ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Bituminous rocks

Bituminous rocks are like big, hard pieces of coal. Coal is a kind of rock made out of plants that lived a long, long time ago. Bituminous rocks are special because they have a lot of material called bitumen in them. Bitumen is like a gooey, sticky oil that comes from things like oil and gas.

When bitumen gets really hot, it can turn into oil or gas. That's why bituminous rocks are important, because they can have a lot of oil and gas inside them.

But bituminous rocks aren't just useful for getting oil and gas out of them. They can also be used to make things like asphalt, which is a special kind of material that you can use to pave roads and make roofs.

So, bituminous rocks are just like coal, but with extra sticky stuff inside that can be used to make oil, gas, and other useful things.