Illawarra Coal Measures
Okay kiddo, have you ever played with a tower of blocks before? Imagine if those blocks were made of dirt, and they were all stacked on top of each other really tightly. That's kind of what the Illawarra Coal Measures are like!
In Australia, there is a region called the Illawarra, which is south of Sydney. Long ago, hundreds of millions of years ago, the land was covered by forests and swamps. Over time, the trees and plants died and were covered by layers of dirt and rocks.
As more and more layers piled up on top, the pressure and heat from the weight of the layers turned the dead plants and wood into coal. And because of the way the layers of dirt and rocks were stacked up in the Illawarra region, there are lots and lots of coal deposits there, all stacked on top of each other like those blocks we talked about earlier.
The Illawarra Coal Measures are really important because they are one of the biggest sources of coal in all of Australia. Lots of people mine coal from there, which means they dig underground tunnels to get to it. Then they bring it up to the surface, clean it, and sell it to be used in things like energy production and making steel.
So even though the Illawarra Coal Measures might just look like a bunch of dirt and rocks, they're actually really valuable because they contain a lot of coal that we use to power lots of things we need and use every day!
In Australia, there is a region called the Illawarra, which is south of Sydney. Long ago, hundreds of millions of years ago, the land was covered by forests and swamps. Over time, the trees and plants died and were covered by layers of dirt and rocks.
As more and more layers piled up on top, the pressure and heat from the weight of the layers turned the dead plants and wood into coal. And because of the way the layers of dirt and rocks were stacked up in the Illawarra region, there are lots and lots of coal deposits there, all stacked on top of each other like those blocks we talked about earlier.
The Illawarra Coal Measures are really important because they are one of the biggest sources of coal in all of Australia. Lots of people mine coal from there, which means they dig underground tunnels to get to it. Then they bring it up to the surface, clean it, and sell it to be used in things like energy production and making steel.
So even though the Illawarra Coal Measures might just look like a bunch of dirt and rocks, they're actually really valuable because they contain a lot of coal that we use to power lots of things we need and use every day!