Northeastern Pennsylvania is known for its large supply of coal. Based on this fact, what can you infer about how Northeastern Pennsylvania's land might have looked like millions of years ago?
Is it-
1. The land was likely once near a volcano that deposited the coal on the land after thousands of years of eruptions.
2. The land was likely heavily forested with many smaller plants like ferns.
or
3. The land was likely once under water.
I'm lost and really not sure on how to get the answer, so if you know what it is, can you help me out and explain it? Much appreciated.
Well... I did a google search... and it says "forested". It was forested a long long time ago and thus made coal : )
To determine what Northeastern Pennsylvania's land might have looked like millions of years ago, we can use our understanding of the formation of coal.
Coal is formed from the remains of plants and trees that lived in vast swamps during the Carboniferous period, approximately 359 to 299 million years ago. These swamps were mostly located in tropical or subtropical regions.
From this information, we can rule out the option that the land was once near a volcano that deposited the coal on the land after thousands of years of eruptions (option 1). Volcanic activity does not play a significant role in coal formation.
Now let's consider the remaining options:
2. The land was likely heavily forested with many smaller plants like ferns.
During the Carboniferous period, the land was indeed heavily forested with large trees and a diverse array of smaller plants like ferns, horsetails, and lycopods. This is a plausible inference considering the formation of coal, so option 2 is a possible answer.
3. The land was likely once under water.
Coal-forming swamps were typically formed in low-lying areas such as river deltas, floodplains, and coastal plains. These areas were prone to periodic inundation by water, allowing organic material to accumulate and eventually transform into coal. Therefore, option 3, stating that the land was once under water, is also a plausible inference based on the large supply of coal in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
To conclude, based on the fact that Northeastern Pennsylvania is known for its large supply of coal, options 2 (the land was heavily forested with small plants like ferns) and 3 (the land was once under water) are both reasonable inferences about how the land might have looked like millions of years ago.