How coal was formed biology. Why is there so much oil, gas, coal on earth? (1 photo)

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The message "How coal was formed"

Coal is an irreplaceable, exhaustible, solid mineral used by humans to generate heat in the process of burning it. It belongs to sedimentary rocks.

What is needed to form coal?

First, a lot of time. When peat is formed from plants at the bottom of swamps, chemical compounds arise: plants decay, partially dissolve or turn into methane, carbon dioxide.

Secondly, all kinds of fungi and bacteria. Thanks to them, the decomposition of plant tissue occurs. Peat begins to accumulate a persistent substance called carbon, which becomes more and more over time.

Thirdly, the lack of oxygen. If it accumulated in peat, then coal could not form and simply evaporated.

How is coal formed in nature?

Coal deposits were formed from a huge amount of plant matter. Ideal conditions are when all these plants have accumulated in one place and have not had time to completely decompose. Swamps are the best suited for this process: the water is poor in oxygen and therefore the vital activity of bacteria is suspended.

After the plant mass has accumulated in the swamps, it, without having time to completely rot, is compressed by soil deposits. This is how the source material of coal, peat, is formed. Layers of soil seal it in the ground without access to oxygen and water. Over time, peat turns into a layer of coal. This process long - a significant part of the coal reserves was formed more than 300 million years ago.

And the longer the coal lies in the layers of the earth, the stronger the fossil is exposed to the action and pressure of deep heat. In swamps where peat accumulates, sand, clay and dissolved substances enter with water, which are deposited in coal. These impurities give interlayers in the mineral, dividing it into layers. When coal is cleaned, only ash remains from them.

There are several types of coal - bituminous coal, brown coal, lignite, boghead, anthracite. Today there are 3.6 thousand coal basins in the world, which occupy 15% of the earth's land. The United States holds the largest percentage of the world's fossil reserves (23%), followed by Russia (13%) and China third (11%).

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It is generally accepted that the main deposits of fossil coal were formed mainly in a separate period of time, when the most favorable conditions for this were formed on Earth. Due to the connection of this period with coal, it received its name of the Carboniferous period, or Carboniferous (from the English “carbon” - “coal”).

The beginning of the Carboniferous, according to scientists, is marked by a significant change in conditions on the surface of the planet - the climate has become significantly more humid and warmer than in the previous period.

In countless lagoons, river deltas and swamps, a lush warm and moisture-loving flora reigned. Colossal amounts of peat-like plant matter accumulated in places of its mass development, and, over time, under the influence of chemical processes, they were transformed into vast deposits of coal.

Coal seams often contain (according to geologists and paleobotanists) "beautifully preserved remains of plants, indicating that" during the Carboniferous period, many new species of flora appeared on Earth. It was literally a time of riot of greenery.

Rice. 202.Sunrise in the carbon forest

The process of coal formation is most often described as follows:

“This system is called coal because among its layers there are the most powerful interlayers of coal, which are known on Earth. Seams of coal originated due to the charring of plant remains, buried in masses in sediments. In some cases, accumulations of algae served as the material for the formation of coals, in others - accumulations of spores or other small parts of plants, in others - trunks, branches and leaves of large plants.

Over time, in such organic remains, it is believed that plant tissues slowly lose some of their constituent compounds released into gaseous state, some, and especially carbon, are pressed by the weight of the precipitation that has fallen on them and turn into coal. First, peat turns into brown coal, then into hard coal, and finally into anthracite. All this happens at high temperatures.

“Anthracites are coals that have been altered by the action of heat. Pieces of anthracite are filled with a mass of small pores formed by bubbles of gas released during the action of heat due to the hydrogen and oxygen contained in the coal. It is believed that the source of the heat could be the proximity to the eruptions of basalt lavas along the cracks in the earth's crust.

It is believed that under the pressure of sediment layers 1 km thick, a layer of brown coal 4 meters thick is obtained from a 20-meter layer of peat. If the depth of burial of plant material reaches 3 kilometers, then the same layer of peat will turn into a layer of coal 2 meters thick. At a greater depth, about 6 kilometers, and at a higher temperature, a 20-meter layer of peat becomes a layer of anthracite 1.5 meters thick.

