i know that it's made of plant remains, but are there any animals in it?
2007-12-30 15:56:38 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Coal is composed of "macerals", which are the organic equivalents of minerals. The three types of macerals are vitrinite (from woody material), liptinite (from waxy or resinous plant parts) and inertinite (highly altered source materials such as charcoal). The vast majority of coal is from plant biomass.
That being said, there are some examples of animal remains - such as the mammal "anthracotherium" that was first discovered as a fossil in Cenozoic european lignite beds.
Utah coal seams (from the Mesozoic - the "dinosaur age") are known to contain some fossilized bones, and even sometimes fossilized footprints from when dinosaurs roamed over the peat bogs. Interesting article linked below.
Fascinating stuff, all of it.
2007-12-30 16:18:04 · answer #1 · answered by Gregg H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well yes in a sense it can be made of anything animal or plant because they are both made of carbon like when you burn something you are just reducing it to carbon and coal is also just carbon. diamonds are also just carbon it just depends on what circumstances it has been through
2007-12-31 02:58:01 · answer #2 · answered by monkey_going_bananas 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's the carbon from decayed living matter that's been compressed under the weight of the earth above it. So it's both plant and animal - which is kind of nifty to think that the fire you are warming yourself could have been a prehistoric creature.
2007-12-31 00:01:13 · answer #3 · answered by infopsychrn 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
possibly, but there are far more plants out there to turn into coal. By the time the coal is formed, it is almost nothing but a dirty hydrocarbon rock.
2007-12-31 00:01:44 · answer #4 · answered by ace.frahm 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, no animals. Oil is made of plankton remains but coal only plants.
2007-12-31 00:05:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Carbon but mainly plant matter.
2007-12-31 00:03:56 · answer #6 · answered by dch921 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Got something off wikipedia for ya
2007-12-31 00:00:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Carbon...under enough pressure and enough time it could become a diamond!
2007-12-31 00:00:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it's just carbon, no particular places it comes from.
2007-12-30 23:59:37 · answer #9 · answered by zoso_achilles 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
carbon and stuff
2007-12-31 00:08:58 · answer #10 · answered by dude 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