PLEASE HELP !!!

(Most irrelevant groups removed. I Read in sci.astro)

"George" wrote:

Having spent years studying the strata, I can tell you with absolute
certainty that I don't need a geology book to tell me the facts of the
coal-bearing strata in Kentucky, and surrounding states. The earliest
known occurrence of coal is found in the Upper Chester of Southern
Indiana (upper Mississippian). Coal seams occur periodically from
there up into the upper Pennsylvanian. The coal has many associated
plant fossils, and the occasional trace animal fossils, and many
secondary minerals associated with them.

From the disorganized bits and pieces of info I've come across
over the years, I've gotten the impression that coal formed
from woody plants, until the first fungi or bacteria (which?)
capable of digesting cellulose developed. And that oil formed
from the bacterial mats which I gather were the only life form
on Earth for a billion years or more. Are those impressions
about right?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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