Coal message. What is coal? Where did coal come from?

Message about coal can be used in preparation for the lesson. The story about coal for children can be supplemented with interesting facts.

Report on coal

Coal is a solid, exhaustible, non-renewable mineral that humans use to produce heat by burning it. According to the classification, it belongs to sedimentary rocks. People began to use coal as an energy source in ancient times, along with firewood.

How is coal formed?

Coal appeared on Earth about 300-350 million years ago, when tree ferns grew luxuriantly in primeval swamps and the first gymnosperms began to appear.

Coal is believed to have formed from wood deposition. There were ancient forests, the trees of which accumulated in swamps, where, without access to oxygen, the activity of bacteria decomposing plant debris is reduced to zero, peat is formed, and then, in the process of burying these residues, coal is formed under high pressure and temperature.
Thus, for the formation of coal, peat must lie at a depth of three kilometers. At this depth, a layer of peat twenty meters will turn into coal with a layer thickness of two meters.

Types of coal

All types of coal occur in layers and their locations are called coal basins. Today they are mining different types coal

• Anthracites are the hardest varieties from great depth and have a maximum combustion temperature.
• Hard coal - many varieties mined in mines and open method. It is widely used in many areas of human activity.
• Brown coal - formed from the remains of peat, the youngest type of coal. Has the lowest combustion temperature.

How is coal mined?

Previously, coal was simply collected in places where the seam came to the surface. This could happen as a result of the layers shifting earth's crust.
Often, after landslides in mountainous areas, such deposits were exposed, and people were able to get to pieces of “combustible stone.”
Later, when the first technology appeared, coal began to be mined using the open pit method. Some coal mines sank to depths of more than 300 meters.
Today, thanks modern technology, people descend to a depth of more than 1000 m, where high-quality coal is mined.

Different types of coal can be used to produce heat. When burned, it is released into much more than you can get it from firewood or other hard species fuel. The hottest types of coal are used in metallurgy, where high temperatures are required.
In addition, coal is a valuable raw material for the chemical industry. Many necessary and useful substances are extracted from it.

We hope the information provided about coal helped you. You can leave your report about coal using the comment form.

Since ancient times, coal has been a source of energy for humanity, not the only one, but widely used. Sometimes it is compared to solar energy, preserved in stone. It is burned to obtain heat for heating, heating water, converted into electricity at thermal stations, and used for smelting metals.

With the development of new technologies, we have learned to use coal not only to produce energy by burning. The chemical industry has successfully mastered production technologies, rare metals- gallium and germanium. Composite carbon-graphite materials with a high carbon content, gaseous fuel with high calorie content are extracted from it, and plastic production methods have been developed. The lowest grade coal, its very fine fraction and coal dust are processed and are excellent for heating as production premises and private houses. In total, using the chemical processing of coal, more than 400 types of products are produced, which can cost tens of times more than the original product.

People have been actively using coal as a fuel for generating and converting energy for several centuries; with the development of the chemical industry and the need for rare and valuable materials in other industries, the need for coal is increasing. Therefore, exploration of new deposits is being intensively carried out, quarries and mines, and raw material processing enterprises are being built.

Briefly about the origin of coal

On our planet, many millions of years ago, vegetation developed rapidly in a humid climate. 210...280 million years have passed since then. For thousands of years, millions of years, billions of tons of vegetation died off, accumulated at the bottom of swamps, and became covered with layers of sediment. Slow decomposition in an oxygen-free atmosphere under powerful pressure of water, sand, other rocks, sometimes in conditions high temperatures due to the close proximity of magma, led to the petrification of layers of this vegetation, with gradual degeneration into coal varying degrees carbonization.

Main Russian deposits and coal mining

The planet has coal reserves of more than 15 trillion tons. The largest mineral production comes from coal, approximately 0.7 tons per person, which is more than 2.6 billion tons per year. In Russia, hard coal is available in different regions. He has different characteristics, features and depth. Here are the largest and most successfully developed coal basins:

The active use of Siberian and Far Eastern deposits is limited by their distance from industrial European regions. In the western part of Russia, coal with excellent performance is also mined: in the Pechersk and Donetsk coal basins. IN Rostov region Local deposits are being actively developed, the most promising of them being Gukovskoye. Processing of hard coal from these deposits produces grades of hard coal high quality— anthracites (AS and AO).

