• Flyberius [comrade/them]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Not to be that guy, but isn't oil actually from all the trees that lived, died and got subducted, before there were any bacteria around capable of biodegrading them? So basically as soon as those bacteria arrived, no more oil was getting produced.

      • azi@mander.xyz
        ·
        8 months ago

        Trees turn into peat which lithifies into coal. The anoxic and acidic conditions of peat bogs can slow decomposition enough to allow peat and coal to form so not all coal is from the Carboniferous, just most of it.

        Also the evolutionary lag hypothesis that attributes that extra Carboniferous coal to a lack of lignin decomposers has been thrown into doubt.