How Long Does It Take to Make Coal?
The coal formation process takes millions of years. The coal in use today started to form over 300 million years ago as living trees, ferns and other types of plant material. Coal is a nonrenewable resource because the time it requires for formation far exceeds the rate at which man uses it.
The coal-forming process, known as coalification, involves physical and chemical changes of peat. Peat includes plant parts, decaying plants and the products of the decay process. In order to form peat, the rate of plant growth must exceed the rate at which bacteria can break down the materials, as occurs in the water of bogs and swamps, where bacterial action slows due to a lack of oxygen.
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