Re: Coal again

Glenn Morton (grmorton@gnn.com)
Mon, 20 Jan 1997 22:39:15

>Glenn -- you mentioned (in a post to Randy) that it would take 24,000 feet
>of plant life (or biomass?) to produce 24 meters of coal. Thats about a
>300:1 ratio; I thought that ratio to be much much less. What is the best
>estimate of the ratio?

In that post, I screwed up. There is a Russian coal seam which is 200 m
thick. Wilfred Francis in his book, says that it takes 120 feet of plant
matter to make a foot of coal. At this ratio, I should have said 24000 m of
plant material not 24,000 feet. I didn't correct myself because I really
didn't think it made that much difference. But I was wrong. Sorry for the
confusion.

glenn

Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm