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123-506: It is notable as the original home of oil sands mining. Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, initially under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonnière , by special appointment of Louis XV . The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birthplace of companies such as Antar and Schlumberger . The first modern oil sands refinery was built there in 1857; and it also had

246-423: A fuel, and coal tar as a material for paving roads has been replaced by the petroleum product asphalt . Naturally occurring bitumen is chemically more similar to asphalt than to coal tar, and the term oil sands (or oilsands) is more commonly used by industry in the producing areas than tar sands because synthetic oil is manufactured from the bitumen, and due to the feeling that the terminology of tar sands

369-469: A great depth , creating high subsurface temperatures, and producing a giant pressure cooker effect that converted the kerogen in the deeply buried organic-rich shales to light oil and natural gas. These source rocks were similar to the American so-called oil shales , except the latter have never been buried deep enough to convert the kerogen in them into liquid oil. This overthrusting also tilted

492-500: A major source of unconventional oil, although only Canada has a large-scale commercial oil sands industry. In 2006, bitumen production in Canada averaged 1.25 Mbbl/d (200,000 m /d) through 81 oil sands projects. 44% of Canadian oil production in 2007 was from oil sands. This proportion was (as of 2008) expected to increase in coming decades as bitumen production grows while conventional oil production declines, although due to

615-400: A mummy as follows: "A human or animal body desiccated by exposure to sun or air. Also applied to the frozen carcase of an animal imbedded in prehistoric snow". Wasps of the genus Aleiodes are known as "mummy wasps" because they wrap their caterpillar prey as "mummies". While interest in the study of mummies dates as far back as Ptolemaic Greece , most structured scientific study began at

738-411: A naturally occurring salt, for 70 days. Herodotus insists that the body did not stay in the natron longer than 70 days. Any shorter time and the body would not be completely dehydrated; any longer, and the body would be too stiff to move into position for wrapping. The embalmers then washed the body again and wrapped it with linen bandages. The bandages were covered with a gum that modern research has shown

861-466: A number of factors. One such factor was the airtight seal (especially as the Korean climate is unfavorable to mummification) around the bodies, which was achieved using a mix of lime , clay, and sand. Recreations of the sealing process found that chemical reactions with the lime possibly caused a high and prolonged release of heat, which killed bacteria in the bodies. In addition, a large amount of clothing

984-795: A potential record high at the end of the year of approximately 5.3 million barrels per day (bpd). The surge in production is attributed mainly to growth in Alberta's oilsands. The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline —the only oil pipeline to the West Coast—will further facilitate this increase, with its capacity set to increase significantly, to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000 bpd currently. Despite this growth, there are warnings that it might be short-lived, with production potentially plateauing after 2024. Canada's anticipated increase in oil output exceeds that of other major producers like

1107-831: A project to develop a small oil sands deposit in the Republic of the Congo . Production is scheduled to commence in 2014 and is estimated to eventually yield a total of 40,000 bbl/d (6,400 m /d). Except for a fraction of the extra-heavy oil or bitumen which can be extracted by conventional oil well technology, oil sands must be produced by strip mining or the oil made to flow into wells using sophisticated in-situ techniques. These methods usually use more water and require larger amounts of energy than conventional oil extraction. While much of Canada's oil sands are being produced using open-pit mining , approximately 90% of Canadian oil sands and all of Venezuela's oil sands are too far below

1230-515: A rescue excavation in the e 'Asi al-Hadath cave in the Qadisha Valley of Lebanon . The well-preserved spontaneous mummies, including an infant named dubbed Yasmine, offer insights into Maronite villagers' lives during the Mamluk era. The grotto's high altitude and dry conditions naturally mummified the bodies. The discovery provides historical context, aligning with documented Mamluk raids in

1353-723: A result of the formation of the Canadian Rocky Mountains by the Pacific Plate overthrusting the North American Plate as it pushed in from the west, carrying the formerly large island chains which now compose most of British Columbia . The collision compressed the Alberta plains and raised the Rockies above the plains, forming mountain ranges . This mountain building process buried the sedimentary rock layers which underlie most of Alberta to

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1476-459: A result, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) is commonly used for production. The Cold Lake oil sands are of a roughly circular shape, centered around Bonnyville, Alberta . They probably contain over 60 billion cubic metres (370 billion barrels) of extra-heavy oil-in-place. The oil is highly viscous, but considerably less so than the Athabasca oil sands, and is somewhat less sulfurous . The depth of

1599-612: A result, the government has been trying to "Wind Down" the Orimulsion program. Despite the fact that the Orinoco oil sands contain extra-heavy oil which is easier to produce than Canada's similarly sized reserves of bitumen, Venezuela's oil production has been declining in recent years because of the country's political and economic problems, while Canada's has been increasing. As a result, Canadian heavy oil and bitumen exports have been backing Venezuelan heavy and extra-heavy oil out of

1722-656: A shallow Permian formation. In Kazakhstan, large bitumen deposits are located in the North Caspian Basin. In Madagascar, Tsimiroro and Bemolanga are two heavy oil sands deposits, with a pilot well already producing small amounts of oil in Tsimiroro. and larger scale exploitation in the early planning phase. In the Republic of the Congo reserves are estimated between 0.5 and 2.5 Gbbl (79 × 10 ^ and 397 × 10 ^  m ). Bituminous sands are

1845-558: A single culture, such as those from the ancient Egyptian culture and the Andean cultures of South America. Some of the later well-preserved corpses of the mummification were found under Christian churches , such as the mummified vicar Nicolaus Rungius found under the St. Michael Church in Keminmaa , Finland . There are also cases that fall outside of these categories. Until recently, it

