Editor's note

Oil and gas are forms of buried energy. They result when the remains of ancient life are trapped in rocks and subjected to heat over millions and millions of years. Most of the oil and gas we use is mined from rocks less than 500 million years old.

But Grant Cox explains that Northern Territory layered rock formations known as the Velkerri Shale contain around 118 trillion cubic feet of gas, and are around 1400 million years old. This extremely rare deposit is like a time capsule, originating in a “slime world” that existed nearly a billion years before the first complex life on Earth evolved. It was a time when bacteria ruled the seas and the atmosphere was largely devoid of oxygen.

And on a different note, today we’re launching our annual survey and asking you to let us know your thoughts and ideas on The Conversation. If you’ve got handy few minutes, please fill it out here.

Sarah Keenihan

Section Editor, Science and Technology

Top story
Our national wellbeing probably peaked with Australia’s population at roughly 15 million in the 1970s, when this photo was taken in Hunters Hill, Sydney. John Ward/flickr

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