Main quality characteristics of coal

Different industries require different grades of coal. Its qualitative indicators vary widely even among those that have the same marking and largely depend on the deposit. Therefore, before purchasing coal, enterprises become familiar with the following physical characteristics:

According to the degree of enrichment, coal is divided into:

• — Concentrates (burned for heating in steam boilers and generating electricity);
• — Industrial products used in the metallurgical industry;
• — Sludge is actually a fine fraction (up to 6 mm) and dust after rock crushing. It is problematic to burn such fuel, so briquettes with good properties are formed from it. performance characteristics and used in household solid fuel boilers.

By degree of carbonization:

• — Brown coal is partially formed hard coal. It has a low heat of combustion, crumbles during transportation and storage, and has a tendency to spontaneous combustion;
• — Coal. It has many different brands (grades) with different characteristics. It has a wide range of uses: metallurgy, energy, housing and communal services, chemical industry etc.
• — Anthracites are the most high quality form coal.

If we compare peat and coal, the calorific value of coal is higher. Brown coal has the lowest calorific value, anthracite has the highest. However, based on economic feasibility, simple coal is in great demand. It has the best combination of price and specific heat combustion.

There are a lot of different characteristics of coal, but not all of them may be important when choosing coal for heating. In this case, it is important to know only a few key parameters: ash content, humidity and specific heat capacity. Sulfur content may be important. The rest are required when selecting raw materials for processing. What is important to know when choosing coal is the size: how large the pieces are offered to you. This data is encrypted in the brand name.

Size classification:

Classification by brands and their brief characteristics:

Depending on the characteristics of coal, its brand, type and fraction, it is stored different times. (The article contains a table showing the shelf life of coal depending on the deposit and brand).

Particular attention should be paid to protecting coal during long-term storage (more than 6 months). In this case, a special coal shed or bunker is required, where the fuel will be protected from precipitation and direct sunlight.

Large piles of coal during long-term storage require temperature control, since in the presence of small fractions in combination with moisture and high temperature, they tend to spontaneously ignite. It is advisable to purchase an electronic thermometer and a thermocouple with a long cord, which should be buried in the center of the coal pile. You need to check the temperature once or twice a week, because some brands of coal spontaneously ignite at very low temperatures: brown - at 40-60 o C, others - 60-70 o C. Cases of spontaneous combustion of anthracite and semi-anthracite rarely occur (in Russia such cases not registered).

Stuart E. Nevins, MSc.

Accumulated, compacted and processed plants form a sedimentary rock called coal. Coal is not only a source of huge economic significance, but also a breed that has a special appeal to the student studying the history of the earth. Although coal forms less than one percent of all sedimentary rocks on earth, it has great importance for geologists who trust the Bible. It is coal that gives the Christian geologist one of the strongest geological arguments in favor of the reality of the global Noahic Flood.

Two theories have been proposed to explain the formation of coal. Popular theory, held by most uniformitarian geologists, is that the plants that make up coal accumulated in vast freshwater swamps or peat bogs over many thousands of years. This first theory, which involves the growth of plant material where it is found, is called autochthonous theory .

The second theory suggests that the coal seams accumulated from plants that were quickly transported from other places and deposited under flooded conditions. This second theory, according to which the movement of plant debris occurred, is called allochthonous theory .

Fossils in coal

The types of plant fossils that are found in coal are obviously do not support the autochthonous theory. Fossil club moss trees (e.g. Lepidodendron And Sigillaria) and giant ferns (especially Psaronius) characteristic of Pennsylvanian coal beds may have had some ecological tolerance to marshy conditions, whereas other Pennsylvania Basin fossil plants (e.g. conifer Cordaites, giant horsetail overwintering Calamites, various extinct fern-like gymnosperms) due to their basic structure must have preferred well-drained soils rather than swamps. Many researchers believe that the anatomical structure of fossil plants indicates that they grew in tropical or subtropical climates (an argument that can be used against the autochthonous theory), since modern bogs are the most extensive and have the deepest accumulation of peat in cooler climates higher latitudes. Due to the increased evaporative capacity of the sun, modern tropical and subtropical regions are the poorest in peat.

Often found in coal marine fossils, such as fossil fish, mollusks and brachiopods (brachiopods). Coal seams contain coal balls, which are rounded masses of crumpled and incredibly well-preserved plants, as well as fossil animals (including marine animals) that are directly related to these coal seams. The small marine annelid Spirorbis is typically found attached to plants in the coals of Europe and North America, which belong to the Carboniferous period. Since the anatomical structure of fossil plants provides little indication that they were adapted to marine marshes, the occurrence of marine animals with non-marine plants suggests that mixing occurred during translocation, thus supporting the allochthonous theory model.

Among the most amazing types of fossils that are found in coal layers are vertical tree trunks, which are perpendicular to the bedding and often intersect tens of feet of rock. These vertical trees are often found in strata that are associated with coal deposits, and in rare cases they are found in the coal itself. In any case, sediment must accumulate quickly to cover the trees before they deteriorate and fall.

How long does it take for layers of sedimentary rock to form? Check out this ten-meter-tall petrified tree, one of hundreds discovered in the coal mines of Cookeville, Tennessee, USA. This tree starts in one coal layer, goes up through numerous layers, and finally ends in another coal layer. Think about this: what would happen to top part wood over the thousands of years required (according to evolution) for the formation of sedimentary layers and coal seams? Obviously, the formation of sedimentary layers and coal seams had to be catastrophic (rapid) in order to bury the tree in an upright position before it rotted and fell. Such "standing trees" are found in numerous places on earth and at different levels. Despite the evidence, long periods of time (necessary for evolution) are squeezed between layers, for which there is no evidence.

One might be under the impression that these trees are in their original growth position, but some evidence suggests that this is not the case at all, in fact the opposite. Some trees cross the strata diagonally, and some are found completely upside down. Sometimes it turns out that vertical trees have taken root in a growth position in strata that are completely penetrated by a second vertical tree. The hollow trunks of fossil trees are usually filled with sedimentary rock that is different from the surrounding rocks. The logic applied to the examples described points to the movement of these trunks.

Fossil roots

The most important fossil that has direct relation to disputes over the origin of coal is stigmaria- fossil root or rhizome. Stigmaria most often found in strata that lie beneath coal seams and, as a rule, is directly related to vertical trees. It was believed that stigmaria, which was explored 140 years ago by Charles Lyell and D.W. Dawson in the Carboniferous coal succession of Nova Scotia provides unequivocal evidence that the plant grew in this location.

Many modern geologists continue to insist that stigmaria is a root that was formed in this very place, and which goes into the soil below the coal swamp. The Nova Scotia coal sequence has recently been re-explored by N.A. Rupke, who discovered four arguments in favor of allochthonous origin of stigmaria , obtained based on the study of sedimentary deposits. The fossil found is usually clastic and rarely attached to the trunk - this indicates its preferred orientation horizontal axis, which was created as a result of the action of the flow. In addition, the trunk is filled with sedimentary rock that is not similar to the rock surrounding the trunk, and it is often found at many horizons in strata that are completely penetrated by vertical trees. Rupke's research cast serious doubt on the popular autochthonous explanation for other strata in which stigmaria.

Cyclothemes

Coal usually occurs in a sequence of sedimentary rocks called cyclothem .Idealized Pennsylvania cyclothem may have strata that were deposited in the following ascending order: sandstone, shale, limestone, underlying clay, coal, shale, limestone, shale. IN typical cyclothema, as a rule, one of the constituent layers is missing. At each site cyclothemes each cycle of deposition is typically repeated dozens of times, with each deposit overlying the previous deposit. Located in Illinois fifty successive cycles, and more than one hundred such cycles lie in West Virginia.

Although the coal seam that forms part of the typical cyclothemes, usually quite thin (typically one inch to several feet thick) the lateral location of the coal has incredible dimensions. In one of the modern stratigraphic studies4, a relationship was drawn between coal deposits: Broken Arrow (Oklahoma), Crowburg (Missouri), Whitebrest (Iowa), Colchester Number 2 (Illinois), Coal IIIa (Indiana), Schultztown ( Western Kentucky), Princess Number 6 (Eastern Kentucky), and Lower Kittanning (Ohio and Pennsylvania). They all form one, huge coal seam that extends to hundred thousand square kilometers in the central and eastern United States. No modern swamp has an area that even slightly approaches the size of the Pennsylvania coal deposits.

If the autochthonous model of coal formation is correct, then very unusual circumstances must have prevailed. The entire area, often tens of thousands of square kilometers, would have to simultaneously rise above sea level for the swamp to accumulate, and then it would have to sink to be inundated by the ocean. If the fossil forests rose too high above sea level, the swamp and its antiseptic water needed to accumulate peat would simply evaporate. If the sea were to invade the bog while the peat was accumulating, marine conditions would destroy the plants and other sediments and the peat would not be deposited. Then, according to the popular model, the formation of a thick coal seam would indicate that an incredible balance had been maintained over many thousands of years between the rate of peat accumulation and sea level rise. This situation seems most implausible, especially if we remember that the cyclothem is repeated in a vertical section hundreds of times or even more. Or perhaps these cycles can best be explained as accumulations that occurred during the successive rise and fall of the flood waters?