1968-527: A symbolic meal for her last journey. Her left arm and hand were tattooed with animal style figures, including a highly stylized deer . The Ice Maiden has been a source of some recent controversy. The mummy's skin has suffered some slight decay, and the tattoos have faded since the excavation. Some residents of the Altai Republic , formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union , have requested

2091-632: A total of 32 Gbbl (5.1 × 10 ^  m ) of oil (known and potential) in eight major deposits in Carbon , Garfield , Grand , Uintah , and Wayne counties. In addition to being much smaller than the Canadian oil sands deposits, the US oil sands are hydrocarbon-wet, whereas the Canadian oil sands are water-wet. This requires somewhat different extraction techniques for the Utah oil sands from those used for

2214-602: A very close relative. However, Xin Zhui's body was the only one of the three to be mummified. Her corpse was so well-preserved that surgeons from the Hunan Provincial Medical Institute were able to perform an autopsy. The exact reason why her body was so completely preserved has yet to be determined. Among the mummies discovered in China are those termed Tarim mummies because of their discovery in

2337-685: Is a fourth major oil sands deposit in Canada, the Melville Island oil sands in the Canadian Arctic islands , which are too remote to expect commercial production in the foreseeable future. Apart from the megagiant oil sands deposits in Canada and Venezuela, numerous other countries hold smaller oil sands deposits. In the United States, there are supergiant oil sands resources primarily concentrated in Eastern Utah , with

2460-545: Is a thick, sticky form of crude oil, and is so viscous that it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons such as light crude oil or natural-gas condensate . At room temperature, it is much like cold molasses . The Orinoco Belt in Venezuela is sometimes described as oil sands, but these deposits are non-bituminous, falling instead into the category of heavy or extra-heavy oil due to their lower viscosity. Natural bitumen and extra-heavy oil differ in

2583-497: Is about 500 km (300 miles) long east-to-west and 50 to 60 km (30 to 40 miles) wide north-to-south, much less than the combined area covered by the Canadian deposits. In general, the Canadian deposits are found over a much wider area, have a broader range of properties, and have a broader range of reservoir types than the Venezuelan ones, but the geological structures and mechanisms involved are similar. The main differences

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2706-424: Is both a waterproofing agent and an antimicrobial agent. At this point, the body was given back to the family. These "perfect" mummies were then placed in human-shaped wooden cases. Wealthy people placed these wooden cases in stone sarcophagi that provided further protection. The family placed the sarcophagus in the tomb upright against the wall, according to Herodotus. The second process that Herodotus describes

2829-527: Is home to a diverse spectrum of spontaneous and anthropogenic mummies. Some of the best-preserved mummies have come from bogs located across the region. The Capuchin monks that inhabited the area left behind hundreds of intentionally-preserved bodies that have provided insight into the customs and cultures of people from various eras. One of the oldest mummies (nicknamed Ötzi ) was discovered on this continent. New mummies continue to be uncovered in Europe well into

2952-472: Is less politically acceptable to the public. Oil sands are now an alternative to conventional crude oil. The world's largest deposits of oil sands are in Venezuela and Canada. The geology of the deposits in the two countries is generally rather similar. They are vast heavy oil , extra-heavy oil, and/or bitumen deposits with oil heavier than 20°API, found largely in unconsolidated sandstones with similar properties. "Unconsolidated" in this context means that

3075-653: Is not often used today. The Athabasca oil sands are the only major oil sands deposits which are shallow enough to surface mine. In the Athabasca sands there are very large amounts of bitumen covered by little overburden , making surface mining the most efficient method of extracting it. The overburden consists of water-laden muskeg (peat bog) overtop of clay and barren sand. The oil sands themselves are typically 40 to 60 metres (130 to 200 ft) thick deposits of crude bitumen embedded in unconsolidated sandstone , sitting on top of flat limestone rock. Since Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy ) started operation of

3198-631: Is one of only two known which show the wrapping of a mummy (Riggs 2014). Another text that describes the processes being used in the latter periods is Herodotus ' Histories . Written in Book 2 of the Histories is one of the most detailed descriptions of the Egyptian mummification process, including the mention of using natron in order to dehydrate corpses for preservation. However, these descriptions are short and fairly vague, leaving scholars to infer

3321-560: Is some evidence of deliberate mummification, most sources state that desiccation occurred naturally due to unique conditions within the crypts. The Capuchin Crypt in Brno contains three hundred years of mummified remains directly below the main altar. Beginning in the 18th century when the crypt was opened, and continuing until the practice was discontinued in 1787, the Capuchin friars of

3444-401: Is that the oil in the sands in Venezuela is less viscous than in Canada, allowing some of it to be produced by conventional drilling techniques, but none of it approaches the surface as in Canada, meaning none of it can be produced using surface mining. The Canadian deposits will almost all have to be produced by mining or using new non-conventional techniques. The Orinoco Belt is a territory in

3567-417: The 11 September 2001 attacks , and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The boom periods were followed by the bust, as the global price of oil dropped during the 1980s and again in the 1990s, during a period of global recessions, and again in 2003. The name tar sands was applied to bituminous sands in the late 19th and early 20th century. People who saw the bituminous sands during this period were familiar with

3690-663: The African continent . The bodies show a mix of anthropogenic and spontaneous mummification, with some being thousands of years old. The mummies of the Canary Islands belong to the indigenous Guanche people and date to the time before 14th-century Spanish explorers settled in the area. All deceased people within the Guanche culture were mummified during this time, though the level of care taken with embalming and burial varied depending on individual social status. Embalming

3813-529: The First Nation peoples had used bitumen from seeps along the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers to waterproof their birch bark canoes from early prehistoric times. The Canadian oil sands first became known to Europeans in 1719 when a Cree person named Wa-Pa-Su brought a sample to Hudson's Bay Company fur trader Henry Kelsey , who commented on it in his journals. Fur trader Peter Pond paddled down

