Questions tagged [coal]
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17 questions
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What is the climate footprint of burning lignite coal - once you account for the athmosheric cooling effect of sulfur dioxide?
Sulfur oxides have a strong but short lasting athmosheric cooling effect. Vulcanic eruptions provide test of that. Lignite or "brown coal" has a reputaion as a paricularly "dirty" ...
7
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1
answer
828
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Is there likely to be coal under the Sahara?
In Pangaea, northern Africa would have had humid onshore winds from the Tethys Ocean, making dense vegetation/rainforest biome likely.
Consequently, would we be likely to find coal underneath the ...
2
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1
answer
257
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When is the carbon stored in fossil fuels released back to the atmosphere under natural conditions?
On which time scale is the carbon stored in petroleum and black coal released back to the atmosphere under natural conditions? Exploiting fossil fuels and burning them releases the carbon today, but ...
1
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1
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59
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Can Hydrocarbons be beneficial? [duplicate]
Do these “fossil fuels” underground help maintain homeostasis in microbial ecosystem or aid in the growth of flora etc?
Or are these substances: coal, animal remains and natural gas detrimental even ...
3
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1
answer
261
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What is oldest known coal source?
I read coal form in all geologic times but what is oldest know coal source?
7
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4
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578
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Where did all the CO₂ come from that was deposited as coal during the Carboniferous?
During the Carboniferous, vast deposits of coal (or peat at that time) were created because – as far as I understand – decomposition of wood (white rot?) was not yet "invented" at that time. This ...
1
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1
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39
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What is the origin of cleating in coal?
Why do some coals show cleating and some not? Is cleating in coal related to coal's plant source or depositional process or post depositional processes?
10
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3
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2k
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What is the most important source of natural gas? Coal, oil or other?
By heat and pressure, both coal and oil can produce gas. But what is the most important substance for gas? Is there a relation to the amounts of marine organism (sea life) which died and the amount of ...
1
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1
answer
151
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Coal fires affecting seismic activity, and also volcanoes
Can coal fires cause earthquakes to happen, or possibly prevent or postpone earthquakes? Also can coal fires trigger(or prevent) volcanic eruptions by affecting flow of magma underground or by some ...
1
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1
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317
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Open Mining facility/operation GIS data
Wondering if there is any GIS data available for mining operations in any places in the world.
I looked here but didn't find much:
https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?tags=mines
https://www.eia.gov/...
0
votes
1
answer
237
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Roughly how much Co2 is generated per kWh of electricity generated [closed]
I’m interested to know how much Co2 is generated by a coal fired power station to produce 1kWh of electricity for electrical grid
8
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1
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263
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Could diamonds be formed from coal?
Diamonds are predominately formed in cratons and brought to the surface in kimberlite pipes. However, it seems theoretically possible that diamonds could form at either subduction zones or from ...
3
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4
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4k
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Coal self-heating and spontaneous combustion, how does this happen?
I finally broke down and read the Wikipedia article on spontaneous combustion and I was surprised to see how serious of a problem this can be. Wet hay, oily rags, there really are exothermic reactions ...
2
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3
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3k
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Petroleum and coal formation
I was wondering why are coal and petroleum being both fossil fuels are found at different places i.e. coal at land and petroleum at sea.
3
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2
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132
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Is there a risk with putting out smouldering underground coal reserves? [closed]
According to this Discovery News video about Centralia Pennsylvania and other underground coal fires, there are many smouldering underground coal reserves making the land above it uninhabitable to ...
6
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4
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11k
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Why is coal classified as a sedimentary rock?
Something just clicked in my head today. Rocks, by the definition I was taught, are composed of minerals which in turn are by definition not organic, so they are or were not alive.
However. Coal, ...
12
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1
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375
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How many joules are required to mine a unit of coal?
Coal is still a major source of energy for generation of electricity. So how much energy is used to extract a unit (tonne/kilogram etc) of coal? And thus what is the efficiency of coal as a source of ...