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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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AFAIR you can't get new coal/oil because in the meantime there are fungi in the ground that would process the dead plants/alge/whatever was pressed to make the hydrocarbons. but i can't find the source of that info, so grain of salt
Most coal comes from the carbonipherous period, a period in which plants evolved wood but ~~microbes~~ funghi (shutout to Lyrl's below comment) still hadn't evolved wood-eating.
You can get new coal in marshes because I think the process to eat wood requires oxygen, and flooded areas don't allow for wood to decompose totally. That's why they can pull out wooden ships from 500 years ago from the bottom of the ocean in relatively good condition!
That it took 400 million years for one fungus to evolve wood eating is wild to me. And no other microbe has ever evolved that ability: my understanding is all wood decay fungal species today evolved from one shared ancester.
You're likely right, my background is physics, I'll quote you on the comment above!
I wasn't intending my comment as a correction - microbe is a more general term than bacteria, and most fungi are indeed microbes - but just saw an opportunity to add on what I think is a cool fact. Thanks for bringing up the carboniferous period!
Stupid science and its "biology" ane "evolutionary timelines" always trying to ruin my fun...
Are you referring to lignen developing before there was a bilogical process to break it down?