How was petroleum first used and formed?

Petroleum became a major industry following the oil discovery at Oil Creek Pennsylvania in 1859. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the US was the largest oil producing country in the world. But "what is the process involved in the formation of Petroleum and when was it first used?". Let's explore!

Four thousand years ago, according to Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was employed in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon; there were oil pits near Ardericca (near Babylon), and a pitch spring on Zacynthus (Ionian islands, Greece). 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

Petroleum is formed by hydrocarbons. A hydrocarbon is a compound made up of carbon and hydrogen, with the addition of certain other substances, primarily, sulphur. Petroleum is actually the remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago. Marine plants and animals stored the Sun's energy in their bodies. 

When they died, their remains sank to the bottom of the oceans and seas, and were covered by tiny particles of rock and soil. As the remains of these animals and plants settled under layers of sand and mud, chemicals and bacteria went to work. Over long periods of time, tiny oil droplets were formed. In time, tiny droplets of oil seeped into the layers of porous rocks, and were held in place in the same way that a sponge holds water. 

Generally, oil droplets became concentrated in certain places where non porous rock blocked their movement. Later, they become oil sources.

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