fossil fuel summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see fossil fuel.

fossil fuel, Any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth’s crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. They all contain carbon and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of (mostly) plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago. All fossil fuels can be burned to provide heat, which may be used directly, as in home heating, or to produce steam to drive a generator for the production of electricity. Fossil fuels supply nearly 90% of all the energy used by industrially developed nations.

peat Summary

Peat, spongy material formed by the partial decomposition of organic matter, primarily plant material, in wetlands such as swamps, muskegs, bogs, fens, and moors. The development of peat is favoured by warm moist climatic conditions; however, peat can develop even in cold regions such as Siberia,

shale gas Summary

Shale gas, natural gas obtained from sheetlike formations of shale, frequently at depths exceeding 1,500 metres (5,000 feet). Shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks consisting of silt- and clay-sized particles that were laid down hundreds of millions of years ago as organic-rich mud at the

coal mining Summary

Coal mining, extraction of coal deposits from the surface of Earth and from underground. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on Earth. Its predominant use has always been for producing heat energy. It was the basic energy source that fueled the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th

oil shale Summary

Oil shale, any sedimentary rock containing various amounts of solid organic material that yields petroleum products, along with a variety of solid by-products, when subjected to pyrolysis—a treatment that consists of heating the rock to above 300 °C (about 575 °F) in the absence of oxygen. The