About This Lesson
To decode the science of crude oil formation we first need to go back in time. Waaaay back! We have to set our geologic clocks back tens and even hundreds of millions of years to a time when ancient seas covered much of North America. Small lifeforms, mostly algae, and tiny creatures known as zooplankton lived in these ancient seas. They produced their life energy by using CO2, water, and sunlight. Like all living things, these plants and animals eventually died. Their remains fell to the bottom and mixed with and were buried by sediment. Their remains and seafloor sediment piled up for millions of years.