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3936-611: The Peace River deposits of northwestern Alberta. Between them, they cover over 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi)—an area larger than England —and contain approximately 1.75 Tbbl (280 × 10 ^  m ) of crude bitumen in them. About 10% of the oil in place , or 173 Gbbl (27.5 × 10 ^  m ), is estimated by the government of Alberta to be recoverable at current prices, using current technology, which amounts to 97% of Canadian oil reserves and 75% of total North American petroleum reserves. Although

4059-631: The Sumerians and Babylonians , although it was also found in the Levant and Persia . The area along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was littered with hundreds of pure bitumen seepages. The Mesopotamians used the bitumen for waterproofing boats and buildings. In Europe, they were extensively mined near the French city of Pechelbronn , where the vapour separation process was in use in 1742. In Canada,

4182-460: The Tarim Basin . The dry desert climate of the basin proved to be an excellent agent for desiccation. For this reason, over 200 Tarim mummies, which are over 4,000 years old, were excavated from a cemetery in the present-day Xinjiang region. The mummies were found buried in upside-down boats with hundreds of 13-foot-long wooden poles in the place of tombstones. DNA sequence data shows that

4305-521: The Tollund Man was discovered in 1950. The corpse was noted for its excellent preservation of the face and feet, which appeared as if the man had recently died. Only the head of Tollund Man remains, due to the decomposition of the rest of his body, which was not preserved along with the head. The majority of mummies recovered in the Czech Republic come from underground crypts. While there

4428-433: The bituminous embalming substance. This word was borrowed from Persian where it meant asphalt , and is derived from the word mūm meaning wax. The meaning of "corpse preserved by desiccation" developed post-medievally. The Medieval English term "mummy" was defined as "medical preparation of the substance of mummies", rather than the entire corpse, with Richard Hakluyt in 1599 AD complaining that "these dead bodies are

4551-426: The papyri that have survived only describe the ceremonial rituals involved in embalming, not the actual surgical processes involved. A text known as The Ritual of Embalming does describe some of the practical logistics of embalming; however, there are only two known copies and each is incomplete. With regards to mummification shown in images, there are apparently also very few. The tomb of Tjay, designated TT23 ,

4674-576: The 14th and 19th centuries. Mummies have been discovered in Korea that have been dated to around the 15th to 19th centuries, during the Joseon period. This is thought to be because of the rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea , which prescribed certain burial practices that created conditions favorable to mummification. However, this mummification was likely unintentional, and even culturally seen as ominous and undesirable. Mummification likely occurred due to

4797-426: The 2008 economic downturn work on new projects has been deferred. Petroleum is not produced from oil sands on a significant level in other countries. The Alberta oil sands have been in commercial production since the original Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy ) mine began operation in 1967. Syncrude 's second mine began operation in 1978 and is the biggest mine of any type in the world. The third mine in

4920-659: The 20th century. In 1992, the First World Congress on Mummy Studies was held in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands . More than 300 scientists attended the Congress to share nearly 100 years of collected data on mummies. The information presented at the meeting triggered a new surge of interest in the subject, with one of the major results being the integration of biomedical and bioarchaeological information on mummies with existing databases. This

5043-539: The 21st century. Great Britain , Ireland , Germany , the Netherlands , Sweden , and Denmark have produced a number of bog bodies , mummies of people deposited in sphagnum bogs , apparently as a result of murder or ritual sacrifices. In such cases, the acidity of the water, low temperature and lack of oxygen combined to tan the body's skin and soft tissues. The skeleton typically disintegrates over time. Such mummies are remarkably well preserved on emerging from

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5166-534: The Alberta oil sands. Russia holds oil sands in two main regions. Large resources are present in the Tunguska Basin , East Siberia , with the largest deposits being Olenyok and Siligir . Other deposits are located in the Timan-Pechora and Volga-Urals basins (in and around Tatarstan ), which is an important but very mature province in terms of conventional oil, holds large amounts of oil sands in

5289-702: The Alberta-Saskatchewan border, extending into Saskatchewan and approaching the Montana border. Note that, although adjacent to Alberta, Saskatchewan has no massive deposits of bitumen, only large reservoirs of heavy oil >10°API. Most of the Canadian oil sands are in three major deposits in northern Alberta. They are the Athabasca-Wabiskaw oil sands of north northeastern Alberta, the Cold Lake deposits of east northeastern Alberta, and

5412-588: The Athabasca Oil Sands, the Albian Sands consortium of Shell Canada , Chevron Corporation , and Western Oil Sands Inc. (purchased by Marathon Oil Corporation in 2007) began operation in 2003. Petro-Canada was also developing a $ 33 billion Fort Hills Project, in partnership with UTS Energy Corporation and Teck Cominco , which lost momentum after the 2009 merger of Petro-Canada into Suncor. By 2013 there were nine oil sands mining projects in

5535-504: The Athabasca deposit is the only one in the world which has areas shallow enough to mine from the surface, all three Alberta areas are suitable for production using in-situ methods, such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The largest Canadian oil sands deposit, the Athabasca oil sands is in the McMurray Formation , centered on the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta . It outcrops on

5658-717: The Athabasca oil sands deposit: Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor), Syncrude Canada Limited (Syncrude)'s Mildred Lake and Aurora North, Shell Canada Limited (Shell)'s Muskeg River and Jackpine, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL)'s Horizon, Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Limited (Imperial), Kearl Oil Sands Project (KOSP), Total E&P Canada Ltd. Joslyn North Mine and Fort Hills Energy Corporation (FHEC). In 2011 alone they produced over 52 million cubic metres of bitumen. Canadian oil sand extraction has created extensive environmental damage, and many first nations peoples, scientists, lawyers, journalists and environmental groups have described Canadian oil sands mining as an ecocide . From

5781-538: The Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen , a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta , Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market. As of 2023, Canada's oil sands industry, along with Western Canada and offshore petroleum facilities near Newfoundland and Labrador, continued to increase production and were projected to increase by an estimated 10% in 2024 representing

5904-507: The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . If 30% of this oil could be extracted, it could supply the entire needs of North America for over 100 years at 2002 consumption levels. These deposits represent plentiful oil, but not cheap oil. They require advanced technology to extract the oil and transport it to oil refineries . The oil sands of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) are

6027-541: The Clearwater River to Athabasca in 1778, saw the deposits and wrote of "springs of bitumen that flow along the ground". In 1787, fur trader and explorer Alexander MacKenzie on his way to the Arctic Ocean saw the Athabasca oil sands, and commented, "At about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without

6150-468: The Douzlakh Salt Mine at Chehr Abad in northwestern Iran . Due to their salt preservation, these bodies are collectively known as Saltmen . Carbon-14 testing conducted in 2008 dated three of the bodies to around 400 BC. Later isotopic research on the other mummies returned similar dates, however, many of these individuals were found to be from a region that is not closely associated with

6273-572: The Egyptian animal mummies are sacred ibis , and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from a time frame that falls between approximately 450 and 250 BC. In addition to the mummies of ancient Egypt , deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada , in North America were accurately dated at more than 9,400 years old. Before this discovery,

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6396-627: The Mummy which the Phisistians and Apothecaries doe against our willes make us to swallow". These substances were called mummia . The Oxford English Dictionary defines a mummy as "the body of a human being or animal embalmed (according to the ancient Egyptian or some analogous method) as a preparation for burial", citing sources from 1615 AD onward. However, Chamber's Cyclopædia and the Victorian zoologist Francis Trevelyan Buckland define

6519-891: The National Museum of Beirut. In 1993, a team of Russian archaeologists led by Dr. Natalia Polosmak discovered the Siberian Ice Maiden , a Scytho -Siberian woman, on the Ukok Plateau in the Altai Mountains near the Mongolian border. The mummy was naturally frozen due to the severe climatic conditions of the Siberian steppe. Also known as Princess Ukok, the mummy was dressed in finely detailed clothing and wore an elaborate headdress and jewelry. Alongside her body were buried six decorated horses and

6642-508: The Synenco Energy (now owned by TotalEnergies ) Northern Lights mine, and Suncor's Fort Hills mine. Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals , extreme cold, very low humidity , or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict

6765-482: The US market, and Canada's total exports of oil to the US have become several times as great as Venezuela's. By 2016, with the economy of Venezuela in a tailspin and the country experiencing widespread shortages of food, rolling power blackouts, rioting, and anti-government protests, it was unclear how much new oil sands production would occur in the near future. In May 2008, the Italian oil company Eni announced

6888-462: The United States, and the country is poised to become a significant driver of global crude oil production growth in 2024. The exploitation of these resources has stirred debates regarding economic development, energy security, and environmental impacts, particularly emissions from the oilsands, prompting discussions around emissions regulations for the oil and gas sector. The Cold Lake oil sands are northeast of Alberta's capital, Edmonton , near

7011-402: The Venezuelan oil sands, where the extra-heavy oil is about 50 degrees Celsius , the typical oil recovery rates are about 8–12%. Canadian oil sands are much colder and more biodegraded, so bitumen recovery rates are usually only about 5–6%. Historically, primary recovery was used in the more fluid areas of Canadian oil sands. However, it recovered only a small fraction of the oil in place , so it

7134-667: The amount that can be produced depends on technological evolution . Rapid technological developments in Canada in the 1985–2000 period resulted in techniques such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) that can recover a much greater percentage of the OOIP than conventional methods. The Alberta government estimates that with current technology, 10% of its bitumen and heavy oil can be recovered, which would give it about 200 billion barrels (32 billion m ) of recoverable oil reserves. Venezuela estimates its recoverable oil at 267 billion barrels (42 billion m ). This places Canada and Venezuela in

7257-545: The beginning of 2022 oil sands extraction in Alberta has sharply increased, overpassing by far the level of 2014. High oil prices is one of the causes. In 2024 it is projected to increase more, so Canada can become a leader in oil production. No significant development of Venezuela's extra-heavy oil deposits was undertaken before 2000, except for the BITOR operation which produced somewhat less than 100,000 barrels of oil per day (16,000 m /d) of 9°API oil by primary production. This

7380-576: The beginning of the 20th century. Prior to this, many rediscovered mummies were sold as curiosities or for use in pseudoscientific novelties such as mummia . The first modern scientific examinations of mummies began in 1901, conducted by professors at the English-language Government School of Medicine in Cairo , Egypt. The first X-ray of a mummy came in 1903, when professors Grafton Elliot Smith and Howard Carter used

7503-654: The bodies to decay in a matter of hours. An example of a Chinese mummy that was preserved despite being buried in an environment not conducive to mummification is Xin Zhui . Also known as Lady Dai, she was discovered in the early 1970s at the Mawangdui archaeological site in Changsha . She was the wife of the Marquis of Dai during the Han dynasty , who was also buried with her alongside another young man often considered to be

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7626-400: The body. This process typically took forty days. After dehydration, the mummy was wrapped in many layers of linen cloth. Within the layers, Egyptian priests placed small amulets to guard the decedent from evil. Once the mummy was completely wrapped, it was coated in resin in order to keep the threat of moist air away. The resin was also applied to the coffin in order to seal it. The mummy

