", my observations strongly suggest to me
that coal was formed by organic matter deposited out of water (known as
allochthonous."
Let me assume your observation is 100% (or so) correct.
You appear to be arguing the YEC case (assumption).
If you are, how does the YEC argue when confronted with the VOLUME (mass)
of coal we know about?
That which we have ALREADY mined (see an almanac for volume details) is
some number, say, X tons.
That which is, by the most conservative assumptions possible, is left to
be mined is Y. My guess is that Y is >> X, but let me call it equal to X.
So there are 2X tons of coal mined, or to be mined. Conservatively.
How much biomass had to be used, in whatever process you assume, to
produce the 2X tons of coal? Let me call this Z.
I think the answer is that Z is so large that if it were present on earth
all at one time, there would be far too much biomass for the earth to
support.
Therefore, some (most all) of the coal had to be formed at some time NOT
during the flood of Noah's time.
How is this answered? I know of only one rational answer -- the earth is
a lot older than a few thousand years.
I understand a similar argument can be made for coral reefs. I like the
coal argument, for I can look up te raw data in an almanac, and that raw
data comes from industry records.
Burgy