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Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Contributors in Coal

Coal

Geopressured

Energy; Coal

A type of geothermal resource occurring in deep basins in which the fluid is under very high pressure.

Geothermal energy

Energy; Coal

Hot water or steam extracted from geothermal reservoirs in the earth's crust. Water or steam extracted from geothermal reservoirs can be used for geothermal heat pumps, water heating, or electricity ...

Geothermal plant

Energy; Coal

A plant in which the prime mover is a steam turbine. The turbine is driven either by steam produced from hot water or by natural steam that derives its energy from heat found in rock.

Geyser

Energy; Coal

A special type of thermal spring that periodically ejects water with great force.

Gilsonite

Energy; Coal

Trademark name for uintaite (or uintahite), a black, brilliantly lustrous natural variety of asphalt found in parts of Utah and western Colorado.

Global warming

Energy; Coal

An increase in the near surface temperature of the Earth. Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural influences, but the term is today most often used to refer to the ...

Global warming potential (GWP)

Energy; Coal

An index used to compare the relative radiative forcing of different gases without directly calculating the changes in atmospheric concentrations. GWPs are calculated as the ratio of the radiative ...

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