Energy Afterlives Main Menu Introduction About Coal Oil Nuclear Textual Afterlives Musical Afterlives Planned and unplanned musical responses to coal, oil, nuclear Physicalizations and Visualizations Links to all our project pages Interviews A collection of interviews with writers conducted by Energy Afterlives students. Feedback

Oil Formation

1

An “oil”:
- is liquid 
- is a mix of hydrocarbons
- hates water (hydrophobic)
- loves fats (lipophilic)

Wonder how oils form?

Oil formation has three main steps. The process starts as dead plankton- algae and bacteria sink to the bottom of the sea. Over time, those buried plants and animals get buried under layers of sediments. The sediment could be mud particles deposited on top, and it takes many years for the layers to be formed. As the layers build up, they exert pressure and heat. The sediments also keep oxygen away and stop the remains from decaying. When more sediment layers get deposited, the pressure and temperature increase. Under the three conditions: temperature, pressure, and absence of oxygen, the dead plants, and animals get converted into crude oil. Once the Crude oils forms, the oil will go up through the permeable rocks until it gets trapped by the impermeable rocks.

 

This page has paths:

  1. Oil Geological Materials Selby Hearth

This page references: