82-571: La Brea (Spanish for "the tar" or "the tar pits ") may refer to: Los Angeles [ edit ] La Brea Avenue La Brea Bakery La Brea Tar Pits Park La Brea, Los Angeles , a large apartment community Elsewhere [ edit ] La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago , home to the Pitch Lake La Brea District , in Peru Other [ edit ] La Brea (TV series) ,
164-640: A 2021–2024 American drama series See also [ edit ] Lábrea , a municipality in Amazonas, Brazil Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title La Brea . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Brea&oldid=1227429274 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
246-440: A fault created a fracture that tapped into an oil and gas reservoir deep within the crust. The oil and gas seeped upward to Earth's surface through the fracture over time, creating Pitch Lake. Due to this constant replenishment of the oil and gas, the lake has a slight current. The current is largely unnoticed because the top layer of Pitch Lake is mostly solid. Tar pits are characteristic of their many fossils. This
328-520: A fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. Young found that by slow distillation he could obtain several useful liquids from it, one of which he named "paraffine oil" because at low temperatures it congealed into a substance resembling paraffin wax. The production of these oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated October 17, 1850. In 1850, Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under
410-512: A much shallower level. The Athabasca oil sands are one example of this. An alternative mechanism to the one described above was proposed by Russian scientists in the mid-1850s, the hypothesis of abiogenic petroleum origin (petroleum formed by inorganic means), but this is contradicted by geological and geochemical evidence. Abiogenic sources of oil have been found, but never in commercially profitable amounts. "The controversy isn't over whether abiogenic oil reserves exist," said Larry Nation of
492-476: A process known as catagenesis . Formation of petroleum occurs from hydrocarbon pyrolysis in a variety of mainly endothermic reactions at high temperatures or pressures, or both. These phases are described in detail below. In the absence of plentiful oxygen, aerobic bacteria were prevented from decaying the organic matter after it was buried under a layer of sediment or water. However, anaerobic bacteria were able to reduce sulfates and nitrates among
574-643: A significant amount of petroleum while drilling for lignite in Wietze , Germany. Wietze later provided about 80% of German consumption in the Wilhelminian Era. The production stopped in 1963, but Wietze has hosted a Petroleum Museum since 1970. Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century. Both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze,
656-574: A source of internal and inter-state conflict, leading to both state-led wars and other resource conflicts . Production of petroleum is estimated to reach peak oil before 2035 as global economies lower dependencies on petroleum as part of climate change mitigation and a transition towards renewable energy and electrification . The word petroleum comes from Medieval Latin petroleum (literally 'rock oil'), which comes from Latin petra 'rock' (from Greek pétra πέτρα ) and oleum 'oil' (from Greek élaion ἔλαιον ). The origin of
738-411: A variety of liquid, gaseous, and solid components. Lighter hydrocarbons are the gases methane , ethane , propane and butane . Otherwise, the bulk of the liquid and solids are largely heavier organic compounds, often hydrocarbons (C and H only). The proportion of light hydrocarbons in the petroleum mixture varies among oil fields . An oil well produces predominantly crude oil. Because the pressure
820-520: A visit to Fort Duquesne in 1750. Early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. Merkwiller-Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, notably for medical purposes. There
902-547: A year before Drake's Pennsylvania operation and could be argued to be the first commercial oil well in North America. The discovery at Oil Springs touched off an oil boom which brought hundreds of speculators and workers to the area. Advances in drilling continued into 1862 when local driller Shaw reached a depth of 62 metres using the spring-pole drilling method. On January 16, 1862, after an explosion of natural gas , Canada's first oil gusher came into production, shooting into
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#1732849042968984-399: Is a fault or fracture in the overlying strata above the oil reserve, the oil may migrate to the surface. This is possible by capillary fringe and because oil is less dense than water. Tar pits are pools of asphalt. However, at the beginning of their formation, they were not always sticky and dense. The pools were composed of crude oil that originated below Earth's surface. Crude oil
1066-605: Is a mixture of heteroatom compounds, hydrocarbons , metals , and inorganic compounds . Heteroatom compounds are organic molecules that contain elements that are not carbon or hydrogen, while hydrocarbons contain only carbon and hydrogen. Crude oil is less viscous than asphalt because it contains a higher percentage of light hydrocarbons. Light hydrocarbons include the following alkanes : methane , ethane , propane , and butane . These molecules have very low molecular weights . Crude oils may also contain some inorganic impurities, such as CO 2 , H 2 S, N 2 , and O 2 . At
1148-487: Is called diagenesis , a word that means a transformation of materials by dissolution and recombination of their constituents. Kerogen formation continued to a depth of about 1 km from the Earth's surface where temperatures may reach around 50 °C . Kerogen formation represents a halfway point between organic matter and fossil fuels : kerogen can be exposed to oxygen, oxidize and thus be lost, or it could be buried deeper inside
1230-717: Is considered a sticky, black, tar-like form of crude oil which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow. Venezuela also has large amounts of oil in the Orinoco oil sands , although the hydrocarbons trapped in them are more fluid than in Canada and are usually called extra heavy oil . These oil sands resources are called unconventional oil to distinguish them from oil which can be extracted using traditional oil well methods. Between them, Canada and Venezuela contain an estimated 3.6 trillion barrels (570 × 10 ^ m ) of bitumen and extra-heavy oil, about twice
1312-437: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Tar pit Tar pits , sometimes referred to as asphalt pits , are large asphalt deposits. They form in the presence of petroleum , which is created when decayed organic matter is subjected to pressure underground. If this crude oil seeps upward via fractures, conduits, or porous sedimentary rock layers, it may pool up at
1394-738: Is done after a study of the relevant structural geology , analysis of the sedimentary basin , and characterization of the petroleum reservoir . There are also unconventional reserves such as oil sands and oil shale which are recovered by other means such as fracking . Once extracted, oil is refined and separated, most easily by distillation , into innumerable products for direct use or use in manufacturing. Products include fuels such as gasoline (petrol), diesel , kerosene and jet fuel ; asphalt and lubricants ; chemical reagents used to make plastics ; solvents , textiles , refrigerants , paint , synthetic rubber , fertilizers , pesticides , pharmaceuticals , and thousands of others. Petroleum
1476-475: Is likely that the trees’ stomatal conductance and chloroplast demand for CO 2 was higher during this period to increase their carbon consumption. When moving into the following Interglacial Period, the Juniperus trees’ stomatal conductance and chloroplast demand for CO 2 decreased as a result of higher temperatures and higher CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This response to fluctuating carbon levels
1558-473: Is lower at the surface than underground, some of the gas will come out of solution and be recovered (or burned) as associated gas or solution gas . A gas well produces predominantly natural gas . However, because the underground temperature is higher than at the surface, the gas may contain heavier hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane , and heptane (" natural-gas condensate ", often shortened to condensate. ) Condensate resembles gasoline in appearance and
1640-737: Is now called the Drake Well in Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania .There also was a company associated with it, and it sparked a major oil drilling boom. The first commercial oil well in Canada became operational in 1858 at Oil Springs, Ontario (then Canada West ). Businessman James Miller Williams dug several wells between 1855 and 1858 before discovering a rich reserve of oil four metres below ground. Williams extracted 1.5 million litres of crude oil by 1860, refining much of it into kerosene lamp oil. Williams's well became commercially viable
1722-505: Is seen in plants over time. For example, increased stomatal conductance is observed in modern C3 plants grown in low CO 2 environments. It is also hypothesized that the wetter climate during the Last Glacial Period may have increased the nitrogen availability to plants, which therefore increased the concentration of nitrogen in leaves. This change may have increased the Juniperus trees’ photosynthetic capacities. A woman's body
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#17328490429681804-630: Is seen on the surface is sourced from the Salt Lake Oil Field reservoir and the oil sands in the Repetto and Pico formations . These oil deposits were formed during the Miocene Epoch when marine plankton organisms accumulated in an ocean basin. Over time, sediments buried the organisms 300 to 1000 meters below Earth's surface, subjecting them to high pressures. This process turned the organic matter into oil. The 6th Street Fault that cuts through
1886-451: Is similar in composition to some volatile light crude oils . The hydrocarbons in crude oil are mostly alkanes , cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons , while the other organic compounds contain nitrogen , oxygen , and sulfur , and traces of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and vanadium . Many oil reservoirs contain live bacteria. The exact molecular composition of crude oil varies widely from formation to formation but
1968-436: Is the case because the thick, sticky asphalt traps animals. Once animals step into the tar, they become immobilized and begin sinking immediately if the asphalt is warm and sticky enough. Predators that see these helpless animals usually would advance into the tar pits with the hope of catching their next meal. As a result, prey are usually found beneath the predator during excavation projects. The bones and hard parts of
