Often they write that in the formation of “black gold” the decomposition of the ancient inhabitants of our planet - dinosaurs played the most important role. We checked whether this is so.

The entertaining fact can be read about this on the economic portal "Who is in the know", In the educational course for primary grades"Fish, fossils and fuel"From the Society of Nephtyaniki Engineers, in the story of Viktor Pelevin"Macedonian criticism of French thought"And many other sources. Such an opinion is common in the West, where it is mentioned in educational blogs. Both Russian and foreign sources provide evidence that this information has long been taught in secondary schools.

Also on the network is common meme “If dinosaurs turned into organic residues, which then became oil and make plastic from oil, does this mean that plastic dinosaurs are made of real ones?”

Scientists have not yet come to a consensus on how oil was formed. There are two fundamentally different theories of its origin. According to the first - organic, or biogenic, - the remains of ancient organisms and plants became the basis for oil, which for millions of years were besieged at the bottom of the seas or covered with layers on the continent. Then, after the processing of microorganisms and under the influence of temperature and pressure, they formed oilmaker's (capable of giving birth to oil) rocks rich in organic matter.

These breeds can become the basis for oil in the so -called oil window - zone at a depth of 1.6–4.6 km with a temperature of 60 to 150 ° C. In its upper part, the temperature is not high enough, and oil is “heavy”: viscous, thick, with a high content of resins and asphalt. At the bottom, the temperature of the layers rises so much that the molecules of the organic matter are crushed into the simplest hydrocarbons - natural gas is formed. Then, under the influence of various hydrocarbon forces, migrate from the oilmaker to the above or underlying rocks.

From this short description, a false sense of transient oil formation of oil from organic remains may form. In fact, he, according to scientists, occupies an average from 10 to 60 million years. Another thing is artificial conditions: if you create an appropriate temperature regime for an organic matter, then it is enough for its transition to a soluble state with the formation of all basic hydrocarbons. Similar experiments supporters of organic hypothesis interpret in their favor: the transformation of organics into oil is evident.

There are other arguments in favor of the biogenic origin of oil. Thus, most industrial oil accumulations are adjacent to sedimentary rocks. Moreover, living matter and oil are similar in elemental and isotopic composition. In particular, in most oil fields, biomarkers are found - for example, chlorophyll pigments, widespread in living nature. The coincidence of the isotopic composition of carbon in biomarkers and other oil hydrocarbons can be considered even more convincing. All this makes an organic theory of origin things much more popular in modern science.

However, supporters inorganic theory They cite a number of arguments in favor of their point of view. There are many versions of the inorganic origin of oil in the bowels of the Earth and other cosmic bodies, but they all rely on the same facts. Firstly, many (although not all) deposits are associated with the zones of faults. Through these faults, according to supporters of the inorganic concept, oil rises from large depths closer to the surface of the earth. Secondly, oil fields are found not only in sedimentary, but also in magmatic and metamorphic rocks (although they could be there as a result of migration). In addition, hydrocarbons are found in a substance erupting from volcanoes. Finally, the third, most significant argument in favor of an inorganic theory is that there are hydrocarbons not only on Earth, but also in meteorites, the tails of comets, atmospheres of other planets and scattered cosmic matter. So, the presence of methane is noted on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. On the titanium, satellite of Saturn, there are rivers and lakes from a mixture of methane, ethane, propane, ethylene and acetylene. And since it is believed that there is no life outside the Earth at the moment, supporters of inorganic theory prove this that hydrocarbons are completely complete without organic matter.

It is obvious that the feasible contribution of dinosaurs to the formation of oil can be considered only within the framework of the first theory - organic. However, there are two serious arguments against this.

1. According to the concept of the concept today, oil existed during the lion's share of the time of the existence of our planet (4 billion years). In addition to this, in addition to technical calculations, numerous finds say. For example, in 1998 in Australia, tiny drops of oil were discovered Inside the rocky breeds, the age of final education of which reaches 3.8 billion years. At the same time, dinosaurs (except for the so -called birds) existed from the mark about 250 million years ago until 66 million years ago. In other words, if the entire history of the existence of oil is divided into 16 equal segments, then dinosaurs will fall into the last, 16th. Without them, oil was quite successfully formed, although a considerable part of the existing oil reserves and appeared In the last segment.

2. Animals Do not make up and 1% of the total biomass of the Earth. Such is the alignment now, so it was, according to the specialists, and millions of years ago. According to scientistsMicroorganisms inhabiting coastal sea waters served and continue to serve the initial material for the formation of oil - plankton, 90% of which is phytoplankton. In other words, oil is primarily the result of plant decomposition, and in the second (or even the tenth) - animals, and then mostly small, but almost necessarily marine.

Thus, official science does not allow us to talk about some more or less noticeable participation of dinosaurs in the formation of oil. At the same time, it is also impossible to refute the presence of at least the microscopic role of these animals in the process.

Where did the universal misconception of "oil - from dinosaurs" came from? Modern research They say The fact that it could be the result of an extensive advertising campaign of the Sinclair Oil oil corporation, which began in the 1930s in the United States. The corporation sponsored archaeological excavations of dinosaurs, sent Giant models These creatures for world exhibitions in Chicago and New York, not to mention all kinds of symbols and souvenirs.