History of Coal 1: Coalification
Much of the coal that fueled the Industrial Revolution was formed in the Carboniferous Period, when seedless trees grew to enormous heights, huge insects crawled the earth, and life had just invented eggs that could survive on land. Image by Duncan Barton.
Thanks as always go to Duncan Barton, our illustrator. Very excited to announce that he will be doing custom images for each episode of our series on coal! Jonathan Lear did the music.
Sources:
Berkeley Museum of Paleontology's quick write-up on the Carboniferous Period
US Energy Information Agency's factsheets on carbon dioxide emissions from coal and coal reserves.
