how is iron,aluminum and coal formed?

Answer 1

There is a recent theory on the formation of coal, at least high grade coal. It very well may form from Methane that migrates upward. The coal is highly carbonized. Coal is often found above gas deposits. In fact there it is sometimes used as an indicator that gas will be below it. Sometimes coal has been found where one fossil tree is carbonized and the rest isn't. The old theory of having it formed from old vegetable matter would be pretty hard to explain this. I don't expect that my answer would be most popular among geologists but I think that is because most are stuck on old theories. I don't think most coal or oil are actually fossil fuels.

Answer 2

iron is a basic element, as is aluminum, so they tend to separate out as they rise from the core in deposits and veins. coal is a hyrdocarbon have nothing to do with the first two. it is the product of time, pressure and temp. over time. that is the short, short version.

Answer 3

Coal is called a fossil fuel because it was formed from the remains of vegetation that grew as long as 400 million years ago. It is often referred to as "buried sunshine," because the plants which formed coal captured energy from the sun through photosynthesis to create the compounds that make up plant tissues. The most important element in the plant material is carbon, which gives coal most of its energy.

Most of our coal was formed about 300 million years ago, when much of the earth was covered by steamy swamps. As plants and trees died, their remains sank to the bottom of the swampy areas, accumulating layer upon layer and eventually forming a soggy, dense material called peat.

Over long periods of time, the makeup of the earth's surface changed, and seas and great rivers caused deposits of sand, clay and other mineral matter to accumulate, burying the peat. Sandstone and other sedimentary rocks were formed, and the pressure caused by their weight squeezed water from the peat. Increasingly deeper burial and the heat associated with it gradually changed the material to coal. Scientists estimate that from 3 to 7 feet of compacted plant matter was required to form 1 foot of bituminous coal.

Iron ore deposits in Algoma-type iron-formations consist mainly of oxide and carbonate lithofacies that contain 20 to 40 % Fe as alternating layers and beds of micro- to macro-banded chert or quartz, magnetite, hematite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, iron carbonates, iron silicates and manganese oxide and carbonate minerals. The deposits are interbedded with volcanic rocks, greywacke, turbidite and pelitic sediments; the sequences are commonly metamorphosed.

Banded iron formation is iron rich chert (cryptocrystalline silica (SiO2). The banded colours, usually on a cm scale are due to differing amounts and oxidation states of Fe-containing minerals: haematite, magnetite, grunerite, limonite, siderite and sometimes pyrite. BIF is not forming today and although it can be found in the Archean, most deposits of BIF were formed around 2 billion years ago.

for aluminum formation check the site
http://www.rocksandminerals.com/aluminum/process.htm

Answer 4

coal- decayed plant matter