Coal measures

Coal measures are basically like a big stack of pancakes made out of rocks. These rocks are formed from the remains of really old plants and animals that lived millions and millions of years ago.

You know when you have a stack of pancakes and there are layers of syrup in between? Well, that's kind of what happened here too! Except instead of syrup, there are layers of coal that formed when all those plant and animal remains were compressed over time.

So when people want to dig up coal to use for things like fuel, they go looking for these stacks of pancake rocks. And just like how you peel off one pancake at a time to eat, they peel off one layer of rock at a time to get to the coal.

Sometimes they go really deep to get the coal, which can be dangerous and scary, but it's important because we need coal to help power things like our homes and businesses.