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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . [ 1 ]
Coal River was the first name given by British settlers to the Hunter River after coal was found there in 1795. In 1804 the Sydney-based administration established a permanent convict settlement near the mouth of the Hunter River to mine and load the coal, predetermining the town's future as a coal port by naming it Newcastle.
The name Carboniferous means "coal-bearing", from the Latin carbō ("coal") and ferō ("bear, carry"), and refers to the many coal beds formed globally during that time. [8] The first of the modern "system" names, it was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, [9] based on a study of the British rock succession.
Coal forest of tree ferns and lycopod trees, in a 1906 artist's rendering. The coal forests seem to have been areas of flat, low-lying swampy areas with rivers flowing through from higher, drier land. [4] When the rivers flooded, silt gradually built up into natural levees. Lakes formed as some areas subsided, while formerly wet areas became ...
An anthracite pile in Trevorton, Pennsylvania. Anthracite derives from the Greek anthrakítēs (ἀνθρακίτης), literally "coal-like". [9] Other terms which refer to anthracite are black coal, hard coal, stone coal, [10] [11] dark coal, coffee coal, blind coal (in Scotland), [7] Kilkenny coal (in Ireland), [10] crow coal or craw coal, and black diamond.
In 2013, Australia was the world's fifth-largest coal producer, after China, the United States, India, and Indonesia. However, in terms of proportion of production exported, Australia is the world's second largest coal exporter, as it exports roughly 73% of its coal production. Indonesia exports about 87% of its coal production. [60]
In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal. [47] It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the Three Mile Island accident. [48] Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash.
The term coal measures has also historically been used in other parts of the world for coal-bearing successions of various ages, e.g. the Permian coal measures of Australia and the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary coal measures found in New Zealand. However, these usages are mostly informal.