Topic 10 Fossil Fuels pages 428-429 What are Fossil Fuels? Fossil Fuels are natural fuels such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms Petroleum is the most common fossil fuel used today

What is Petroleum? Petroleum is a naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons, such as bitumen, coal, oil and gas. Most often found in sedimentary rock basins, which were formed from the sediments of tiny plants and animals deposited in the mud and silt. The soft parts of these organisms were transformed into solid, liquid or gas hydrocarbons called fossil fuels (Coal is usually formed from plants that grew on the land, oil from water-based plants and animals and natural gas from land-based or water-based plants and animals)

What is Bitumen? Bitumen is a heavy, almost solid form of petroleum. Some deposits can be mined (because they are close to the surface- like in the Athabasca Tar Sands- sometimes using steam, or hot water to separate the oil and the sand) The sands are scooped up by electrically powered shovels and loaded into trucks Hot Water is used to separate the bitumen from the sand at the processing plant The underground oil sands reservoir is heated with steam and the melted bitumen is pumped to the surface

How can Oil and Gas be trapped? There are three ways that oil and gas can be trapped Thrust Fault low angle faulting f rock. The original limestone layer was first folded and then thrust faulted. An example is the Turner Valley oil and gas field in south-western Alberta Normal Fault a type of fault in which rock above the fault moves downward. The Dunvegan gas field in north-western Alberta is an example of a normal fault trap Reef an ancient coral reef has been folded to form several traps, such as the Leduc oil and gas field.