7749-580: The bog, with skin and internal organs intact; it is even possible to determine the decedent's last meal by examining stomach contents. The Haraldskær Woman was discovered by labourers in a bog in Jutland in 1835. She was erroneously identified as an early medieval Danish queen, and for that reason was placed in a royal sarcophagus at the Saint Nicolai Church, Vejle , where she currently remains. Another bog body, also from Denmark, known as

7872-399: The border with Saskatchewan. A small portion of the Cold Lake deposit lies in Saskatchewan. Although smaller than the Athabasca oil sands, the Cold Lake oil sands are important because some of the oil is fluid enough to be extracted by conventional methods. The Cold Lake bitumen contains more alkanes and less asphaltenes than the other major Alberta oil sands and the oil is more fluid. As

7995-492: The brain via the cranium, which then drained out the nose by gravity. The embalmers then rinsed the skull with certain drugs that mostly cleared any residue of brain tissue and also had the effect of killing bacteria. Next, the embalmers made an incision along the flank with a sharp blade fashioned from an Ethiopian stone and removed the contents of the abdomen. Herodotus does not discuss the separate preservation of these organs and their placement either in special jars or back in

8118-427: The brain was much easier when the brain was liquefied and allowed to drain with the help of gravity , as opposed to trying to pull the organ out piece by piece with a hook. Through various methods of study over many decades, modern Egyptologists now have an accurate understanding of how mummification was achieved in ancient Egypt. The first and most important step was to halt the process of decomposition, by removing

8241-436: The bulk is found in these four regions together covering an area of some 77,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi). In 2007 the World Energy Council estimated that these oil sands areas contained at least two-thirds of the world's discovered bitumen in place at the time, with an original oil-in-place (OOIP) reserve of 260,000,000,000 cubic metres (9.2 × 10  cu ft) (1.6 trn barrels ), an amount comparable to

8364-448: The cavity, a process that was part of the most expensive embalming, according to archaeological evidence. The abdominal cavity was then rinsed with palm wine and an infusion of crushed, fragrant herbs and spices; the cavity was then filled with spices including myrrh , cassia , and, Herodotus notes, "every other sort of spice except frankincense ", also to preserve the person. The body was further dehydrated by placing it in natron ,

8487-432: The cost of production is so much higher at oil sands petroleum-mining operations, the breakeven point is much higher than for sweeter lighter oils like that produced by Saudi Arabia , Iran , Iraq , and, the United States. Oil sands productions expand and prosper as the global price of oil increased to peak highs because of the Arab oil embargo of 1973 , the 1979 Iranian Revolution , the 1990 Persian Gulf crisis and war ,

8610-408: The creation of elaborate tombs , and more sophisticated methods of embalming. By the 4th dynasty (about 2600 BC) Egyptian embalmers began to achieve "true mummification" through a process of evisceration . Much of this early experimentation with mummification in Egypt is unknown. The few documents that directly describe the mummification process date to the Greco-Roman period . The majority of

8733-423: The dead had a profound effect on ancient Egyptian religion . Mummification was an integral part of the rituals for the dead beginning as early as the 2nd dynasty (about 2800 BC). Egyptians saw the preservation of the body after death as an important step to living well in the afterlife . As Egypt gained more prosperity, burial practices became a status symbol for the wealthy as well. This cultural hierarchy led to

8856-444: The degree by which they have been degraded from the original conventional oils by bacteria . The 1973 and 1979 oil price increases, and the development of improved extraction technology enabled profitable extraction and processing of the oil sands. Together with other so-called unconventional oil extraction practices, oil sands are implicated in the unburnable carbon debate but also contribute to energy security and counteract

8979-435: The deposits is 400 to 600 metres (1,300 to 2,000 ft) and they are from 15 to 35 metres (49 to 115 ft) thick. They are too deep to surface mine . Much of the oil sands are on Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake . CFB Cold Lake's CF-18 Hornet jet fighters defend the western half of Canadian air space and cover Canada's Arctic territory. Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) is one of the largest live-drop bombing ranges in

9102-647: The earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively Caucasoid, or Europoid " with "east Asian migrants arriving in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin around 3,000 years ago", while Mair also notes that it was not until 842 that the Uighur peoples settled in the area. Other mummified remains have been recovered from around the Tarim Basin at sites including Qäwrighul , Yanghai , Shengjindian , Shanpula (Sampul), Zaghunluq, and Qizilchoqa. As of 2012, at least eight mummified human remains have been recovered from

9225-419: The embalmers offered was to clear the intestines with an unnamed liquid, injected as an enema . The body was then placed in natron for seventy days and returned to the family. Herodotus gives no further details. In Christian tradition, some bodies of saints are naturally conserved and venerated. In addition to the mummies of Egypt, there have been instances of mummies being discovered in other areas of

9348-581: The first large-scale oil sands mine in 1967, bitumen has been extracted on a commercial scale and the volume has grown at a steady rate ever since. A large number of oil sands mines are currently in operation and more are in the stages of approval or development. The Syncrude Canada mine was the second to open in 1978, Shell Canada opened its Muskeg River mine (Albian Sands) in 2003 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNRL) opened its Horizon Oil Sands project in 2009. Newer mines include Shell Canada's Jackpine mine, Imperial Oil 's Kearl Oil Sands Project ,