Shale

When it comes to cyclothems, the underlying clay is of most interest. The underlying clay is a soft layer of clay that is not arranged in sheets and often lies beneath the coal seam. Many geologists believe that this is the fossil soil on which the swamp existed. The presence of underlying clay, especially when it is found stigmaria, is often interpreted as enough proof autochthonous origin of coal-forming plants.

However, recent research has cast doubt on the interpretation of the underlying clay as fossil soil. No soil characteristics that were similar to those of modern soil were found in the underlying clay. Some minerals found in the underlying soil are not the types of minerals that should be found in the soil. On the contrary, the underlying clays, as a rule, have rhythmic layering (coarser granular material is located at the very bottom) and signs of the formation of clay flakes. This simple characteristics sedimentary rocks that would form in any layer that accumulated in water.

Many coal layers do not rest on the underlying clays, and any signs of the existence of soil are absent. In some cases, coal seams rest on granite, slate, limestone, conglomerate, or other rocks that do not resemble soil. Underlying clay without an underlying coal seam is common, just as underlying clay often lies on top of a coal seam. The lack of recognizable soils below the coal seams indicates that no type of lush vegetation could grow here and supports the idea that coal-forming plants were transported here.

Coal structure

Studying the microscopic structure and structure of peat and coal helps to understand the origin of coal. A. D. Cohen pioneered a comparative structural study of modern autochthonous peats derived from mangroves and rare modern allochthonous coastal peats from southern Florida. Most autochthonous peats contained plant fragments that had a disordered orientation with a predominant matrix of finer material, while allochthonous peat had an orientation formed by water flows with elongated axes of plant fragments that were located, as a rule, parallel to the shore surface with a characteristic absence of finer material. matrix. Poorly sorted plant debris in autochthonous peats had large structure due to the intertwined mass of roots, while autochthonous peat had a characteristic microlayering due to the absence of ingrown roots.

In conducting this research, Cohen noted: "One of the things that emerged from the study of allochthonous peat was that vertical microtome sections of the material looked more like thin sections of Coal Coal than any autochthonous sample examined.". Cohen noted that the characteristics of this autochthonous peat (orientation of elongated fragments, sorted granular structure with a general absence of finer matrix, microlayering with absence of tangled root structure) are also characteristics of coals of the Carboniferous period!

Lumps in coal

One of the most impressive external features coal is the presence of large lumps in it. For over a hundred years, these large lumps have been found in coal seams around the world. P.H. Price conducted a study in which he examined large blocks of the Sewell coalfield, which is located in West Virginia. Average weight The 40 boulders collected weighed 12 pounds, and the largest boulder weighed 161 pounds. Many of the cobblestones were volcanic or metamorphic rock, unlike all other outcrops in West Virginia. Price suggested that large blocks could have become entangled in the roots of trees and transported here from afar. Thus, the presence of large lumps in the coal supports the allochthonous model.

Coalification

Disputes regarding the nature of the process of turning peat into coal have been going on for many years. One existing theory suggests that it is time is a major factor in the carbonization process. However, this theory fell out of favor because it was found that there was no systematic increase in the metamorphic stage of coal over time. There are several obvious inconsistencies: lignites, which are the lowest stage of metamorphism, occur in some of the oldest coal-bearing strata, while anthracites, which represent the most highest degree coal metamorphism, occur in young layers.

The second theory regarding the process of turning peat into coal suggests that the main factor in the process of coal metamorphism is pressure. However, this theory is refuted by numerous geological examples in which the metamorphic stage of coal does not increase in highly deformed and folded strata. Moreover, laboratory experiments show that increasing pressure can actually slow down chemical transformation peat into coal.

The third theory (the most popular today) suggests that the most important factor in the process of coal metamorphism is temperature. Geological examples (volcanic intrusions in coal seams and underground mine fires) show that elevated temperatures can cause coalification. Laboratory experiments were also quite successful in confirming this theory. One experiment conducted using a rapid heating process produced an anthracite-like substance in just a few minutes, with most of the heat generated from the conversion of the cellulosic material. Thus, coal metamorphism does not require millions of years of heat and pressure - it can be formed by rapid heating.

Conclusion

We see that a wealth of supporting evidence strongly proves the truth of the allochthonous theory and confirms the accumulation of multiple coal layers during Noah's Flood. Vertical fossil trees within coal layers confirm rapid accumulation plant residues. Marine animals and terrestrial (not swamp-growing) plants found in coal imply their movement. The microstructure of many coal seams has distinct particle orientations, sorted grain structures, and microlayering that indicate movement (rather than in situ growth) of plant material. Large lumps present in the coal indicate movement processes. The absence of soil beneath many coal seams confirms the fact that coal-forming plants floated with the flow. Coal has been shown to form systematic and typical portions cyclothem, which clearly, like other rocks, were deposited by water. Experiments examining changes in plant material show that coal-like anthracite does not take millions of years to form - it can form quickly under the influence of heat.

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*Professor of Geology and Archeology at Christian Heritage College, El Cajon, California.

A ghost town without coal. This was the Japanese Hashima. In the 1930s it was recognized as the most populous.

5,000 people fit on a tiny piece of land. They all worked in coal production.

The island turned out to be literally made of a stone source of energy. However, by the 1970s, coal reserves were depleted.

Everyone left. All that remained was the dug up island and the buildings on it. Tourists and Japanese call Hashima a ghost.

The island clearly shows the importance of coal and the inability of humanity to live without it. There is no alternative.

There are only attempts to find her. Therefore, let's pay attention to a modern hero, and not vague prospects.

Description and properties of coal

Coal is a rock of organic origin. This means that the stone is formed from the decomposed remains of plants and animals.

In order for them to form a dense thickness, constant accumulation and compaction is required. Suitable conditions at the bottom of reservoirs.

Where there is coal deposits, once there were seas and lakes. Dead organisms sank to the bottom and were pressed down by the water column.

This is how it was formed peat. Coal- a consequence of its further compression under pressure not only of water, but also of new layers of organic matter.

Basic coal reserves belong to the Paleozoic era. 280,000,000 years have passed since its end.

This is the era of giant plants and dinosaurs, an abundance of life on the planet. It is not surprising that it was then that organic deposits accumulated especially actively.

Most often, coal was formed in swamps. Their waters have little oxygen, which prevents complete decomposition organics.

Externally coal deposits resemble burnt wood. By chemical composition the rock is a mixture of carbon aromatic compounds high molecular weight type and volatile substances with water.

Mineral impurities are insignificant. The ratio of components is not stable.

Depending on the predominance of certain elements, they distinguish types of coal. The main ones include brown and anthracite.

Buraya a type of coal is saturated with water, and therefore has a low calorific value.

It turns out that the rock is not suitable as fuel, as stone. And brown coal found another use. Which?

This will be given attention special attention. In the meantime, let’s figure out why water-saturated rock is called brown. The reason is the color.

The coal is brownish, without, friable. From a geological point of view, the mass can be called young. That is, the “fermentation” processes in it are not completed.

Therefore, at the stone low density, combustion produces a lot of volatile substances.

Fossil coal anthracite type - fully formed. It is denser, harder, blacker, shiny.

It takes 40,000,000 years for brown rock to become this way. Anthracite contains a high proportion of carbon - about 98%.

Naturally, the heat transfer of black coal is high, which means that the stone can be used as fuel.

The brown species in this role is used only for heating private houses. They don't need record energy levels.

All that is needed is ease of handling fuel, and anthracite is problematic in this regard. Lighting coal is not easy.

Manufacturers and railway workers got used to it. The labor costs are worth it, because anthracite is not only energy-intensive, but also does not sinter.

Hard coal - fuel, the combustion of which leaves ash. What is it made of if organic matter turns into energy?

Remember the note about mineral impurities? It is the inorganic component of the stone that remains at the bottom.

A lot of ash remains in the Chinese deposit in Liuhuangou province. Anthracite deposits burned there for almost 130 years.

The fire was extinguished only in 2004. Every year 2,000,000 tons of rock were burned.

So do the math how much coal wasted. The raw materials could be useful not only as fuel.

Application of coal

Coal is called solar energy trapped in stone. Energy can be transformed. It doesn't have to be thermal.

The energy obtained from burning rock is converted, for example, into electricity.

Coal combustion temperature the brown type almost reaches 2,000 degrees. To obtain electricity from anthracite, it will take about 3,000 Celsius.

If we talk about the fuel role of coal, it is used not only in its pure form.

Laboratories have learned how to produce liquid and gaseous fuel from organic rock, and metallurgical plants have long used coke.

It is obtained by heating coal to 1,100 degrees without oxygen. Coke is a smokeless fuel.

The possibility of using briquettes as ore reducers is also important for metallurgists. Thus, coke comes in handy when casting iron.

Coke is also used as a blending agent. This is the name given to the mixture of initial elements of the future.

Being loosened by coke, the charge is easier to melt. By the way, some components are also obtained from anthracite.

It may contain germanium and gallium as impurities - rare metals that are rarely found anywhere else.

Buy coal They also strive for the production of carbon-graphite composite materials.

Composites are masses made of several components, with a clear boundary between them.

Artificially created materials are used, for example, in aviation. Here, composites increase the strength of parts.

