Dinosaurs, Oil, Coal 'n' Diamonds

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I really don't know much about Dinosaurs or Diamonds, and how they relate to oil and coal.

I do remember learning in school that coal comes from plant material that has been under great pressure over long periods of time. And, when coal is compressed even more, a diamond is formed. And I know that diamonds can be created by man by duplicating what it took nature thousands of years to do.

And I remember watching Exxon commercials on TV in the 70's where a giant boot thumped the ground to locate dinosaurs that had been trapped beneath the surface many years before and somehow were turned into oil. So, I've heard that oil is formed by decaying animal matter under pressure, and since dinosaurs were the biggest animals around, they got all the credit for being turned into crude. But I suppose any animal's matter would work.

So, if I were to agree with the scientists about the age of the earth, and the existence of dinosaurs and such, I could be convinced that plant matter turns into coal, which then turns into diamonds. The natural ones we wear on our fingers and necks, and the man made ones are used to build tools and machinery, or if you like wearing imitation (cheap) crap, you can wear those also.

But the dinosaurs to crude concept is a bit harder for me to understand. Now, we've been pumping crude out of the ground for a hundred years. I wonder how many rotten dinosaurs trapped beneath the surface to fill just one of those gigantic oil tankers that traverse the globe by the hundreds every day. Were there really that many dinosaurs around? And some of the largest oil field lie in Russia and Alaska in very cold climates where I didn't think dinosaurs ever roamed. And, why isn't there man made crude? All we'd have to do is grow some animals, then cook them down under pressure and Whaalaa, Presto, we should have crude. Sure would need a lot of animals though.

So, I'll visit the Thought Dock again for these answers, but it might be a lot easier if you (in particular my oldest daughter's only son) could help me out here.

Enjoy the weekend!
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