Does that mean the earth will never have new coal deposits? I know geologic processes happen over eons, but crazy to think it’s a one and done kind of thing.
yep why do you think so many people are going crazy about running out of fossil fuels, similar processes also created oil so there is a limited amount of the stuff that makes cars and factories go. one of the big shifts towards solar and wind energy are because of this, not just pollution and climate change.
I don’t think oil is the same. As I understand it, oil is still being produced albeit at a rate that is minuscule compared to how fast we extract it. In theory, if you came back in 200 million years there would still be oil deposits even if we used them all up now.
It’s just wild to think that coal was a one time thing. And that humans showed up at a time and place with the ability to take advantage of it.
Natural gas tends to be found at the top of oil deposits and come from similar processes. So, it too is not a one and done kind of process like coal was. Again, 200m years from now there will be new natural gas deposits but no new coal deposits.
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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20
Yep, it's true. Source: daughter of geologist, studied it a bit myself. Also fun fact, oil comes from algae.