Week Eight Check Point Sci245

Fossil fuels come basically from plant and animal matter that has been trapped in sediment and is chemically altered due to heat and pressure from the layers of sediment deposited above the decomposing matter. Crude oil and natural gas is formed by ancient plankton and algae that settled in oxygen deprived levels of oceans and other bodies of water, and then covered with layers of sediment. Coal is formed by layers of plant matter known as peat that is covered by layers of mud and other sediment in bogs and swamps. These layers of peat material are compressed when layers of sediment are deposited on top of them forcing water and other volatile components out once the layer is reduced to about 10 percent of its original volume it is formed into a layer of coal.

Minerals are formed with different combinations of elements found on earth. They are formed when a chemical reaction occurs by applied heat, pressure, and evaporation of water. Like fossil fuels, Minerals are a nonrenewable, and often very scare to find. Some minerals are formed by cooling magma and thus leaving large veins or deposits of the minerals. They can also be formed by superheated water from volcanic activity.

Coal is the most plentiful of our remaining fossil fuels and is formed by layers of decomposing trees, brush, grasses, and other land based plant material in swampy or bog areas, the more it was compressed and heated up by the pressure of layer upon layer, the more it was chemically altered to form coal.

Quartz is a common mineral formed with silica and oxygen, formed by cooling magma especially in situations where silica is remaining after feldspars form. Some sands are actually sedimentary pieces of quartz. Quartz can be found in many types of rocks too.