Spanish Through Experience announces a talk by our prestigious new member Melodye Rooney on “Las Vidas Escondidas de los Petróleos" on Wednesday May 29th at 3pm at her home. There is room for 14 participants for the talk and tea afterwards.
The talk will be in Spanish at Melody’s apartment.
To sign up, please call Shaké Balian or email uwcstudygroups@gmail.com.
Spanish through Experience Meeting Notes
The Secret Lives of Petroleum
Melodye Rooney, an expert in petroleum, gave a very interesting talk on the subject at her home in Belgrano. Melodye has a degree in Chemistry and has done research in the area of Analytical Chemistry. She spent several years studying the different identities of pe- troleum, hence the title of her talk, ‘The Secret Lives of Petroleum’.
The talk was an introduction to the origin of petroleum and the changes it undergoes during its maturation, expulsion and migration. Melodye used the analogy of humans to explain how oils differ. She discussed how the genetic organic material that is the ‘parent’ of the oil, affects its quality and the environmental conditions in which the organic material is preserved. Only particular conditions such as lakes, coastal areas of oceans and swamps are conducive to the formation of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oils. Oils are mostly formed from the plankton, zooplankton and other microscopic organisms in lakes and oceans. She emphasized that although often dinosaurs are thought to be the source of oils, it’s really the microscopic life in water and the big plants in swamps that contain enough carbon to become oil and coal.
She explained that the plants and microscopic animals that are deposited in surface sediments undergo a transformation due to the increasing heat and pressure as they are buried deeper and more sediment builds above them. The sediments become rocks, (shales or carbonates), which are referred to as source rocks, since they are the source of oil. The organic matter in these source rocks is squeezed and rearranged into a polymer called kerogen. Finally, upon further burial, pressure in the source rock increases as the kerogen breaks down and the oil leaves its ‘mother’ and goes off to find a trap, where geologists find it.
She also discussed the relationship of humans with petroleum. Oil that escapes to the surface be- comes bitumen or asphalt, due to biodegradation by bacteria. Bitumen was used as waterproof material by early humans: Neanderthals protected their weapons with it and Egyptians kept their tombs from flooding. During the Industrial Revolution mined coal provided the energy for techno- logical advances.
Today the use of petroleum is being challenged by an eco-friendly world; nevertheless oil and gas will still be an essential source of energy for the next few decades. Hence the importance of Vaca Muerta in Argentina with a valuable source of shale oil reserves.
After the talk we were treated to a delicious tea party.
Vivien Lane