ABSTRACT
Coal is a sedimentary rock that was formed from the accumulation of vegetative debris that has undergone physical and chemical changes over millennia. These changes include decaying of the vegetation, deposition, and burying by sedimentation, compaction, and transformation of the plant remains. As a result, coal is composed of both organic and inorganic material and manifests itself in the form of macerals (Chapter 4), discrete minerals (Chapter 7), inorganic elements (some as mineral matter others in molecular bonding arrangements with the organic matrix), and water and gases contained in submicroscopic pores.
