Why are coal, oil and natural gas called fossil fuels?

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Coal, pictured here, is a particularly dirty fossil fuel.

Coal, oil and natural gas are are called fossil fuels because they are composed of the remains of organisms that lived as long as 500 million years ago. These organisms, such as phytoplankton, became incorporated into the bottom sediments and then were converted, with time, to oil and gas.

Coal is the remains of plants and trees that were buried and subjected to pressure, temperature, and chemical processes (changing into peat and then lignite) for millions of years.

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