In conclusion, we note that in a number of sources, the chain "peat - lignite - coal - anthracite" is supplemented with graphite and even diamond, resulting in a chain of transformations: "peat - lignite - coal - anthracite - graphite - diamond" ...

A huge amount of coal, which for more than a century has been feeding world industry, according to the "generally accepted" opinion, indicates the vast extent of the marshy forests of the Carboniferous era.

Rice. 203.Coal mining in an open cut

The above so-called biogenic (organic) version of the origin of coal is actively opposed by creationists, who are not satisfied with the age of coal seams of hundreds of millions of years, since it contradicts the texts Old Testament. They carefully collect arguments pointing to the contradictions between this theory and the actual nature of the occurrence of coal seams. And if we ignore the commitment to the creationist version of too short story of our planet (no more than ten thousand years in total, as follows from the Old Testament), it should be recognized that whole line their arguments are quite serious. For example, they noticed such a rather common strange feature of coal deposits as the non-parallelism of its different layers.

“In extremely rare cases, coal seams lie parallel to each other. Nearly all hard coal deposits at some point split into two or more separate seams. The combination of an already almost fractured layer with another, located above, from time to time appears in the deposits in the form of Z-shaped joints. It is difficult to imagine how two superimposed strata should have arisen from the deposition of growing and replacing forests if they are connected to each other by crowded groups of folds or even Z-shaped joints. The connecting diagonal layer of the Z-shaped connection is particularly striking evidence that both layers that it connects were originally formed simultaneously and were one layer, but now they are two horizontal lines of petrified vegetation located parallel to each other ”(R. Juncker, Z .Scherer, "History of the origin and development of life").

Such folds and Z-shaped connections fundamentally contradict the "generally accepted" scenario of the origin of coal. And within this scenario, the folds and Z-joints are completely unexplained. But we are talking about empirical data found everywhere!..

Rice. 204.Z-junctions of coal seams in the Oberhausen-Duisburg area

For more details on the arguments against the biogenic version of the formation of coal, see my book "The Sensational History of the Earth", which was already mentioned earlier. Here we will give only one more fact, which the creationists did not pay attention to, but which is simply "killer" for the "generally accepted" theory.

Let's look at brown and hard coal from the standpoint of chemical composition.

When coal is mined, the content of mineral impurities in it, or the so-called "ash content", which varies widely - from 10 to 60%, is of great importance. Thus, the ash content of the coals of the Donetsk, Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins is 10-15%, Karaganda - 15-30%, Ekibastuz - 30-60%.

And what is “ash content”?.. And what are these very “mineral impurities”?..

In addition to clay inclusions, the appearance of which in the process of accumulation of the initial peat (if we stick to the version of coal formation from peat) is quite natural, among the impurities most often mentioned ... sulfur!

“In the process of peat formation, coal gets different elements, most of which is concentrated in ash. When coal is burned, sulfur and some volatile elements are released into the atmosphere. The relative content of sulfur and ash-forming substances in coal determines the grade of coal. In high grade coal less sulfur and less ash than low-grade, so it is in greater demand and more expensive.

Although the sulfur content of coals can vary from 1 to 10%, most coals used in industry have a sulfur content of 1-5%. However, sulfur impurities are undesirable even in small quantities. When coal is burned, most of the sulfur is released into the atmosphere as harmful pollutants called sulfur oxides. In addition, the admixture of sulfur has a negative impact on the quality of coke and steel smelted on the basis of the use of such coke. Combining with oxygen and water, sulfur forms sulfuric acid, which corrodes the mechanisms of coal-fired thermal power plants. Sulfuric acid is present in mine waters seeping from waste workings, in mine and overburden dumps, polluting environment and hindering the development of vegetation.

And here a very serious question arises - where did sulfur come from in coal ?!. More precisely: where did she come from in such a in large numbers?!. Up to ten percent!

Rice. 205.On a peat bog

I'm ready to bet - even with my far from complete education in the field of organic chemistry - such amounts of sulfur have never been in wood and could not be! .. Neither in wood nor in other vegetation that could become the basis of peat, in the future transformed into coal! .. There is less sulfur by several orders of magnitude! ..

