How does coal form underground?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 1
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Coal is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered, and metamorphosed by heat and pressure over geologic time. It is suspected that coal was formed from prehistoric plants that grew in swamp ecosystems. When such plants died, their biomass was deposited in anaerobic, aquatic environments where low oxygen levels prevented their oxidation (rotting and release of carbon dioxide). Successive generations of this type of plant growth and death formed deep deposits of unoxidized organic matter that were subsequently covered by sediments and compacted into carboniferous deposits such as peat or bituminous or anthracite coal. Evidence of the types of plants that contributed to carboniferous deposits can occasionally be found in the shale and sandstone sediments that overlie coal deposits. It is believed that most coal was formed during the carboniferous era (280 to 345 million years ago). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal)
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