Comment on The circle of life
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 9 months agoYes and no. They’re both hydrocarbons.
Coal is organic matter from dry land, so typically plants.
Oil is from organic matter that fell to the ocean floor, so microbial life, algae and the like.
But both are from and end up as the same types of organic molecules. Carbon and hydrogen.
the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
Wow ok that’s cool… so then every* oil well is in a place that historically was underwater?
Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yes, specifically shallow seas that are so rich that they go anoxic. Without oxygen, the organisms don’t break down and just accumulate.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 9 months ago
Can Texas just go back to being a shallow sea?
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Yes. A lot such places are still below the seabed, hence off-shore oil-rigs.