Where Does Our Gasoline Come From?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the origins of gasoline and fossil fuels, exploring when they were formed and whether nature continues to produce them. Participants inquire about the geological periods associated with fossil fuel formation and the ongoing processes involved in their creation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether gasoline originates from the Carbon Period or earlier, and when nature ceased to produce fossil fuels, suggesting the Cretaceous period as a potential cutoff.
  • Another participant asserts that fossil fuels are produced from accumulated organic matter and that this process has been ongoing since life began on Earth, as part of the carbon cycle.
  • A similar viewpoint is reiterated, emphasizing that the process of fossil fuel formation has continued for billions of years, yet questions arise about the rapid consumption of these resources in a relatively short time frame.
  • Another participant notes that while coal is still forming, the richest deposits are from the Carboniferous era, proposing that the effectiveness of fungi in decomposing lignin may explain the reduced size of younger deposits.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the timeline and processes of fossil fuel formation, with no consensus reached regarding when nature stopped producing fossil fuels or the implications of biological processes on fossil fuel deposits.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the rates of fossil fuel formation across different geological epochs and the impact of biological evolution on the accumulation of organic matter.

Stephanus
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Dear PF Forum,
I'd like to ask a questin regarding our use of gasoline.
Gasoline that we consume everyday, when did they come from?
Is it from Carbon Period 350 mya? or Before
And does Nature still produce fossil fuel?
And if it doesn't when did Nature stop producing fossil fuel? Cretaceous period?
It's just my curiosity.
I haven't got a definite answer. See if there's someone here knows.
I only get this from Wiki
...Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history. Terrestrial plants also ...
Thank you very much
 
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Generally speaking fossil fuels are produced from the accumulated organic matter, and there are definitely places in the world today where organic matter from dying plants/plankton get accumulated. From the moment life started on Earth This process never stopped, as it is part of the normal carbon cycle.

How fast it was in different epochs of the Earth history is another question.
 
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Borek said:
Generally speaking fossil fuels are produced from the accumulated organic matter, and there are definitely places in the world today where organic matter from dying plants/plankton get accumulated. From the moment life started on Earth This process never stopped, as it is part of the normal carbon cycle.

How fast it was in different epochs of the Earth history is another question.
From the moment there were life on earth. I like it. Now this 4.4? billions years process is consumed/spent/wasted only in 300 years?
 
While coal is still being formed, the richest deposits of coal are from the carboniferous era. The question arises why the deposits from younger ages aren't as extended as from the paleozoic. A possible answer is that this time coincides with estimates of the biological origin of the mycological enzyme systems to decompose lignin. I.e. after the carbon age, wood was decomposed much more effectively by fungi than before and this reduced the size of the deposits formed.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/336/6089/1715.abstract
 
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