9471-1079: The first school of oil technology. This article about an oil field is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Bas-Rhin geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tar sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit . They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand , clay , and water , soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum ). Significant bitumen deposits are reported in Canada , Kazakhstan , Russia , and Venezuela . The estimated worldwide deposits of oil are more than 2 trillion barrels (320 billion cubic metres). Proven reserves of bitumen contain approximately 100 billion barrels, and total natural bitumen reserves are estimated at 249.67 Gbbl (39.694 × 10 ^  m ) worldwide, of which 176.8 Gbbl (28.11 × 10 ^  m ), or 70.8%, are in Alberta, Canada. Crude bitumen

9594-417: The grave. Mummies from various dynasties throughout China 's history have been discovered in several locations across the country. They are almost exclusively considered to be unintentional mummifications. Many areas in which mummies have been uncovered are difficult for preservation, due to their warm, moist climates. This makes the recovery of mummies a challenge, as exposure to the outside world can cause

9717-422: The human body is believed to be a quintessential feature of Egyptian life. Yet even mummification has a history of development and was accessible to different ranks of society in different ways during different periods. There were at least three different processes of mummification according to Herodotus . They range from "the most perfect" to the method employed by the "poorer classes". The most expensive process

9840-399: The infant to between 5,000 and 8,000 years old. A long incision located on the right abdominal wall, and the absence of internal organs, indicated that the body had been eviscerated post-mortem , possibly in an effort to preserve the remains. A bundle of herbs found within the body cavity also supported this conclusion. Further research revealed that the child had been around 30 months old at

9963-467: The internal organs and washing out the body with a mix of spices and palm wine. The only organ left behind was the heart, as tradition held the heart was the seat of thought and feeling and would therefore still be needed in the afterlife. After cleansing, the body was then dried out with natron inside the empty body cavity as well as outside on the skin. The internal organs were also dried and either sealed in individual jars, or wrapped to be replaced within

10086-580: The international price cartel OPEC . According to the Oil Climate Index, carbon emissions from oil-sand crude are 31% higher than from conventional oil. In Canada, oil sands production in general, and in-situ extraction, in particular, are the largest contributors to the increase in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 to 2017, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The use of bituminous deposits and seeps dates back to Paleolithic times. The earliest known use of bitumen

10209-444: The large amounts of tar residue produced in urban areas as a by-product of the manufacture of coal gas for urban heating and lighting. The word " tar " to describe these natural bitumen deposits is really a misnomer, since, chemically speaking, tar is a human-made substance produced by the destructive distillation of organic material , usually coal . Since then, coal gas has almost completely been replaced by natural gas as

10332-530: The least resistance." In their May 2019 comparison of the "cost of supply curve update" in which the Norway-based Rystad Energy—an "independent energy research and consultancy"—ranked the "worlds total recoverable liquid resources by their breakeven price", Rystad reported that the average breakeven price for oil from the oil sands was US$ 83 in 2019, making it the most expensive to produce, compared to all other "significant oil producing regions" in

10455-403: The majority of the techniques that were used by studying mummies that have been unearthed. By utilizing current advancements in technology, scientists have been able to uncover a plethora of new information about the techniques used in mummification. A series of CT scans performed on a 2,400-year-old mummy in 2008 revealed a tool that was left inside the cranial cavity of the skull. The tool

10578-469: The mine. It was during this time that researchers determined the mine suffered a major collapse, which likely caused the death of the miners. Since there is significant archaeological data that indicates the area was not actively inhabited during this time period, current consensus holds that the accident occurred during a brief period of temporary mining activity. In 1990, a team of speleologists uncovered eight mummies, dating back to around 1283 AD, during

10701-632: The monastery would lay the deceased on a pillow of bricks on the ground. The unique air quality and topsoil within the crypt naturally preserved the bodies over time. Approximately fifty mummies were discovered in an abandoned crypt beneath the Church of St. Procopius of Sázava in Vamberk in the mid-1980s. Workers digging a trench accidentally broke into the crypt, which began to fill with waste water. The mummies quickly began to deteriorate, though thirty-four were able to be rescued and stored temporarily at

10824-457: The most common being for religious purposes. Spontaneous mummies, such as Ötzi and the Maronite mummies , were created unintentionally due to natural conditions such as extremely dry heat or cold, or acidic and anaerobic conditions such as those found in bogs . While most individual mummies exclusively belong to one category or the other, there are examples of both types being connected to

10947-473: The mountains. The light oil migrated up-dip through hydro-dynamic transport from the Rockies in the southwest toward the Canadian Shield in the northeast following a complex pre-Cretaceous unconformity that exists in the formations under Alberta. The total distance of oil migration southwest to northeast was about 500 to 700 km (300 to 400 miles). At the shallow depths of sedimentary formations in

11070-600: The mummies had Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) characteristic of western Eurasia in the area of East-Central Europe , Central Asia and the Indus Valley . This has created a stir in the Turkic-speaking Uighur population of the region, who claim the area has always belonged to their culture, while it was not until the 10th century that Uighurs are said by scholars to have moved to the region from Central Asia. American Sinologist Victor H. Mair claims that "

11193-594: The mummy be returned shortly after the body was moved to the Albany Museum in Grahamstown . The mummies of Asia are usually considered to be accidental. The decedents were buried in just the right place where the environment could act as an agent for preservation. This is particularly common in the desert areas of the Tarim Basin and Iran. Mummies have been discovered in more humid Asian climates; however, these are subject to rapid decay after being removed from

11316-535: The northeast, massive microbial biodegradation as the oil approached the surface caused the oil to become highly viscous and immobile. Almost all of the remaining oil is found in the far north of Alberta, in Middle Cretaceous (115 million-year old) sand-silt-shale deposits overlain by thick shales, although large amounts of heavy oil lighter than bitumen are found in the Heavy Oil Belt along

