ABSTRACT
Fossil coal is a “living witness” of prehistoric times (from the Carboniferous to Jurassic), when the Earth was covered with impenetrable jungles, and equisetums, lycopodiums, and ferns thrived. Due to seismic cataclysms, the jungles were •rst buried under water and later under various rock layers. That started the transformation of wood material into coal-a process known as metamorphism. Meanwhile, the world’s oceans witnessed a similar process-the transformation of plankton into petroleum.
