Fossil Fuels

Session 2C

Where can we find energy stores around Great Britain?

Today, wind turbines and large solar panels dot the British countryside. But just as prominent, and much more longstanding, are coal mines and limestone quarries...while offshore oil and gas fields are becoming increasingly common. This session zooms in on palaeoecology in Wales to address how fossil fuels are formed.

What do ancient plants have to do with contemporary climate change? Quite a bit, thanks to how long-term processes involved in the carbon cycle can be. Paleoecology is a subfield of environmental science examining ecosystems from long ago. It’s closely related to palaeontology (the study of fossil animals and plants - most famously dinosaurs, but also much more!) and palaeogeology (studying the planet’s geological histories). Learn more about these fields of science with Dr Gill Plunkett in the video below.

Wales spent the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s focused on iron and coal mining...and today, it’s under pressure to explore and exploit oil and gas resources. So why does Wales have coal? Our field studies activities during Weekend #1 will help answer that question. You can get a head start by browsing the readings below.

What’s the big deal about coal, gas, and climate change? It’s mostly about the carbon cycle.

Learn more about the connection between fossil fuels and nutrient cycles through the videos below. (If you prefer to read, here’s a good Smithsonian primer about the subject.)