2050-473: Is used in manufacturing a vast variety of materials essential for modern life, and it is estimated that the world consumes about 100 million barrels (16 million cubic metres ) each day. Petroleum production played a key role in industrialization and economic development. Some countries, known as petrostates , gained significant economic and international power over their control of oil production and trade. Petroleum exploitation can be damaging to
2132-670: The Earth's crust and be subjected to conditions which allow it to slowly transform into fossil fuels like petroleum. The latter happened through catagenesis in which the reactions were mostly radical rearrangements of kerogen. These reactions took thousands to millions of years and no external reactants were involved. Due to the radical nature of these reactions, kerogen reacted towards two classes of products: those with low H/C ratio ( anthracene or products similar to it) and those with high H/C ratio ( methane or products similar to it); i.e., carbon-rich or hydrogen-rich products. Because catagenesis
2214-575: The Last Glacial Period were recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits, and they revealed that the ratio of intercellular and atmospheric CO 2 was similar between glacial and modern trees. Since the amount of carbon dioxide during the Last Glacial Period was between 180 and 200 ppm (409.8 ppm today), there was less carbon available for photosynthesis . The Juniperus trees had to enhance CO 2 uptake to survive under limiting carbon conditions. It
2296-484: The Orinoco Belt . While significant volumes of oil are extracted from oil sands, particularly in Canada, logistical and technical hurdles remain, as oil extraction requires large amounts of heat and water, making its net energy content quite low relative to conventional crude oil. Thus, Canada's oil sands are not expected to provide more than a few million barrels per day in the foreseeable future. Petroleum consists of
2378-780: The Soviet Union in total output. In 1973 , Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations imposed an oil embargo against the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and other Western nations which supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. The embargo caused an oil crisis . This was followed by the 1979 oil crisis , which was caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and caused oil prices to more than double. The two oil price shocks had many short- and long-term effects on global politics and
2460-533: The United States , but is responsible for only one percent of electricity generation. Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world's most important commodities . The top three oil-producing countries as of 2018 are the United States, Russia , and Saudi Arabia . In 2018, due in part to developments in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling ,
2542-455: The actinomycetales order of bacteria also produced antibiotic compounds (e.g., streptomycin ). Thus the action of anaerobic bacteria ceased at about 10 m below the water or sediment. The mixture at this depth contained fulvic acids, unreacted and partially reacted fats and waxes, slightly modified lignin , resins and other hydrocarbons. As more layers of organic matter settled into the sea or lake bed, intense heat and pressure built up in
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2624-567: The 12th century. It has also been present in Romania since the 13th century, being recorded as păcură. Sophisticated oil pits, 4.5 to 6 metres (15 to 20 ft) deep, were dug by the Seneca people and other Iroquois in Western Pennsylvania as early as 1415–1450. The French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm encountered Seneca using petroleum for ceremonial fires and as a healing lotion during
2706-494: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. "The controversy is over how much they contribute to Earth's overall reserves and how much time and effort geologists should devote to seeking them out." Three conditions must be present for oil reservoirs to form: The reactions that produce oil and natural gas are often modeled as first order breakdown reactions, where hydrocarbons are broken down to oil and natural gas by
2788-632: The Binagadi asphalt lake. It is estimated to be 96-120 thousand years old. It is on display at the Natural-Historical Museum of Azerbaijan in Baku , Azerbaijan . Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago is a large, bowl-like depression filled with bitumen. The lake has a maximum depth of 250 feet with an area of 100 acres, making it the largest deposit of solid bitumen on Earth. The lake is cold and dense near
2870-455: The Earth's surface. Unusual magma intrusions, however, could have created greater localized heating. Geologists often refer to the temperature range in which oil forms as an "oil window" . Below the minimum temperature oil remains trapped in the form of kerogen. Above the maximum temperature the oil is converted to natural gas through the process of thermal cracking . Sometimes, oil formed at extreme depths may migrate and become trapped at
2952-553: The La Brea Tar Pits is the dire wolf , one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores that lived during the Pleistocene . Fossils from saber-toothed cats and coyotes were also abundant. Additional fossils are constantly being discovered through continued excavation projects. Life was found in a ca. 28,000-year-old sample of natural asphalt in the La Brea Tar Pits . Hundreds of new species of bacteria were discovered that have
3034-724: The Salt Lake Oil Field is the conduit that feeds the La Brea Tar Pits. Petroleum migrated to the surface over time, trapping and preserving animals and plants for the past 50,000 years. The Carpinteria Tar Pits are located in Tar Pits Park in Carpinteria, California. These tar pits were predicted to have formed during the Pleistocene. During an excavation project, 25 plant species were recovered along with 55 species of birds and 26 species of mammals. Springs of tar still ooze to
3116-526: The Soviet Union included the goal to capture the Baku oilfields , as it would provide much-needed oil supplies for the German military which was suffering from blockades. Oil exploration in North America during the early 20th century later led to the U.S. becoming the leading producer by mid-century. As petroleum production in the U.S. peaked during the 1960s, the United States was surpassed by Saudi Arabia and
3198-561: The United States became the world's largest producer. About 80 percent of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East , with 62.5 percent coming from the Arab five: Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates , Iraq , Qatar , and Kuwait . A large portion of the world's total oil exists as unconventional sources, such as bitumen in Athabasca oil sands and extra heavy oil in
3280-454: The ability to thrive in environments with little to no water or air. They contain special enzymes that can break down hydrocarbons and other petroleum products. The origin of the bacteria in these natural asphalt pits is unknown, but it is believed that they evolved from preexisting soil microorganisms that survived an asphalt seepage event thousands of years ago. The soil microorganisms had to adapt and undergo genetic changes to help tolerate
3362-609: The air at a recorded rate of 480 cubic metres (3,000 bbl) per day. By the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire, particularly the Branobel company in Azerbaijan , had taken the lead in production. Access to oil was and still is a major factor in several military conflicts of the 20th century, including World War II , during which oil facilities were a major strategic asset and were extensively bombed . The German invasion of
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3444-604: The animals are well preserved because they are buried rapidly after the organism's death. Beneath the surface, the hard parts are engulfed with asphalt, and they are protected from climate variations like rain, wind, or snow that may accelerate weathering processes. Asphalt also lacks oxygen and water, so major decomposing organisms like aerobic fungi and bacteria are absent. In the La Brea Tar Pits, more than one million bones have been recovered since 1906. 231 vertebrate species, 234 invertebrate species, and 159 plant species have been identified. The most frequent large mammal found in
3526-539: The area around modern Baku , Azerbaijan . These fields were described by the Persian geographer Abu Bakr al-Razi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain , distillation became available in Western Europe by
3608-559: The atmosphere are a result of anthropogenic emissions. Hydrocarbon seepage in urban or industrialized areas present a geologic hazard due to the explosive nature of hydrocarbons. On March 24, 1985, a pocket of methane gas passed through a small opening between the floor slab and foundation walls of a Ross clothing department store in Los Angeles , only about a mile north of the La Brea Tar Pits. This methane pocket created an explosion that injured 21 people. This event increased awareness of
3690-474: The coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. Chemist James Young in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the coal mine at riddings Alfreton , Derbyshire from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a more viscous oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848, Young set up a small business refining crude oil. Young eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at low heat, in creating
3772-564: The earliest Chinese writings, cites that oil in its raw state, without refining, was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BCE. In addition, the Chinese were the first to record the use of petroleum as fuel as early as the fourth century BCE. By 347 CE, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China. In the 7th century, petroleum was among the essential ingredients for Greek fire , an incendiary projectile weapon that
3854-469: The environment and human health. Extraction , refining and burning of petroleum fuels all release large quantities of greenhouse gases , so petroleum is one of the major contributors to climate change . Other negative environmental effects include direct releases, such as oil spills , as well as air and water pollution at almost all stages of use. These environmental effects have direct and indirect health consequences for humans. Oil has also been
3936-425: The fact that it happened at relatively low temperatures (when compared to commercial pyrolysis plants) of 60 to several hundred °C. Pyrolysis was possible because of the long reaction times involved. Heat for catagenesis came from the decomposition of radioactive materials of the crust, especially K , Th , U and U . The heat varied with geothermal gradient and was typically 10–30 °C per km of depth from
4018-414: The fold dips away from the crest. Such structures are usually developed above thrust faults or in tectonic regions where the land is bending and folding. If the structure above the concave-down fold (arch) is a non-porous rock or aquitard , such as shale , it is considered an anticlinal trap. The figure in this section is a cartoon cross-section diagram that shows oil stuck in an anticlinal trap. If there
4100-586: The form of sulfides as their reducing agent. Other bacteria discovered in the tar pits were of the Rubrobacteraceae family. These bacteria are known for being some of the most radiation-resistant organisms on the planet. Pitch Lake , another asphalt pit in Trinidad and Tobago , is also a habitat for microbial communities of archaea and bacteria. Bacterial microorganisms from the orders Burkholderiales and Enterobacteriales have been found living in microliter-sized droplets of water recovered from
4182-794: The global economy. They led to sustained reductions in demand as a result of substitution to other fuels, especially coal and nuclear, and improvements in energy efficiency , facilitated by government policies. High oil prices also induced investment in oil production by non-OPEC countries, including Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the North Sea offshore fields of the United Kingdom and Norway, the Cantarell offshore field of Mexico, and oil sands in Canada. About 90 percent of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40 percent of total energy consumption in
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#17328490429684264-544: The harsh, new environment, which ultimately gave rise to new bacterial species. In one study, the predominant bacteria found in the La Brea Tar Pits were of the Gammaproteobacteria class in the Chromatiales order, more simply referred to as purple sulfur bacteria . Purple sulfur bacteria do not use water as their reducing agent , so oxygen is not produced during respiration . Instead, they use sulfur in
4346-408: The heavier end of the range, paraffin wax is an alkane with approximately 25 carbon atoms, while asphalt has 35 and up, although these are usually cracked in modern refineries into more valuable products. The lightest fraction, the so-called petroleum gases are subjected to diverse processing depending on cost. These gases are either flared off , sold as liquefied petroleum gas , or used to power
4428-508: The highest along the 6th Street Fault, which is the conduit that feeds the tar pits with crude oil from the sediments underneath Earth's surface. It was also discovered that methane is evaporating out of the nearby soil, affecting the physiology of the native grasses. The La Brea Tar Pits have the highest natural gas flux measured for any onshore seepage zone in the United States. On a global scale, geologic CH 4 and C 2 H 6 emissions estimates from gas seepage in sedimentary rock are in
4510-564: The hydrocarbon lakes that are found on Titan. Tar pits are formed by the fractionation of crude oil at the surface. The lighter hydrocarbons of the crude oil, which include methane (CH 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), and propane (C 3 H 8 ), evaporate, leaving behind larger hydrocarbons that make up the chemical composition of asphalt. This is a concern because methane, ethane, and propane are either major greenhouse gases and/or photochemical pollutants . The La Brea Tar Pits emit about 500 kg of methane per day. The emissions are
4592-427: The initial volume just after a few days, forming asphalt as the resulting product. For medium crude oils, the volume may be reduced by 40%. Crude oils will evaporate differently depending on their chemical composition. The average composition of a bitumen sample by weight is 80.2% carbon, 7.5% hydrogen, 7.6% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 3.0% sulfur. The La Brea Tar Pits are located in Los Angeles . The petroleum that
4674-638: The invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern oil "mine" (1854). at Bóbrka , near Krosno (still operational as of 2020). The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America and around the world quickly grew. The first oil well in the Americas was drilled in 1859 by Edwin Drake at what
4756-477: The lake. The biomass in Pitch Lake lake was reported up to 10 cells per gram of asphalt. Many of these microbes survive on sulfur, iron, methane , or other hydrocarbons. Ongoing research is being conducted in Pitch Lake because it mimics the environment found on the surface of Saturn ’s largest moon, Titan . The discovery of extremophiles in Pitch Lake provides insight into the possibilities for microbial life in
4838-446: The large number of co-eluted hydrocarbons within oil, many cannot be resolved by traditional gas chromatography. This unresolved complex mixture (UCM) of hydrocarbons is particularly apparent when analysing weathered oils and extracts from tissues of organisms exposed to oil. Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on its composition. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish, reddish, or even greenish). In
