oil reserves were formed between 65 and 252 million years ago. While this does overlap with the \u2018dinosaur times\u2019, oil is a marine sediment made of the remains of algae and plankton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":268154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821188,691821187,691818228],"class_list":{"0":"post-268144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-algae-and-plankton","9":"tag-dinosaurs","10":"tag-fossil-fuels","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-554.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-17KU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":426808,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=426808","url_meta":{"origin":268144,"position":0},"title":"BBC Admit Great Barrier Reef Report Was \u201cMisleading\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/17\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The BBC article \"Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral decline on record,\" was published on August 6, 2025 (with some sources listing August 5). 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