11439-401: The nostrils can be digitally reconstructed in 3-D . Such modelling has been utilized to perform digital autopsies on mummies to determine the cause of death and lifestyle, such as in the case of Tutankhamun . Mummies are typically divided into one of two distinct categories: anthropogenic or spontaneous. Anthropogenic mummies were deliberately created by the living for any number of reasons,

11562-750: The oldest known deliberate mummy was a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley, Chile, which dates around 5050 BC. The oldest known naturally mummified human corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old, found in 1936 at the Cueva de las Momias in Argentina. The English word mummy is derived from medieval Latin Mumia , a borrowing of the medieval Arabic word mūmiya (مومياء) which meant an embalmed corpse, as well as

11685-484: The only X-ray machine in Cairo at the time to examine the mummified body of Thutmose IV . British chemist Alfred Lucas applied chemical analyses to Egyptian mummies during this same period, which returned many results about the types of substances used in embalming. Lucas also made significant contributions to the analysis of Tutankhamun in 1922. Pathological study of mummies saw varying levels of popularity throughout

11808-521: The pre- Cretaceous sedimentary rock formations underlying most of the sub-surface of Alberta, depressing the rock formations in southwest Alberta up to 8 km (5 miles) deep near the Rockies, but to zero depth in the northeast, where they pinched out against the igneous rocks of the Canadian Shield , which outcrop on the surface. This tilting is not apparent on the surface because the resulting trench has been filled in by eroded material from

11931-416: The region. Artifacts, including pottery with inscriptions, manuscripts, and clothing, suggest a Maronite community, and the mummies' burial practices parallel present-day Lebanese customs. The remains were called "Maronite mummies" because the individuals found in the 'Asi-al Hadath cave were believed to be Maronites , an indigenous Christian community in the region. Some of the mummies have been transferred to

12054-812: The return of the Ice Maiden, who is currently stored in Novosibirsk in Siberia . Another Siberian mummy, a man, was discovered much earlier in 1929. His skin was also marked with tattoos of two monsters resembling griffins , which decorated his chest, and three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a mountain goat on his left arm. Philippine mummies are called Kabayan Mummies . They are common in Igorot culture and their heritage. The mummies are found in some areas named Kabayan , Sagada and among others. The mummies are dated between

12177-649: The rise of the mountains of the Sierra Orientale produced light oil that moved up-dip toward the south until it was gradually immobilized by the viscosity increase caused by biodgradation near the surface. The Orinoco deposits are early Tertiary (50 to 60 million years old) sand-silt-shale sequences overlain by continuous thick shales, much like the Canadian deposits. In Venezuela, the Orinoco Belt oil sands range from 350 to 1,000 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) deep and no surface outcrops exist. The deposit

12300-569: The same league as Saudi Arabia, having the three largest oil reserves in the world . There are numerous deposits of oil sands in the world, but the biggest and most important are in Canada and Venezuela, with lesser deposits in Kazakhstan and Russia. The total volume of non-conventional oil in the oil sands of these countries exceeds the reserves of conventional oil in all other countries combined. Vast deposits of bitumen—over 350 billion cubic metres (2.2 trillion barrels) of oil in place —exist in

12423-413: The sands have high porosity, no significant cohesion, and a tensile strength close to zero. The sands are saturated with oil which has prevented them from consolidating into hard sandstone. The magnitude of the resources in the two countries is on the order of 3.5 to 4 trillion barrels (550 to 650 billion cubic metres) of original oil in place (OOIP). Oil in place is not necessarily oil reserves , and

12546-633: The southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela which overlies one of the world's largest deposits of petroleum. The Orinoco Belt follows the line of the river. It is approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) from east to west, and 70 kilometres (43 mi) from north to south, with an area about 55,314 square kilometres (21,357 sq mi). The oil sands consist of large deposits of extra heavy crude . Venezuela's heavy oil deposits of about 1,200 Gbbl (190 × 10 ^  m ) of oil in place are estimated to approximately equal

12669-556: The surface (zero burial depth) about 50 km (30 miles) north of Fort McMurray, where enormous oil sands mines have been established, but is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep southeast of Fort McMurray. Only 3% of the oil sands area containing about 20% of the recoverable oil can be produced by surface mining , so the remaining 80% will have to be produced using in-situ wells. The other Canadian deposits are between 350 and 900 m (1,000 and 3,000 ft) deep and will require in-situ production. The Athabasca oil sands , also known as

12792-404: The surface to use surface mining. Conventional crude oil is normally extracted from the ground by drilling oil wells into a petroleum reservoir , allowing oil to flow into them under natural reservoir pressures, although artificial lift and techniques such as horizontal drilling , water flooding and gas injection are often required to maintain production. When primary production is used in

12915-675: The time of death, though gender could not be determined due to poor preservation of the sex organs. The first mummy to be discovered in South Africa was found in the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area by Dr. Johan Binneman in 1999. Nicknamed Moses, the mummy was estimated to be around 2,000 years old. After being linked to the indigenous Khoi culture of the region, the National Council of Khoi Chiefs of South Africa began to make legal demands that

13038-691: The total world reserves of conventional oil. The Eastern Venezuelan Basin has a structure similar to the WCSB, but on a shorter scale. The distance the oil has migrated up-dip from the Sierra Oriental mountain front to the Orinoco oil sands where it pinches out against the igneous rocks of the Guyana Shield is only about 200 to 300 km (100 to 200 miles). The hydrodynamic conditions of oil transport were similar, source rocks buried deep by

13161-490: The use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least the early 17th century. Mummies of humans and animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats. Many of

13284-536: The watershed of the Peace River . The Peace River oil sands deposits are the smallest in the province. The largest, the Athabasca oil sands , are located to the east. The second largest the, Cold Lake oil sands deposit is south of Athabaska and the Wabasco oil sands are south of Athabaska and usually linked to it. According to the Petroleum Economist , oil sands occur in more than 70 countries, but

13407-489: The winter of 1958–1959 in the natural cave structure of Uan Muhuggiag . After curious deposits and cave paintings were discovered on the surfaces of the cave, expedition leaders decided to excavate. Uncovered alongside fragmented animal bone tools was the mummified body of an infant, wrapped in animal skin and wearing a necklace made of ostrich egg shell beads. Professor Tongiorgi of the University of Pisa radiocarbon-dated

13530-498: The world's reserves of lighter oil. In 2009, the US Geological Survey (USGS) increased its estimates of the reserves to 513 Gbbl (81.6 × 10 ^  m ) of oil which is "technically recoverable (producible using currently available technology and industry practices)." No estimate of how much of the oil is economically recoverable was made. In addition to the three major Canadian oil sands in Alberta, there

13653-549: The world, including testing of cruise missiles. As oil sands production continues to grow, various sectors vie for access to airspace, land, and resources, and this complicates oil well drilling and production significantly. Located in northwest-central Alberta , the Peace River oil sands deposit is the smallest of four large deposits of oil sands of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin formation. The Peace River oil sands lie, generally, in

13776-588: The world. The International Energy Agency made similar comparisons. The price per barrel of heavier, sour crude oils lacking in tidewater access—such as Western Canadian Select (WCS) from the Athabaska oil sands, are priced at a differential to the lighter, sweeter oil —such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI). The price is based on its grade—determined by factors such as its specific gravity or API and its sulfur content—and its location—for example, its proximity to tidewater and/or refineries. Because

13899-480: Was a rod, made of an organic material, that was used to break apart the brain to allow it to drain out of the nose. This discovery helped to dispel the claim within Herodotus' works that the rod had been a hook made of iron. Earlier experimentation in 1994 by researchers Bob Brier and Ronald Wade supported these findings. While attempting to replicate Egyptian mummification, Brier and Wade discovered that removal of

14022-682: Was believed that the earliest ancient Egyptian mummies were created naturally due to the environment in which they were buried. In 2014, an 11-year study by the University of York , Macquarie University and the University of Oxford suggested that artificial mummification occurred 1,500 years earlier than first thought. This was confirmed in 2018, when tests on a 5,600-year-old mummy in Turin revealed that it had been deliberately mummified using linen wrappings and embalming oils made from conifer resin and aromatic plant extracts. The preservation of

14145-484: Was by Neanderthals , some 40,000 years ago. Bitumen has been found adhering to stone tools used by Neanderthals at sites in Syria. After the arrival of Homo sapiens , humans used bitumen for construction of buildings and waterproofing of reed boats , among other uses. In ancient Egypt, the use of bitumen was important in preparing mummies . In ancient times, bitumen was primarily a Mesopotamian commodity used by

14268-571: Was carried out by specialized groups, organized according to gender, who were considered unclean by the rest of the community. The techniques for embalming were similar to those of the ancient Egyptians, involving evisceration, preservation, and stuffing of the evacuated bodily cavities, then wrapping the body in animal skins. Despite the successful techniques utilized by the Guanche, very few mummies remain due to looting and desecration. The mummified remains of an infant were discovered during an expedition by archaeologist Fabrizio Mori to Libya during

14391-457: Was mostly shipped as an emulsion ( Orimulsion ) of 70% oil and 30% water with similar characteristics as heavy fuel oil for burning in thermal power plants. However, when a major strike hit the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA , most of the engineers were fired as punishment. Orimulsion had been the pride of the PDVSA engineers, so Orimulsion fell out of favor with the key political leaders. As

14514-403: Was not possible prior to the Congress due to the unique and highly specialized techniques required to gather such data. In more recent years, CT scanning has become an invaluable tool in the study of mummification by allowing researchers to digitally "unwrap" mummies without risking damage to the body. The level of detail in such scans is so intricate that small linens used in tiny areas such as

14637-454: Was then placed in natron for seventy days. At the end of this time, the body was removed and the cedar oil, now containing the liquefied organs, was drained through the rectum . With the body dehydrated, it could be returned to the family. Herodotus does not describe the process of burial of such mummies, but they were perhaps placed in a shaft tomb . Poorer people used coffins fashioned from terracotta . The third and least expensive method

14760-435: Was then sealed within its tomb, alongside the worldly goods that were believed to help aid it in the afterlife. Aspergillus niger , a hardy species of fungus capable of living in a variety of environments, has been found in the mummies of ancient Egyptian tombs and can be inhaled when they are disturbed. Mummification is one of the defining customs in ancient Egyptian society for people today. The practice of preserving

14883-404: Was to preserve the body by dehydration and protect against pests, such as insects. Almost all of the actions Herodotus described served one of these two functions. First, the brain was removed from the cranium through the nose; the gray matter was discarded. Modern mummy excavations have shown that instead of an iron hook inserted through the nose as Herodotus claims, a rod was used to liquefy

15006-446: Was used by middle-class people or people who "wish to avoid expense". In this method, an oil derived from cedar trees was injected with a syringe into the abdomen. A rectal plug prevented the oil from escaping. This oil probably had the dual purpose of liquefying the internal organs but also of disinfecting the abdominal cavity. (By liquefying the organs, the family avoided the expense of canopic jars and separate preservation.) The body

15129-451: Was usually placed inside tombs, which led to a shortage of oxygen inside. Mummies buried using the lime mixture sealing technique reportedly have especially excellently preserved soft skin and hair, which has enabled medical and genetic studies to be performed. Insights have been offered into the lifestyles and pathologies of Korean people during this period. Specific diseases for each individual have been identified. The European continent

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