LittleBullBoy t1_j1ju7ma wrote on December 24, 2022 at 11:00 PM

Reply to comment by AxialGem in Vegans shouldn't drive because gasoline comes from dinosaurs by Mr-Bones-6150

Fossil fuels still come from the remains of mostly dead plants and some animals, so I’m sure dinosaurs are involved in some fashion.

AxialGem t1_j1jx8q8 wrote on December 24, 2022 at 11:25 PM

Well, as I understand it, the vast majority of coal comes from, well, the carboniferous (litt. 'coal-bearing') and also from the permian. Dinosaurs didn't exist at that time.

Petroleum is found in sedimentary rocks, and is mostly zooplankton and algae. You know, sediment. Zooplankton is indeed animals, but things like fish eggs and small larvae of various stuff. For petroleum to form, organic matter needs to settle to the bottom of a body of water and decompose without oxygen.

Dinosaurs don't tend to do that in large amounts, for a couple of reasons.

1: Dinosaurs are vanishingly small percentage of the biomass of an ecosystem, especially compared with plants

2: As far as I know there were no (fully) aquatic dinosaurs, so it's not a likely place for them to die to begin with

In conclusion, saying that fossil fuels are made of dinosaurs is about as correct as saying that peanut butter is made of flies because the occasional fly part might be in there. It's misleading. I'm not a paleontologist or geologist, so feel free to correct me ofc, but I'm fairly confident it's not dinos lol

LittleBullBoy t1_j1k6p5q wrote on December 25, 2022 at 12:44 AM

I think what you’ve written makes sense.

I don’t know enough about different types of fossil fuels, where they are all found, and how it relates to dead things from the Mesozoic era to contest anything you’ve claimed.

DkindCrhymes t1_j1knrj7 wrote on December 25, 2022 at 3:27 AM

If only there were some infinitely vast collection of information at our fingertips, through which we could look up such simple questions.

LittleBullBoy t1_j1ktrum wrote on December 25, 2022 at 4:27 AM

If only I was willing to waste my time “researching” fossil fuels and the Mesozoic era to then anoint myself an expert in the field that’s do ‘doing my own research’. If only I was arrogant to think that these are such simple questions.

At what depths, and locations, are all types of fossil fuels found around the world?

What are all the locations and depths of dinosaur life that died ?

Calculate probability that, on some reasonable level, these remains formed hydrocarbon materials potentially used as fuel?

Super simple.