The Youngest Natural Oil on Earth

摘要

The youngest oil reported so far has been detected in thermally altered Recent sediments of Guaymas Basin. Evaluated geological age of this oil is 5 000 yr. Here we show results of ~(14)C age determination of petroleum-like hydrocarbons collected in Kamchatka volcanism area. The results obtained show that found hydrocarbons are similar to conventionally exploited crude oils and have age less than 50 yr. The result indicates that the transformation of biomass into oil takes place nowadays. It is the first observation of the phenomenon of recent oil formation. We have mimicked this process by producing hydrocarbons by low-temperature pyrolysis from the samples of cyanobacteria and microalgae taken in the close vicinity of places from which oil samples were collected. The process is technologically feasible: lipid-containing photosyn-thesizing organisms can be cultivated with the follow-up conversion of biomass into liquid fuel.