The project manager for the development of the Physical Setting/Earth Science Core Curriculum was Elise Russo, Associate in Science Education, with content and assessment support provided by Sharon Miller, Associate in. Educational Testing. Diana K. Harding, Associate in Science Education, provided additional support.
Coal (from the Old English term col, which has meant mineral of fossilized carbon since the 13th century) is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams.
Anthracite is the last of the classifications, and this terminology is used when the coal has reached ultimate maturation. Anthracite coal is very hard and shiny. The degree of alteration (or metamorphism) that occurs as a coal matures from peat to anthracite is referred to as the rank of the coal.