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February 1986 Issue
February 1986 Cover
This magazine has been fully digitized as a part of The Atlantic's archive. Each article originally printed in this magazine is available here, complete and unedited from the historical print. Read more from this magazine, or explore the full archive.
  • Under the Weather
    Cullen Murphy
  • The Government of Memory
    Eva Hoffman
  • The Authorized Version
    Tina Rosenberg
  • Student-Aid Muddle
    Denis P. Doyle and Terry W. Hartle
  • Storia Dell'arte 101
    John Harris
  • The Origin of Petroleum
    David Osborne

The Origin of Petroleum

If Thomas Gold is right, most oil and gas is not of biological origin ,and there is more of it than geologists have imagined

By David Osborne
February 1986 Issue
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