Furthermore. If you type in a search engine a combination of the words "sulphur" and "wood", then most often only two options are displayed, both of which are associated with the "artificial and applied" use of sulfur - for wood conservation and for pest control. In the first case, the property of sulfur to crystallize is used - it clogs the pores of the tree and is not removed from them at ordinary temperatures. In the second, the application is based on the toxic properties of sulfur, even in small quantities.

If there was so much sulfur in the original peat, then how could the trees that formed it grow at all?.. Or, for some unknown reason, some “ancient sulfur”, contrary to its modern behavior, did not clog the pores of ancient plants?..

And how, instead of dying out, on the contrary, all those insects that bred in incredible quantities in the Carboniferous period and at a later time and fed on plant sap, which contained so much poisonous sulfur, felt more than comfortable? .. However, even now it is swampy the terrain creates very comfortable conditions for insects ...

But sulfur in coal is not just a lot, but a lot! .. Since we are talking about even sulfuric acid in general! ..

Moreover, coal is often accompanied by deposits of such a useful sulfur compound in the economy as sulfur pyrite. Moreover, the deposits are so large that its extraction is organized on an industrial scale! ..

“... in the Donets Basin, the extraction of coal and anthracite of the Carboniferous period also goes hand in hand with the development of iron ores mined here ... Sulfur pyrite is an almost constant companion of coal and, moreover, sometimes in such quantity that it makes it unfit for consumption (for example, coal of the Moscow basin). Sulfuric pyrite is used to produce sulfuric acid, and from it, by metamorphization, ... iron ores originated.

This is no longer a mystery. This is a direct and immediate contradiction between the theory of coal formation from peat and real empirical data!!!

Its application is so multifunctional that sometimes you just wonder. At such moments, doubt involuntarily creeps in, and a completely logical question sounds in my head: “What? Is it all coal?!” Everyone is used to considering coal as just a combustible material, but, in fact, its range of applications is so wide that it seems simply incredible.

Formation and origin of coal seams

The appearance of coal on Earth dates back to the distant Paleozoic era, when the planet was still in the development stage and had a completely alien look to us. The formation of coal seams began about 360,000,000 years ago. This happened mainly in the bottom sediments of prehistoric reservoirs, where organic materials accumulated for millions of years.

Simply put, coal is the remains of the bodies of giant animals, tree trunks and other living organisms that have sunk to the bottom, decayed and pressed under the water column. The process of formation of deposits is quite long, and it takes at least 40,000,000 years for the formation of a coal seam.

Coal mining

People have long understood how important and indispensable, and the use of it was able to evaluate and adapt on such a scale relatively recently. Large-scale development of coal deposits began only in the XVI-XVII centuries. in England, and the extracted material was used mainly for the smelting of iron, necessary for the manufacture of cannons. But its production by today's standards was so insignificant that it cannot be called industrial.

Large-scale mining began only towards the middle of the 19th century, when the developing industrialization became indispensable for hard coal. Its use, however, at that time was limited exclusively to incineration. Hundreds of thousands of mines are now operating all over the world, producing more per day than in a few years in the 19th century.

Varieties of hard coal

Deposits of coal seams can reach a depth of several kilometers, extending into the thickness of the earth, but not always and not everywhere, because it is both in content and in appearance heterogeneous.

There are 3 main types of this fossil: anthracite, brown coal, and peat, which very remotely resembles coal.

Anthracite is the oldest formation of its kind on the planet, average age of this species is 280,000,000 years old. It is very hard, has a high density, and its carbon content is 96-98%.

The hardness and density are relatively low, as is the carbon content in it. It has an unstable, loose structure and is also oversaturated with water, the content of which in it can reach up to 20%.

Peat is also classified as a type of coal, but not yet formed, so it has nothing to do with coal.

Properties of hard coal

Now it is difficult to imagine another material more useful and practical than coal, the main properties and application of which deserve the highest praise. Thanks to the substances and compounds contained in it, it has become simply indispensable in all areas of modern life.

The coal component looks like this:

All these components make coal, the application and use of which is so multifunctional. Volatile substances contained in coal provide rapid ignition with the subsequent achievement of high temperatures. The moisture content simplifies the processing of coal, the calorie content makes its use indispensable in pharmaceuticals and cosmetology, the ash itself is a valuable mineral material.