Carbon masses can withstand both very high and low temperatures and are used in catenary support racks.

In general, composites have become firmly established in all areas of life. Railway workers are laying them on new platforms.

Supports for building structures are made from nanomodified raw materials. In medicine, composites are used to fill chips in bones and other damage that cannot be replaced with metal prosthetics. Here what kind of coal multifaceted and multifunctional.

Chemists have developed a method for producing plastics from coal. At the same time, waste does not disappear. The low-grade fraction is pressed into briquettes.

They serve as fuel, which is suitable for both private homes and industrial workshops.

Fuel briquettes contain a minimum of hydrocarbons. They, in fact, are the females valuable in coal.

From it you can obtain pure benzene, toluene, xylenes, and coumorane resins. The latter, for example, serve as the basis for paint and varnish products and interior finishing materials such as linoleum.

Some hydrocarbons are aromatic. People are familiar with the smell of mothballs. But few people know that it is produced from coal.

In surgery, naphthalene serves as an antiseptic. IN household the substance fights moths.

In addition, naphthalene can protect against the bites of a number of insects. Among them: flies, gadflies, horseflies.

In total, coal in bags purchase for the production of more than 400 types of products.

Many of them are by-products obtained from coke production.

Interestingly, the cost of additional lines is generally higher than that of coke.

If we consider average difference between coal and goods made from it, it is 20-25 times.

That is, production is very profitable and pays off quickly. Therefore, it is not surprising that scientists are looking for more and more new technologies for processing sedimentary rock. There must be supply for growing demand. Let's get to know him.

Coal mining

Coal deposits are called basins. There are over 3,500 of them in the world. Total area basins - about 15% of land. The USA has the most coal.

23% of the world's reserves are concentrated there. Hard coal in Russia– this is 13% total reserves. from China. 11% of the rock is hidden in its depths.

Most of them are anthracite. In Russia, the ratio of brown coal to black is approximately the same. In the USA, the brown type of rock predominates, which reduces the importance of deposits.

Despite the abundance of brown coal, the US deposits are striking not only in volume, but also in scale.

The reserves of the Appalachian coal basin alone amount to 1,600 billion tons.

Russia's largest basin, by comparison, stores only 640 billion tons of rock. We are talking about the Kuznetsk deposit.

It is located in Kemerovo region. A couple more promising basins have been discovered in Yakutia and Tyva. In the first region, the deposits were called Elga, and in the second - Elegetian.

The deposits of Yakutia and Tyva belong to closed type. That is, the rock is not near the surface, but at depth.

It is necessary to build mines, adits, shafts. It's uplifting coal price. But the scale of the deposits costs money.

As for the Kuznetsk basin, they operate in a mixed system. About 70% of raw materials are extracted from the depths using hydraulic methods.

30% of coal is mined openly using bulldozers. They are sufficient if the rock lies near the surface and the covering layers are loose.

Coal is also mined openly in China. Most of China's deposits are located far outside the cities.

However, this did not prevent one of the deposits from causing inconvenience to the population of the country. This happened in 2010.

Beijing sharply increased requests for coal from Inner Mongolia. It is considered a province of the People's Republic of China.

So many trucks loaded with goods hit the road that Highway 110 was stopped for almost 10 days. The traffic jam began on August 14th, and only resolved on the 25th.

True, it could not have happened without road works. Coal trucks made the situation worse.

Highway 110 is a state road. So, not only was the coal delayed in transit, but other contracts were also under threat.

You can find videos where drivers driving along the highway in August 2010 report that it took about 5 days to cover the 100-kilometer stretch.

This pattern of coal layers is found everywhere:

Nazarovo coal mine. Two thin layers close to the surface

The main layer with brown coal does not look like a disordered mass with chaotically laid petrified trunks of ancient trees. The layer has clear strata - many layers. That is, the official version with ancient trees is not suitable. And it doesn’t fit for another reason great content sulfur in brown coal seams.

Table of the content of some chemical elements in coal, peat, wood and oil.

In order not to think too much about the meaning of the table, I will write conclusions from it.
1. Carbon. Wood contains the least amount of it among the listed fuel sources. And it is not clear (if we take into account the traditional version of the formation of coals) why the amount of carbon increases with the accumulation of organic matter (wood or peat) in the layers. A contradiction that no one explains.
2. Nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen compounds are one of the building elements of wood and vegetation. And why the amount of nitrogen decreased after the transformation of wood or peat into brown coal is again unclear. Again a contradiction.
3. Sulfur. Wood does not contain any quantity sufficient for the accumulation of this chemical element. Even in peat, sulfur is negligible compared to layers of brown and coal. Where does sulfur get into the layers? The only assumption is that there was sulfur in the layers initially. Mixed with organic matter? But somehow strangely the concentration of sulfur in coal coincides with the sulfur content in oil.

