GEOG 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Anaerobic Digestion, Kerogen, Biogenic Substance
Document Summary
Coal, natural gas, and oil: the precursor to coal is peat, a moist soil composed of compressed organic matter: Coal is organic matter that was compressed under very high pressure to form a dense, carbon-rich solid material. We reach underground deposits with subsurface mining, shafts dug deep into the ground, and networks of tunnels are dug or blasted out to follow coal seams. When high-sulphur coal is burned, it produces sulphate air pollutants. Combustion of coal high in mercury content emits mercury that bioaccumulates in organisms" tissues, poisoning animals: natural gas consists primarily of math an and typically includes varying amount of other volatile hydrocarbons. It is a much cleaner-burning fuel than coal or oil. It can arise from either biogenic gas (created at shallow depths by anaerobic decomposition) or thermogenic gas (from compression of organic material accompanied by heating deep undergroun.
