If state lines are dissolved, there are actually three distinct coal-producing regions in the United States. In the east, there is the Appalachian coal region, which lies along the Appalachian Mountains. The interior coal region stretches across the Midwest, and the western coal region lies along the Rocky Mountains. During the Carboniferous period, around million years ago, much of the Earth was covered by thick, marshy forests and shallow seas. Tons of plant life grew in wetlands, and these wetlands would flood often, burying mosses and algae underneath layers of mud.
As this dead plant material became buried deeper and deeper, warm subterranean temperatures and high pressure compressed the organic material, while acidic water prevented oxygen from allowing the material to decompose quickly. Peat is a type of carbon-based fuel that can be burned, but it is not as energy-rich as coal. Coal is peat that has undergone a process called carbonization.
Carbonization happens when heat and pressure compress carbon into dense, rocky coal. Coal is found as a layer of rock within the Earth's crust. Coal seams are found on all continents, and they can range in thickness depending on the amount of carbon fossilized and the particular conditions under which it formed.
Coal seams are a geologic layer of rock, like any other. Imagine the Grand Canyon: do you recall its colored bands of rock? Those are geologic strata, and they look different because the rock layers were formed under differing atmospheric conditions, leading to slight differences between them. The trucks haul the coal to the tipple , where it is crushed.
The word tipple got its name because it was originally the place where coal mine cars were tipped and emptied of their coal. Today, it means the place where coal is prepared for transport. A mine-mouth power plant is an electricity generation facility located adjacent to a coal mine. Because lignite has such a high moisture content usually percent water , it is not economically feasible to transport it long distances. Why pay to haul mostly water!
Skip to main content. Navigation Close. Search this book Search form. You must login before you can bookmark pages. Indonesia is a major regional supplier of coal for the Asian markets including China and India. Germany — Germany produced Mt of coal in , out of which Mt was brown coal. It contributed to 1. Germany imported 45Mt of coal in Ukraine — Ukraine has operating coal mines, out of which are state-owned and 29 are private mines. The Komsomolets Donbasu coal mine in the Donetsk Oblast is one of the biggest coal mines in the country.
Ukraine produced 0. It produced Poland — The Belchatow lignite mine provides coal supply for the 5. It produced Mt of coal in , accounting for 1. It also accounted for 1. Kazakhstan — Karaganda and Ekibastuz are the two major coal-producing basins in the country. Turgay, Nizhne-Iliyskiy, and Maikuben basins are known for their lignite reserves. Bogatyr Access Komir is the biggest open-cast mining company in Kazakhstan.
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