Learning Adventure – Coal

LEARNING ADVENTURE – COAL
MOUND N 41° 50.042 W 078° 38.794 / CULVERT N 41° 49.711 W 078° 38.797

EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS

Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. … “Geocachers must complete the tasks before they log the EarthCache as found.” (4.3. EarthCache logging tasks)

Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:

NOTE: Answers via message -and- 2 log signature pictures are required to post a find for this cache.

LAB

1. MESSAGE …. a. Based on information on the cache page, identify the four specimens. / b. Place them in order of increasing coalification.

2. MESSAGE …. In addition to the specimens, you will find a Christmas Stocking with the story BLACK DIAMONDS -and- a piece of COAL in the toe. You are welcome to take the Christmas Stocking as a gift. Wishing you the wonder of Christmas -and- the magic of a New Year … every day!
a. Based on information on the cache page and your observations of the specimens in the container, identify this piece of coal. / b. Based on the map, is this type of coal found in this area?

LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item holding the Christmas Stocking (not the coal). This picture is your first log signature.

FIELD

3. MESSAGE …. MOUND … a. Estimate the size of the mound in cubic feet. / b. Do you think there is coal in them thar mounds? / c. Explain (scientific or creative) what you think caused the formation of the mounds.

LOG … Post a picture of you or your signature item at the mound. This picture is your second log signature.

OPTIONAL – Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.

A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND … Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.

B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART … Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you … prose / story / poem / picture. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.

C. CULVERT … Exploring a bit of History / a. What type of culvert is this? (Arch – Box – Ellipse – Round) / b. What date is engraved in the stone at the culvert. / c. Give two things you observe today that would not have been observable when the culvert was built.

Journeys of Heart and Mind …
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story

TYPES OF COAL

There are four major types (or “ranks”) of coal. Rank refers to steps in a slow, natural process called “coalification,” during which buried plant matter changes into an ever denser, drier, more carbon-rich, and harder material. The four ranks are:

Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter.
Bituminous: Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal between subbituminous and anthracite. Bituminous coal usually has a high heating (Btu) value and is used in electricity generation and steel making in the United States. Bituminous coal is blocky and appears shiny and smooth when you first see it, but look closer and you might see it has thin, alternating, shiny and dull layers.
Subbituminous: Subbituminous coal is black in color and is mainly dull (not shiny). Subbituminous coal has low-to-moderate heating values and is mainly used in electricity generation.
Lignite: Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal with the least concentration of carbon. Lignite has a low heating value and a high moisture content and is mainly used in electricity generation.

The precursor to coal is peat. Peat is a soft, organic material consisting of partly decayed plant and mineral matter. When peat is placed under high pressure and heat, it undergoes physical and chemical changes (coalification) to become coal.

COAL RANKS

Plant material –> Peat –> Lignite –> Subbituminous –> Bituminous –> Anthracite

———————-> Increasing heat and pressure ———————->

COAL

Coal is an abundant energy resource in Pennyslvania. All of the important coals of Pennsylvania were deposited during a portion of the earth’s history named in honor of our state—the Pennsylvanian Period, which occurred approximately 300 million years ago. There are two main types of coal. ANTHRACITE COAL is mainly found in the eastern areas – hard coal, burns hot but slower and longer, harder to ignite, heavier, found in folded rocks, was more deeply buried (4-5½ miles of sediments). BITUMINOUS COAL is mainly found in the western regions – soft coal, burns hot, lighter, typically found in unfolded rocks, had a shallower burial (1-3 miles of sediments). Coal is described in a variety of ways. MINERS tell us that coal is a black rock that occurs as layers in the earth that can be mined continuously for many miles. A GEOLOGIST describes coal as a black rock composed of thermally altered and highly compressed plant material that grew millions of years ago in swamps and then was buried under great thicknesses of sand and mud. CHEMISTS say that coal is a rock composed mostly of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, plus smaller amounts of many other elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and calcium, all combined in highly complex chemical compounds. A BIOLOGIST would point out that carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are the main constituents of the complex compounds making up living plants, and these same compounds hold energy derived from the sun.