4920-411: The lower regions. As a consequence, compounds of this mixture began to combine in poorly understood ways to kerogen . Combination happened in a similar fashion as phenol and formaldehyde molecules react to urea-formaldehyde resins, but kerogen formation occurred in a more complex manner due to a bigger variety of reactants. The total process of kerogen formation from the beginning of anaerobic decay
5002-899: The matter to H 2 S and N 2 respectively by using the matter as a source for other reactants. Due to such anaerobic bacteria, at first, this matter began to break apart mostly via hydrolysis : polysaccharides and proteins were hydrolyzed to simple sugars and amino acids respectively. These were further anaerobically oxidized at an accelerated rate by the enzymes of the bacteria: e.g., amino acids went through oxidative deamination to imino acids , which in turn reacted further to ammonia and α-keto acids . Monosaccharides in turn ultimately decayed to CO 2 and methane . The anaerobic decay products of amino acids, monosaccharides, phenols and aldehydes combined into fulvic acids . Fats and waxes were not extensively hydrolyzed under these mild conditions. Some phenolic compounds produced from previous reactions worked as bactericides and
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#17328490429685084-545: The order of 50-70 Tg/year and 2-4 Tg/year respectively. These values are roughly half of the global CH 4 and C 2 H 6 emissions from anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion , which are approximately 100-150 Tg CH 4 /year and 6-8 Tg C 2 H 6 /year. These hydrocarbon emissions can be contributed to oil biodegradation and methanogenesis within the tar pits. The natural geologic sources of methane and other hydrocarbons should be considered when modeling atmospheric greenhouse gases. Not all sources of hydrocarbons in
5166-432: The potential dangers of methane pockets and hydrocarbon seepage in the area. Tar pits are excellent preserving agents, and they also have the ability to provide carbon isotope data for trees that have fallen into the asphalt. Looking at carbon isotope data in prehistoric trees can reveal information about plant responses to different amounts of carbon dioxide in the paleoatmosphere . Samples of Juniperus trees from
5248-556: The proportion of chemical elements varies over fairly narrow limits as follows: Four different types of hydrocarbon appear in crude oil. The relative percentage of each varies from oil to oil, determining the properties of each oil. The alkanes from pentane (C 5 H 12 ) to octane (C 8 H 18 ) are refined into gasoline, the ones from nonane (C 9 H 20 ) to hexadecane (C 16 H 34 ) into diesel fuel , kerosene and jet fuel . Alkanes with more than 16 carbon atoms can be refined into fuel oil and lubricating oil . At
5330-644: The refinery's own burners. During the winter, butane (C 4 H 10 ), is blended into the gasoline pool at high rates, because its high vapour pressure assists with cold starts. The aromatic hydrocarbons are unsaturated hydrocarbons that have one or more benzene rings . They tend to burn with a sooty flame, and many have a sweet aroma. Some are carcinogenic . These different components are separated by fractional distillation at an oil refinery to produce gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, and other hydrocarbon fractions. The components in an oil sample can be determined by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry . Due to
5412-412: The reservoir it is usually found in association with natural gas, which being lighter forms a "gas cap" over the petroleum, and saline water which, being heavier than most forms of crude oil, generally sinks beneath it. Crude oil may also be found in a semi-solid form mixed with sand and water, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it is usually referred to as crude bitumen . In Canada, bitumen
5494-509: The same time the world's first, small, oil refinery was opened at Jasło in Poland (then Austria), with a larger one opened at Ploiești in Romania shortly after. Romania (then being a vassal of the Ottoman empire) is the first country in the world to have had its annual crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics: 275 tonnes for 1857. In 1858, Georg Christian Konrad Hunäus found
5576-518: The second half of the 19th century, the term became commonly known for the liquid form of hydrocarbons. Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times. More than 4300 years ago, bitumen was mentioned when the Sumerians used it to make boats. A tablet of the legend of the birth of Sargon of Akkad mentions a basket which was closed by straw and bitumen. More than 4000 years ago, according to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus , asphalt
5658-420: The shores, and it has a top layer that can be walked on. Underneath this skin, the asphalt is continuously churning. The lake gets gradually softer and hotter near the center where the bitumen begins to bubble. The gas being released in the middle of the lake is largely methane and an ample amount of carbon dioxide. Pitch Lake formed thousands of years ago in the presence of tectonic activity. Movement along
5740-554: The surface through fractures in the underlying stratigraphic layers of marine shale. The Binagadi Asphalt Lake is located in Azerbaijan , or in the Caucasus, a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea . This tar pit is known for preserving the heads and bodies of multiple cave lions , a mammal that flourished in the Pleistocene . A well-preserved horse skull was also found in