Typically, sulfur is pyrite, sulfate and organic. As a rule, pyrite sulfur predominates. Sulfur contained in coals is usually found in the form of magnesium, calcium and iron sulfates, iron pyrites (pyrite sulfur) and in the form of organic sulfur-containing compounds. As a rule, only sulfate and sulfide sulfur are determined separately; organic is defined as the difference between the amount of total sulfur in coal and the sum of sulfate and sulfide sulfur.

Sulfur pyrite is an almost constant companion of coal, and sometimes in such quantities that it is unfit for use (for example, coal from the Moscow basin).

According to these data, it turns out that the accumulation of organic matter (wood or peat) has nothing to do with coal. The formation of brown coals is an abiogenic process. But which one? Why are brown coals located relatively shallowly, while hard coals can be found at depths of up to two kilometers?

The next question is: where are all the fossils of flora and fauna in the lignite seams? They must be massive! Trunks, plants, skeletons and bones of dead animals - where are they?

Leaf prints are found only in overburden rocks:

Petrified fern. Such fossilized plants are found during coal mining. This specimen was mined during work at the Rodinskaya mine in Donbass. But we will return to these supposed fossils below.

This refers to waste rock from coal mines. I didn't find anything about brown coal.

Areas of coal formation. Most Coal is found in the northern hemisphere and is absent on the equator and the tropics. But there was the most acceptable climate for the accumulation of organic matter in ancient times. There are also no areas (in latitudinal form) of accumulation on the old equators. This distribution is clearly due to another reason.

One more question. Why was this mineral fuel not used in ancient times? There are no widespread descriptions of the mining and use of brown coal. The first mentions of coal date back only to the time of Peter I. Getting it (getting to the seam) is not at all difficult. They do it in a handicraft way local residents in Ukraine:

There are also larger-scale open-pit coal mining:

Coal under 8-10 meters of clay. For the formation of coal, geologists say high pressure and temperature are needed. This clearly wasn't the case here.

Coal is soft and crumbles.

When digging wells, they had to come across layers and find out that they were burning. But history tells us about the beginning of mass coal mining only in the 19th century.

Or maybe these layers did not exist until the 19th century? As it was not in the mid-19th century. trees! See the desert landscapes of Crimea and photographs of Stolypin settlers who climbed into the remote corners of Siberia in convoys. And now there is impenetrable taiga. I'm talking about the 19th century version of the flood. Its mechanism is not clear (if it did exist). But let's return to brown coals.

What breed do you think this is? Brown coal? It looks like it, but they didn't guess right. These are tar sands.

Large-scale oil production from tar sands in Canada. Before the fall in oil prices, it was profitable, even profitable business. On average, four tons of bitumen produce only one barrel of oil.

If you don’t know, you won’t even think that oil is produced here. It looks like a brown coal mine.

Another example from Ukraine:

In the village of Starunya (Ivano-Frankivsk region), oil comes to the surface on its own, creating small volcanoes. Some oil volcanoes are burning!

Then it will all petrify and there will be a coal seam.

So where am I going with this? Moreover, during the cataclysm, the rupture of the earth, oil came out and spilled. But she did not petrify in the sands. And brown coal is probably the same thing, but in chalk or other deposits. There, the fraction before oil was less than sand. The stone state of the coals suggests that there are chalk layers involved. Perhaps some reactions took place and the layers turned into stone.

Even Wikipedia writes:
Fossil coal is a mineral, a type of fuel, formed both from parts of ancient plants, and to a large extent from bitumen masses that poured out onto the surface of the planet, undergoing metamorphism due to sinking to great depths underground under high temperatures and without access to oxygen.
But the version abiogenic origin Brown coals from oil spills do not develop anywhere else.

Some write that this version does not explain the many layers of brown coal. If we take into account that not only masses of oil, but also water and mud sources came to the surface, then alternation is quite possible. Oil and bitumen are lighter than water - they floated on the surface and were deposited and adsorbed on the rock in the form thin layers. Here is an example in a seismically active zone in Japan:

Water comes out of the cracks. It is, of course, not deep, but what prevents, during larger-scale processes, the waters of artesian springs or underground oceans from emerging and, upon exiting, throwing masses of rocks ground into clay, sand, lime, salt, etc. onto the surface. Deposit strata over a short period rather than millions of years. I am increasingly inclined to think that in some places in certain times the flood could have been caused not by the passage of a wave from the ocean, but by the release of water and mud masses from the bowels of the Earth.

