How Are Fossils Formed?

How Are Fossil Fuels Formed

Fossil fuels refer to fuels, which are formed by natural resources like dead organisms. As it is, fossil fuels are of extreme importance since they can be burned to produce considerable amounts of energy. Fossil fuels have under use for a long time. In fact, the usage of coal as fuel predates recorded history. It was primarily used for running furnaces for melting of metal ore. Along with that, semi-solid hydrocarbons extracted from seeps were also used as fuel in the ancient times. However, these materials were usually used for waterproofing or embalming.

However, when it comes to fossil fuels, a question that generally arises in our minds is that how are fossil fuels formed. As it is, fossil fuels were formed over a period of several hundred million years by decomposing organisms, including plants. During this period, layers and layers of mud, sand and rock covered the dead organisms, thousands of feet below the earth, due to which they were fossilized.

As it is, Oil and natural gas formation took place in the aforementioned way. However, coal was formed in a slightly different way. Oil and natural gas were formed by various organisms, such as plankton as well as plants that mostly inhabited fresh waters and were buried under rivers or oceans. After a very long period the water receded back and the pressure along with bacteria combined to form oil and natural gas. With this, oil and natural gas began rising up under ground. However, it stopped, due to caprocks, which are very hard rocks that they can’t move through. The caprocks hold them back and that is why, they do not get spilled to the surface. So, when petroleum companies drill through these caprock, they find oil or natural gas or both under them and that is how it is extracted today.

Coal formation, however took place in a slightly different way. As it is, coal was created by the dead remains of ferns, trees as well as other plants which lived around 300 to 400 million years ago. Coal is usually found in the swamps, which are covered by seawater. As seawater contains amazing amounts of sulfur it stayed back in the coal, as the water receded. If this sulfur is not removed when coal is being burned, then it goes into the air while coal is burned.

I hope that, by now, you must have known as to how are fossil fuels formed.

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