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Most people throw coal on the fire and put petrol in their cars without really thinking about it. But, looking at sediment deposits can reveal what type of environments created our coal and oil hundreds of millions of years ago. The five video tracks in this album examine the role of geology in determining the global distribution and availability of these valuable resources. They look at the formation of coal and how to mine it safely, the extraction of crude oil from the Athabasca oil sands and Colorado oil shale, and how we discovered reservoirs of oil in Jurassic rocks under the North Sea. This material forms part of S278, Earth's physical resources: origin, use and environmental impact.
Track 4: Oil in sand and shale
How to get crude oil from the Athabasca oil sands and from Colorado oil shale - among the world's largest deposits of oil.
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Tracks in this podcast:
| Track | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Extracting coal and oil | An introduction to this album. Play now Extracting coal and oil |
| 2 | Coal formation | Designing a system of mining to suit the split seams in the Northumberland coal field. Analysing the small detail reveals how it was formed. Play now Coal formation |
| 3 | Open cast mines | A fault is an underground hazard. By drilling a series boreholes, miners start the safe development of an open cast mine. Play now Open cast mines |
| 4 | Oil in sand and shale | How to get crude oil from the Athabasca oil sands and from Colorado oil shale - among the world's largest deposits of oil. Play now Oil in sand and shale |
| 5 | Hidden oil reserves | Describing what the Athabasca oil sands look like and the unique conditions that led to their formation. Play now Hidden oil reserves |
| 6 | The North Sea oil bonanza | Drilling in the north sea for rocks that could hold billions of barrels of oil. Exploring how these rocks were formed in the Jurassic period. Play now The North Sea oil bonanza |
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