The use of coal in the modern world

Various uses of minerals. Coal was originally only a source of heat, then energy (it turned water into steam), but now, in this regard, the possibilities of coal are simply unlimited.

Thermal energy from coal combustion is converted into electrical energy, coke-chemical products are made from it, and liquid fuel is extracted. Hard coal is the only rock that contains such rare metals as germanium and gallium as impurities. From it, it is extracted, which is then processed into benzene, from which coumarone resin is isolated, which is used to manufacture all kinds of paints, varnishes, linoleum and rubber. Phenols and pyridine bases are obtained from coal. During processing, coal is used in the production of vanadium, graphite, sulfur, molybdenum, zinc, lead, and many more valuable and now irreplaceable products.

Coal, like oil and gas, is organic matter that has been slowly decomposed by biological and geological processes. The basis of coal formation is plant residues. Depending on the degree of transformation and the specific amount of carbon in coal, four types of it are distinguished: brown coals (lignites), hard coals, anthracites and graphites. AT Western countries there is a slightly different classification - lignites, sub-bituminous coals, bituminous coals, anthracites and graphites, respectively.

Anthracite

Anthracite- the most deeply warmed up at its origin from fossil coals, coal of the highest degree of coalification. It is characterized by high density and gloss. Contains 95% carbon. It is used as a solid high-calorie fuel (calorific value 6800-8350 kcal/kg). They have the highest calorific value, but ignite poorly. They are formed from coal with an increase in pressure and temperature at depths of about 6 kilometers.

Coal

Coal- sedimentary rock, which is a product of deep decomposition of plant remains (tree ferns, horsetails and club mosses, as well as the first gymnosperms). By chemical composition coal is a mixture of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic compounds with a high mass fraction of carbon, as well as water and volatile substances with small amounts of mineral impurities, which form ash when coal is burned. Fossil coals differ from each other in the ratio of their components, which determines their heat of combustion. A number of organic compounds that make up coal have carcinogenic properties.

Brown coal- solid fossil coal formed from peat, contains 65-70% carbon, has a brown color, the youngest of fossil coals. It is used as a local fuel, as well as a chemical raw material. They contain a lot of water (43%) and therefore have a low calorific value. In addition, they contain a large number of volatile substances (up to 50%). They are formed from dead organic residues under the pressure of the load and under the influence of elevated temperature at depths of the order of 1 kilometer.

Coal mining

Coal mining methods depend on the depth of its occurrence. The development is carried out by an open method in coal mines, if the depth of the coal seam does not exceed 100 meters. There are also frequent cases when, with an ever-increasing deepening of a coal pit, it is further advantageous to develop a coal deposit by an underground method. Mines are used to extract coal from great depths. The deepest mines in the Russian Federation extract coal from a level of just over 1200 meters.

Along with coal, coal-bearing deposits contain many types of georesources that have consumer significance. These include host rocks as a raw material for the construction industry, groundwater, coal-bed methane, rare and trace elements, including valuable metals and their compounds. For example, some coals are enriched with germanium.

– this is a mineral that is formed as a result of the decomposition of dead plants without air access. There is a process of formation of this mineral under the influence of pressure and high temperatures.
How is coal formed?
The first stage is the appearance of peat. Peat- it is a relatively solid mass that consists of decaying plant remains. These residues rot and are compressed. Peat is used as a fertilizer, fuel, raw material for various kinds industry. Coal is formed from peat. Coal is a source of thermal energy. It burns well and gives off a lot of heat.

Types of coal
Coal is divided into several types. The least heat is obtained by burning coal, which is called lignite and brown coal. There is a lot of moisture in such types of coal, i.e. water, so they cannot burn well. The best way to heat a room is with coal, which is called anthracite. It is the most dense, compared to other types, and contains less moisture.

AT coal composition, which is considered low quality, includes carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, as well as a small number of various chemical elements, for example, sulfur. The percentage of other components depends on the type of coal. In other words, good coal must be dry, i.e. contain no water.
How and where is coal mined?
There are a lot of developed coal basins in Russia. These include Karaganda, Pechora, Tunguska, Kansk-Achinsk, Kuznetsk and others. Our country ranks first in the world in terms of known reserves of this mineral.