Coal is formed because of dead plant matter that submerged in slough environments and then geological forces of heat and pressure converted that dead wood into coal. With passage of time, the plant matter, which developed from moist and low carbon into coal that is much higher in energy carbon content.

Coal is having wide range of variety in properties, that’s why it’s categorized into 4 ranks lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite in order of increasing carbon and energy content. Bituminous and sub-bituminous variety of coal is mostly burned in the U.S. power plants.

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There are three basic forms of fuels, the coal, oil and natural gas.  These fuels originated in the era of dinosaurs, the time that is hundreds of millions of years ago.  The time period when these fossil fuels were formed is called Carboniferous period. The term is based on the basic element that all the fossil fuels possess – Carbon.

History of Fossil Fuels

The time period of Carboniferous is something that occurred 286 to 360 years ago, when the earth was a filled with large portions covered with bulk of plants and water. Most of the portion was covered with algae.The algae is a small plant that occupied most of the earth places. The plants and the fern that were present at that time were leafy and thick that made swampy place with water.

The coal was discovered in the time of dinosaurs, also called the Cretaceous Period according the geological era, but most of the deposits of the fossil fuels were discovered in Carboniferous period.  The plants of that time lived their lives and died; as they died they sank deep down in the oceans where they formed a layer of spongy material called peat. As the time passed this peat mixed along with other coats of clay and minerals which turned the peat into hard rock called sedimentary. As with more time passage, the more coats and layers of minerals and mountain sand settled over the peat, making it compressed and releasing all water from it. It then turns into hard coal or natural petroleum or a source of releasing natural gas.

What is Coal?

Coal is a hard rock style substance and a blend of Oxygen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and a different amount of Sulphur. The coal varies in three different types called anthracite, bituminous and lignite.

The Anthracite is the type that is hardest of the three, and contains most of the Carbon content thus giving most energy content. The lignite is the lightest form that has lowest content of Carbon; the Bituminous is the form of coal that is in between. Apart from the discovery of Coal, the basic form Peat is still found in many regions of the world and used as the source of energy.

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