Coal, Production Of - Research Article from Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy

This encyclopedia article consists of approximately 9 pages of information about Coal, Production Of.

Coal, Production Of - Research Article from Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy

This encyclopedia article consists of approximately 9 pages of information about Coal, Production Of.
This section contains 2,597 words
(approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Coal, Production Of Encyclopedia Article

Geology of Coal

Coal is a fossil fuel—an energy source whose beginnings can be traced to once-living organic materials. It is a combustible mineral, formed from the remains of trees, ferns, and other plants that existed and died in the tropical forests 400 million to 1 billion years ago. Over vast spans of time, heat and pressure from Earth's geological processes compressed and altered the many layers of trees and plants, slowly transforming these ancient vegetal materials into what we know as coal today. The several kinds of coal now mined are the result of different degrees of alteration of the original material.

It is estimated that approximately 0.9 to 2.1 m of reasonably compacted plant material was required to form 0.3 m of bituminous coal. Different ranks of coal require different amounts of time. It has been estimated that the time required for deposition of peat sufficient...

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This section contains 2,597 words
(approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Coal, Production Of Encyclopedia Article
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Coal, Production Of from Macmillan. Copyright © 2001-2006 by Macmillan Reference USA, an imprint of the Gale Group. All rights reserved.