Historically, coal was the fuel of choice for transportation and other steam-powered applications and was essential, in the form of coke, for the production of steel. Today, coal is used mostly by utility power plants for the generation of electricity—sometimes referred to as “coal by wire.” Other significant uses of coal include synfuel production, steel making, heat and power for other industrial plants, and residential and commercial heating. Some of the largest, most modern and productive underground coal mines in the United States are located in southwestern Pennsylvania. The coal industry will continue to play a vital role in Pennsylvania’s economy for decades to come.

The economic benefits derived from the widespread use of coal have had a serious impact on the environment. Acid drainage from coal-mining operations has caused extensive pollution of streams, and loss of fish and other wildlife. Mining also results in disruption of groundwater resources, soil erosion, and scarring of the land. Abandoned piles of waste material left behind from coal mining and coal processing blight many areas and contribute to surface water and groundwater pollution.

FORMATION OF COAL

There are two basic requirements for the formation of coal – a source of plant material and preservation of that material from decay. The change from plant fragments to coal is gradual, consisting of many stages. After dead plant debris sinks into the waters of the swamp, bacteria go to work, breaking down the cell structure and reducing the plant material to rotted wood and leaves, fine fragments, or a jellylike mass. Bacterial action probably continues for only a short time after the peat is buried under sand and mud deposits in the swamp. As the layer of sediment grows thicker, its weight compacts the peat to a fraction of its original thickness, driving out moisture and closing pore space. Temperature increases steadily as the peat is buried deeper and deeper below the surface of the earth. As thousands of feet of sediments are added, the increasing heat sequentially alters peat to lignite, subbituminous coal, bituminous coal, and, finally, anthracite. This process of coalification works slowly and brings about these changes over large areas.

The Pennsylvania coals were formed in river floodplains and coastal swamps. Wherever a swamp existed, a layer of coal-forming peat accumulated. The layer was then buried by mud and sand. This happened again and again, and as time passed, each layer of peat became coal, and the covering sediments hardened into sandstone, shale, and limestone. The final result was a sequence of rocks more than 4,000 feet thick, consisting of widespread layers of coal separated by thick intervals of other rock types. Roughly, it resembles a thick book, in which every twentieth page is made of black paper to represent the coal seams.

MOUNDS

The pursuit and mining of coal caused many changes in the landscape of Pennsylvania. There are four of these mounds – one more to the south and two more to the north. According to a local resident, a railroad was under construction which required tunneling through the mountainside. This site was abandoned in lieu of an easier location – the railroad grade upon which you walked to get to the trail leading to the mound. Why was there construction at four different locations resulting in four mounds? Alternately, according to a local historian, these mounds represent an effort to find a coal seam. The coal seam ended several miles south, and thus the efforts to find the seam were unsuccessful. Why are the tops of the mounds relatively flat?
DIRECTIONS: Go up the path until you see the mound. You can get to the top of the mound by either climbing the front which has a fairly steep terrain -or- climbing either side further back, which has a gentler terrain but the way is littered with forest debris.

CULVERT

Much of the railroad network in Pennsylvania was specifically constructed to transport coal. The railroad grade is the remnant of the Erie Railroad. The Culvert was constructed to bridge the underlying creek.
DIRECTIONS: Return to the old Erie railroad grade. Continue a relatively short distance until you get to the culvert. You can get to the bottom by either descending near the coordinates -or- by following the gentler path a short way back.

RESOURCES
COAL http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/coal/index.aspx
COAL IN PENNSYLVANIA Edmunds, W. E., 2002, Coal in Pennsylvania (2nd ed.):
Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Educational Series 7, 28 p.
LESSON PLAN http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/classroom/teachers/elem6.aspx
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-types-coal
PENNSYLVANIA COAL https://coord.info/GC1EGDK

REVIEWER NOTES

Questions that only serve to prove that someone visited the site but do not relate to the site’s geology are not permitted. (Guideline #6)

Logging task #3: How are the dimensions/volume of the mound related to the Earth Science task associated with coal? The body of the text speculates the mounds are due to exploratory mining to find a coal seam to railroad construction. Could a logging task be written around whether there is coal in the mound?

Logging task #4: What is the relationship of the culvert to the coal Earth Science lesson? It is certainly an interesting piece of history to have something dating that far back on one’s property.

Logging task #5: What is the relationship of the pipes and moss covered rocks to the Earth Science lesson?

ARCHIVED