DIY History | Transcribe | Scholarship at Iowa | Coal Measures and Coal Mining in Iowa, including paleontology and a discussion on the coal formation; also the methods of mining by Russell T. Hartman, 1898 | Coal Measures and Coal Mining in Iowa by Russell T. Hartman, 1898, Page 173

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Coal Measures and Coal Mining in Iowa, including paleontology and a discussion on the coal formation; also the methods of mining by Russell T. Hartman, 1898

Coal Measures and Coal Mining in Iowa by Russell T. Hartman, 1898, Page 173

[page]172[/page]

[image: drawing of flat clay or sand layers overlying coal seam which overlies uneven surface]
[caption]Figure 1.[/caption]

[A bed of peat is shown in diagram in figure 1.] As the sea still further encroached upon the land becoming deeper and deeper over the marshes the growth of vegetation was stopped and clay and sand were deposited over the mass of half decayed vegetable matter adding great pressure to it. This pressure, together with the escaping gases caused the peat to occupy less and less space, until finally through the escape of gases the peat would become carbonized and by the added pressure would become compressed into coal.
     Since these beds were compressed it readily can be seen that the greatest settling resulting from the compression would be where the

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[page]172[/page] [image: drawing of flat clay or sand layers overlying coal seam which overlies uneven surface] [caption]Figure 1.[/caption] [A bed of peat is shown in diagram in figure 1.] As the sea still further encroached upon the land becoming deeper and deeper over the marshes the growth of vegetation was stopped and clay and sand were deposited over the mass of half decayed vegetable matter adding great pressure to it. This pressure, together with the escaping gases caused the peat to occupy less and less space, until finally through the escape of gases the peat would become carbonized and by the added pressure would become compressed into coal. Since these beds were compressed it readily can be seen that the greatest settling resulting from the compression would be where the