In 1913, as the automobile zoomed into American life, The Outing
Magazine
gave its readers a bit of background on what fueled the new motorcars in
"The Story of Gasoline." After a brief vignette describing the death of
"old
Colonel Stegosaurus Ugulatus," the article explained that "yesterday you
poured the remains of the dinosaur from a measuring-can--which, let us
hope,
held five gallons, full measure--into your gasoline tank."
The idea that oil came from the terrible lizards that children love to
learn about endured for many decades. The Sinclair Oil Company featured
a dinosaur in its logo and in its advertisements, and outfitted its gas
stations with giant replicas that bore long necks and tails.
The publicity gave the term "fossil fuels" new resonance. But the
emphasis turned out to be wrong.
Today, a principal tenet of geology is that a vast majority of the
world's oil arose not from lumbering beasts on land but tiny organisms
at sea. It holds that blizzards of microscopic life fell into the
sunless depths over the ages, producing thick sediments that the
planet's inner heat eventually cooked into oil. It is estimated that 95
percent or more of global oil
traces its genesis to the sea.
Read more:
http://snipr.com/108qds
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