1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы по тексту:

   1. What was the vegetation like long ago?

   2. What is the Carboniferous period?

   3. Was coal formed only in the Carboniferous period?

   4. Where can the first process of coal formation be witnessed nowadays?

   5. What is Tertiary period?

   6. What might happen with the Alaska peat swamps?

2. Задайте вопросы, ответом на которые являются следующие предложения:

1. In our time people devote great attention to coal-mining and consumption.

2. Coal mainly consists of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in complex groupings.

3. The coal constituents are called: fusain, durain, clarain and vitrain.

4. Four kinds of coal are distinguished: brown coal, lignite, bituminous coal and anthracite.

5. The heating quality of coal was recognized long ago.

6. Coal is the basis for many branches of industry.

7. Coal is widely used in metallurgical industry.

8. Coal yields a large quantity of chemicals.

9. Coal gas is a combination of volatile hydrocarbons with some other gases.

10. Coal is a source of lighting and heating.

11. Coal was formed in nature by the vegetable matter decomposition without much heating and air but in the presence of water.

3. Расскажите о периодах формирования угольных отложений.

4. Прочтите информацию о разных периодах геологического времени. Расставьте периоды в порядке их следования:

Cenozoic - the most recent geological era, which began 65 000 000 years ago: characterized by the development and increase of the mammals

Mesozoic - an era of geological time that began 250 000 000 years ago with the Triassic period and lasted about 185 000 000 years until the end of the Cretaceous period

Palaeozoic - an era of geological time that began 600 million years ago with the Cambrian period and lasted about 375 million years until the end of the Permian period

Phanerozoic - part of geological time represented by rocks in which the evidence of life is abundant, comprising the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras

Precambrian - the earliest geological era, which lasted for about 4 000 000 000 years before the Cambrian period

Caledonian - a period of mountain building in North West Europe in the Palaeozoic era

Cambrian - the first 65 million years of the Palaeozoic era, during which marine invertebrates, especially trilobites, flourished

Carboniferous - the fifth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Devonian and Permian periods, lasting for nearly 64 million years during which coal measures were formed

Cretaceous - the last period of the Mesozoic era, between the Jurassic and Tertiary periods, lasting 80 million years during which chalk deposits were formed and flowering plants first appeared

Devonian - the fourth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Silurian and Carboniferous periods, lasting 60 - 70 million years during which amphibians first appeared

Ediacaran - the last 50 million years of the Neoproterozoic era, during which a new texturally and chemically distinctive carbonate layer appeared, indicating climatic change

Eozoic - the part of the Precambrian era during which life first appeared

Jurassic - the second period of the Mesozoic era, between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods, lasting for 55 million years during which dinosaurs and ammonites flourished

Neozoic - any time after the end of the Mesozoic era

Ordovician - the second period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Cambrian and Silurian periods, which lasted for 45 000 000 years during which marine invertebrates flourished

Permian - the last period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Carboniferous and Triassic periods, which lasted for 60 000 000 years

Silurian - the third period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Ordovician and Devonian periods, which lasted for 25 million years, during which fishes first appeared

Tertiary - the first period of the Cenozoic era, which lasted for 63 million years, during which mammals became dominant

Triassic - the first period of the Mesozoic era that lasted for 42 million years and during which reptiles flourished