this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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The circle of life (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Wow ok that's cool.. so then every* oil well is in a place that historically was underwater?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, specifically shallow seas that are so rich that they go anoxic. Without oxygen, the organisms don't break down and just accumulate.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Can Texas just go back to being a shallow anoxic sea?

Please?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yes. A lot of such places are still below the seabed, hence off-shore oil-rigs.