5822-461: The surface, these light molecules may evaporate out of the crude oil, leaving behind the heavier, stickier molecules. Asphalt, or bitumen, usually contains hydrocarbon molecule chains with 50+ carbon atoms. The longer the hydrocarbon chain, the more viscous it becomes, and the boiling point increases. Evaporation is an important process in the formation of tar pits. A reservoir of light crude oil on Earth's surface can be reduced by up to 75% of
5904-458: The surface. The lighter components of the crude oil evaporate into the atmosphere, leaving behind a black, sticky asphalt. Tar pits are often excavated because they contain large fossil collections. Tar pits form above oil reserves, and these deposits are often found in anticlinal traps . In fact, about 80 percent of petroleum found on Earth has been found in anticlinal traps. Anticlines are folds in stratigraphic layers in which each half of
5986-497: The tar pits, they began mining and extracting the tar for roofing material in nearby towns. Crude oil Petroleum is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture. It consists mainly of hydrocarbons , and is found in geological formations . The term petroleum refers both to naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil, as well as to petroleum products that consist of refined crude oil. Conventional reserves of petroleum are primarily recovered by drilling , which
6068-408: The term stems from monasteries in southern Italy where it was in use by the end of the first millennium as an alternative for the older term " naphtha ". After that, the term was used in numerous manuscripts and books, such as in the treatise De Natura Fossilium , published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer , also known as Georgius Agricola. After the advent of the oil industry, during
6150-528: The title of E.W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian and E. Meldrum & Co. at Glasgow; their works at Bathgate were completed in 1851 and became the first truly commercial oil-works in the world with the first modern oil refinery. The world's first oil refinery was built in 1856 by Ignacy Łukasiewicz in Austria. His achievements also included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil,
6232-468: The volume of the world's reserves of conventional oil. Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from fossilized organic materials , such as zooplankton and algae . Vast amounts of these remains settled to sea or lake bottoms where they were covered in stagnant water (water with no dissolved oxygen ) or sediments such as mud and silt faster than they could decompose aerobically . Approximately 1 m below this sediment, water oxygen concentration
6314-612: Was activity in various parts of the world in the mid-19th century. A group directed by Major Alexeyev of the Bakinskii Corps of Mining Engineers hand-drilled a well in the Baku region of Bibi-Heybat in 1846. There were engine-drilled wells in West Virginia in the same year as Drake's well. An early commercial well was hand dug in Poland in 1853, and another in nearby Romania in 1857. At around
6396-414: Was closed off from external reactants, the resulting composition of the fuel mixture was dependent on the composition of the kerogen via reaction stoichiometry . Three types of kerogen exist: type I (algal), II (liptinic) and III (humic), which were formed mainly from algae , plankton and woody plants (this term includes trees , shrubs and lianas ) respectively. Catagenesis was pyrolytic despite
6478-423: Was low, below 0.1 mg/L, and anoxic conditions existed. Temperatures also remained constant. As further layers settled into the sea or lake bed, intense heat and pressure built up in the lower regions. This process caused the organic matter to change, first into a waxy material known as kerogen , found in various oil shales around the world, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons via
6560-549: Was recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits in 1914. Only the skull and parts of the skeleton were preserved, and she was determined to have died about 9,000 years ago. She was between the ages 18–24 at death, and she was 4 feet and 8-10 inches tall. This is the only reported instance of human remains found within tar pits. For thousands of years, Native Americans used tar from the La Brea Tar Pits as an adhesive and binding agent. They would use it as waterproof caulking to line their boats and baskets. When Europeans arrived at
6642-475: Was used by Byzantine Greeks against Arab ships, which were then attacking Constantinople . Crude oil was also distilled by Persian chemists , with clear descriptions given in Arabic handbooks such as those of Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes). The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar , derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in
6724-539: Was used in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon ; there were oil pits near Ardericca and Babylon, and a pitch spring on Zakynthos . Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus , one of the tributaries of the Euphrates . Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society. The use of petroleum in ancient China dates back to more than 2000 years ago. The I Ching , one of
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