question_answer 3)

Describe how coal is formed from dead vegetation. What is this process called?

Answer:

About 300 million years ago, there were dense forests in low-lying wetland areas on the earth. As the trees died, they got covered with sand and mud. More trees grew on this sand and mud. When these died, they too got covered. Sometimes earthquake and volcanoes buried entire forests deep down in the earth. The high temperature and high pressure inside the earth slowly converted the buried vegetation into coal. A coal contains mainly carbon. Thus, this slow process of conversion of wood into coal is called carbonization.