Lead
"How can there be such a thick coal seam?"
"Is there a kilometer-thick coal seam here?"
This scene once appeared on the Appalachian coalfields in the United States.
Researchers were surprised to find that the reason why the coal seams here are so thick is because there are thousands of kilometers of coal seams here.
The Appalachian coalfield is one of the largest in the world, with more than 300 billion tons of coal here, accounting for 1/10 of the world's coal reserves.
How can there be so much coal here?
Isn't coal produced by the earth's organic matter over millions of years under high temperatures and pressures?
It turns out that the largest coal field on earth was formed by plants, how did these plants form?
And there is also a coal seam resource of this scale in China, so how did this coal resource come to be?
What benefits will coal bring to our lives?
How coal is formed.
Coal has always been a very popular resource for people to use, people can use coal to heat, but also can use coal to save people from hunger and cold, coal can be said to be a lifesaver for human beings.
Therefore, coal has always been a very cherished resource for human beings, and with the development of human society, people are more and more dependent on coal as a resource.
There are many types of coal, but the quality of bituminous coal and anthracite is the highest, the carbohydrate content of this type of coal is very high, and the calorific value of this type of coal is also very high, so this type of coal is a kind of coal resource that people like very much.
This type of coal is almost entirely made up of plant remains, but this resource accounts for a very large proportion of the planet.
Over the past few decades, researchers have studied the formation process of coal in great detail, and through the tireless efforts of these researchers, this mystery has finally been revealed.
Coal is a fossil fuel used by humans, and it is an organic matter that plants form under conditions of high temperature and pressure.
These plants are buried underground soon after death, and over time, the remains of these plants continue to accumulate, and they will be suppressed underground and constantly affected by the movement of the earth's crust.
At the same time, the process of plant remains being buried underground will also be affected by microorganisms, which will decompose the nutrients in the plant remains, and this process will greatly reduce the carbon content of plant remains.
This effect becomes very noticeable when the plant remains are buried at a depth of 1,000 meters, and the temperature in the ground starts to become very high, while at the same time being subjected to very strong pressure.
This high-temperature, high-pressure environment is ideal for the formation of coal, as the carbon atoms in the plant are able to form carbohydrates.
This carbohydrate is the most important substance in coal, it can provide a lot of energy for humans, and the carbon content of plant remains will also increase rapidly in this high-temperature and high-pressure environment.
When studying the formation process of coal, researchers also found that the brine in the formation becomes very acidic in this high-temperature and high-pressure environment, and this acidic environment is also very beneficial to the formation of coal.
Because this acidic environment can hinder the microbial decomposition of plant debris, these plant debris are no longer affected by microorganisms after they are turned into coal in the formation.
After tens of millions of years, these plant remains eventually turned into coal, but this process did not happen overnight, it took up to millions of years.
This is why people will find a lot of fossils about coal when studying Australopithecus, because ancient humans burned coal to keep warm.
The coal resources in the strata were not only used for heating, but also for firing pottery and casting iron, so people have also found a lot of fossils about coal in the process of studying Australopithecus.
The history of coal resources can be traced back to 300 million years ago, and it can be said that coal resources are the products of the coexistence of the earth and life, and are also witnesses in the evolution of life.
Thickness of Appalachian coalfields.
Coal resources are a very important resource in people's lives, and the Appalachian coalfield in the United States is one of the largest coal fields in the world.
The U.S. is rich in coal resources, and they provide a lot of coal demand for the U.S., making the U.S. the world's largest coal consumer.
Coal resources are widely distributed, but the largest coal resources are found in the Appalachian coalfields, which are so abundant because they were once a vast freshwater lake.
The silt of this lake contains abundant plant remains.
These plant remains are buried by sediment soon after death, and over time, these plant remains accumulate and are suppressed underground and are constantly affected by crustal movements.
The plant remains were also affected by microorganisms during their burial in the ground, but due to the abundance of sediment in the sediment, the plant remains were not completely decomposed.
