How was coal formed?

Answer 1

• Coal is formed from plant life buried in the Earth millions of years ago. Like Petroleum and natural gas, it is a carbon-based fossil fuel.
• Coal is called a fossil fuel because it was formed from the remains of vegetation that grew as long ago as 400 million years. It is often referred to as "buried sunshine" because the plants which formed the coal captured the energy from the sun through photosynthesis to create the compounds that make up plant tissues. The main element in the plant material is carbon,
• which gives coal most of its energy. Most of our coal was formed millions of years ago, when Earth was covered by steamy swamps. As plants and trees died, their remains sank into the bottom of swampy areas, accumulating layers upon layers and eventually forming a soggy, dense material called peat.
• Sandstones and other sedimentary rocks were formed, and pressure caused by the weight squeezed water from the peat. Increasingly deeper burial and the heat associated with it gradually changed the material into coal.
• hi

Answer 2

Coal was formed from the remains of plants that were buried and compressed over millions of years. As these plants decomposed under layers of sediment, the heat and pressure caused the carbon in them to transform into coal. The process of coal formation is known as coalification.