this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
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[–] Sunschein@lemmy.world 57 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fun fact: Oil mostly comes from the a mass extinction event involving cyanobacteria, not dinosaurs. We just can't stop calling them fossil fuels.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

… are they not fossils of the cyanobacteria

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Not by the usual definition. The carbon, etc that used to form the cyanobacteria is completely broken down and formed into miscellaneous hydrocarbons. There's no petrified remains, nor rock impressions of the bacteria.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

FWIW that was always my concept of fossil fuels to begin with.

Like whatever you just said, but for dinosaurs and all the life from before.

[–] hypnicjerk@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

dinosaurs are a basically insignificant % of the biomass by my understanding

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But aren't their atoms perfectly preserved? (gasping at straws)

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Not all of them. Some of the carbon atoms will have decayed into (I think) nitrogen.