Sources:
http://sibved.livejournal.com/200768.html
https://new.vk.com/feed?w=wall178628732_2011
http://forum.gp.dn.ua/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2210
http://chispa1707.livejournal.com/1698628.html

A separate issue is the formation of coal

Comment in one of the articles from jonny3747 :
Coal in the Donbass is most likely a displacement of plates one under another, along with all the forests, ferns, etc. I myself worked at depths of more than 1 km. The layers lie at an angle, as if one plate was creeping under another. Between the coal and rock layers there are very often imprints of plants; quite a few caught my eye. And what’s interesting is that between the hard rock and the coal there is a thin layer that is not yet rock, but not yet coal, it crumbles in your hands, unlike the rock it has dark color and that’s where the prints were often found.

This observation fits very clearly with the growth process of pyrographite in these layers. Most likely, the author saw these:

Remember the fern fossils in the photos above

Here are excerpts from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen” and the work “History of the Earth without the Carboniferous Period”:

Based on own research and a number of works by other scientists, the authors state:
“Given the recognized role of deep gases, ... genetic connection natural carbonaceous substances with juvenile hydrogen-methane fluid can be described as follows.
1. From gas phase S-O-N systems(methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide) can be synthesized... carbonaceous substances - both in artificial conditions and in nature...
5. Pyrolysis of methane diluted with carbon dioxide under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of liquid... hydrocarbons, and in nature to the formation of the entire genetic series of bituminous substances.”

CH4 → Sgraphite + 2H2

During the decomposition of methane in the depths, complex hydrocarbons are formed in a completely natural way! This happens because it turns out to be energetically beneficial! And not only gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons, but also solid ones!
Methane is still constantly “oozing” into coal mining areas. It may be residual. Or it may also be evidence of the continuation of the process of influx of hydrocarbon vapors from the subsurface.

Well, now the time has come to deal with the “main trump card” of the version of the organic origin of brown and hard coal - the presence of “carbonized plant residues” in them.
Such “coalified plant residues” are found in coal deposits in huge quantities. Paleobotanists “confidently identify the plant species” in these “remains.”
It is on the basis of the abundance of these “remains” that the conclusion was made about almost tropical conditions in vast regions of our planet and the conclusion about the violent flourishing of flora in the Carboniferous period.
But! When producing pyrolytic graphite by pyrolysis of methane diluted with hydrogen, it was found that dendritic forms, very similar to “plant residues,” are formed in stagnant zones away from the gas flow.

Samples of pyrolytic graphite with “vegetable patterns” (from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

The simplest conclusion that follows from the above photographs of “carbonized plant forms”, which in fact are only forms of pyrolytic graphite, will be this: paleobotanists now need to think hard!..

And the scientific world continues to write dissertations on the origin of coals based on the biological accumulation of layers

1. Hydride compounds in the bowels of our planet disintegrate when heated (see the author’s article “Does the fate of Phaeton await the Earth?..”), releasing hydrogen, which, in full accordance with Archimedes’ law, rushes upward - to the surface of the Earth.
2. On its way, hydrogen, due to its high chemical activity, interacts with subsoil matter, forming various compounds. Including these gaseous substances such as methane CH4, hydrogen sulfide H2S, ammonia NH3, water vapor H2O and the like.
3. Under conditions of high temperatures and in the presence of other gases included in the subsoil fluids, methane undergoes a stage-by-stage decomposition, which, in full accordance with the laws of physical chemistry, leads to the formation of gaseous hydrocarbons, including complex ones.
4. Rising both along existing cracks and faults in the earth’s crust, and forming new ones under pressure, these hydrocarbons fill all the cavities accessible to them in geological rocks. And due to contact with these colder rocks, gaseous hydrocarbons transform into a different phase state and (depending on the composition and environmental conditions) form deposits of liquid and solid minerals - oil, brown and hard coal, anthracite, graphite and even diamonds.
5. In the process of formation of solid deposits, in accordance with the still far from being studied laws of self-organization of matter, under appropriate conditions, the formation of ordered forms occurs - including those reminiscent of the forms of the living world.

And another very curious detail: before the Carboniferous Period - at the end of Devonian - the climate was quite cool and arid, and after - at the beginning of Permian - the climate was also cool and arid. Before the “Carboniferous Period” we have a “red continent”, and after we have the same “red continent”...
The following logical question arises: was there a warm “Carboniferous Period” at all?!

The non-million-year age of coal and lignite layers explains a number of strange artifacts found in coals:

An iron mug found in coal 300 million years old.

Gear rack in coal