The sediment in this sludge acts as a very good shield, which can effectively hinder the decomposition of plant debris by microorganisms.
In addition to this, this sludge also contains a large amount of peat acid, which can delay the decomposition process of plant debris.
Therefore, all these reasons led to the qualitative transformation of the plant debris in the ground in this sediment, and eventually formed a coal resource.
The coal resources in this Appalachian coalfield are so abundant because of the abundance of plant debris.
This coalfield stretches from the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States to Florida in the southeastern United States, and the thickness of the coal seam reaches about 1,000 meters at its thickest, and the coal seam here is very thick and the quality of the coal is very high.
The reason why the coal seam here is so thick is that there are so many plant debris here, and this coal resource was formed very long.
The coal seam was formed 300 million years ago, when it was a vast freshwater lake filled with plant debris.
The plant remains were buried in the silt at the bottom of the lake soon after they died, and they continued to accumulate, eventually forming coal over time.
Over the course of 300 million years, these coal resources have become an indispensable part of human life.
High-quality coal from the Shenfu Coalfield.
Coal has always been a very important resource for human beings, it can provide a lot of energy for human beings, and coal resources can also be used for power generation, pottery firing, etc., so coal resources have always been an important basis for the development of human society.
The abundance and quality of coal resources are crucial to the country's energy supply and economic development, so all countries attach great importance to the mining and utilization of coal resources.
China is also a country with very rich coal resources, and China's coal resources are also very diverse, China's coal resources are mainly distributed in Hebei, Shanxi and other places, the coal resources in these places are not only rich in quantity, but also very high in quality.
China's coal resources are mainly divided into bituminous coal, anthracite, lignite and peat, among which bituminous coal and anthracite are of the highest quality, their carbon content is very high, so they burn very fully, and their calorific value is also very high.
This coal is mainly used in industrial fields such as power generation, while lignite and peat have a low carbon content but a very high water content, so they are mainly used in civil applications such as heating.
One of the largest coal mines in China is the Shenfu Coal Mine, which spans the provinces of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi.
Coal resources are abundant here, with estimated reserves of 669 billion tons.
This is a huge reserve that is enough to meet China's coal demand for 223 years, and the coal resources here are still very high-quality, half of which are of the highest quality bituminous coal and anthracite.
These high-quality coal resources provide China with a huge demand for coal, and they can provide enough thermal coal for China's industrial production and people's livelihoods.
The abundance and quality of coal resources have also provided a solid foundation for China's economic development, which has risen rapidly over the past few decades to become the world's largest coal producer.
Over the past few decades, China has been the world's largest coal producer, accounting for more than half of the world's coal production, but this has also led to a dwindling list of coal resources.
So the Chinese government is aware of this problem and has begun to take steps to gradually reduce its dependence on coal and gradually shift to clean energy, which is very important for improving China's environmental situation and improving the quality of life of its residents.
The Chinese government has put forward the "Clean Energy Revolution" initiative, hoping to gradually improve the greenness and cleanliness of energy supply by developing new energy technologies and reducing dependence on traditional energy sources.
The Chinese government has also put forward the "Green Energy Revolution" initiative, hoping to gradually improve the sustainability and environmental protection of energy supply by developing clean energy technologies and reducing dependence on traditional energy sources.
These initiatives have made important contributions to environmental protection in China and around the world, and they have also provided important guidance for China's economic transformation.
Although China's coal resources are abundant, their quality is uneven.
Therefore, the Chinese government has been committed to improving the mining technology and utilization efficiency of coal resources, and effectively reducing the waste of coal resources by reducing the mining intensity of coal resources and improving the comprehensive utilization rate of coal resources.
The Chinese government has also strengthened environmental protection and ecological restoration of coal resources, and has effectively reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by promoting clean energy technologies and reducing the use of coal, thus protecting the health of human beings and the ecological environment.
epilogue
The development and utilization of coal resources is very important for the country and society, but in the process of exploiting coal resources, we must also pay attention to environmental protection.