Activity 3 - Energy from Coal

Use the resources listed below to help you complete this activity.

To learn more about this topic, visit the following web sites:

The Formation of Coal

"How Coal Is Formed" - Kentucky Educational Television and the American Coal Foundation
This site contains a brief overview of how coal is formed.

"How is coal formed?" - Kentucky Geological Survey
This site explains the processes associated with the formation of coal. Includes an illustration.

"Identification of Coal Components" - Kentucky Geological Survey
This site explains how sedimentary rocks that form coal reflect the environments in which they were originally deposited.

Types of Coal

"Classification and Rank of Coal" - Kentucky Educational Television and the American Coal Foundation
This site explains how coal "rank" is determined and defines the different types of coal.

"Coal Resource Classification System of the U.S. Geological Survey - Specific Instructions" - Wood et al., USGS Circular 891
Excerpt from online circular explains how the USGS classifies and tracks coal resources in the United States, including rank of coal, thickness of beds, distribution, etc. Includes maps and data.

Part B: Coal Resources

To complete the investigation, each student group will need:

• Geologic map of your state or community
  
  
• Internet access. To view your state’s “Energy, Consumption, Prices, and Expenditures” profile:
  
  
  1. Visit the Energy Information Administration page.
  2. Click on your state to open a new page.
  3. Under the heading "Total Energy", click on the "Prices & Consumption" link.
  4. Students can then use the side-bar menu on this page to find the needed information .
     

Inquiring Further:

To learn more about plants associated with coal deposits in the United States, visit the following web sites:

"Plant Fossils" - Illinois Geological Survey
Site briefly reviews the plants that were found in Illinois during the "Coal Age".

"Plant Fossils of West Virginia"
This site lists common fossil plants from West Virginia, which are the same plant fossils found in all bituminous coal fields of the eastern United States.

Send all comments about this website to education@agiweb.org

Last updated: May 11, 2010

This project is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the AGI Foundation. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation.