Fossil Fuel

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-011607",
  "term": "Fossil Fuel",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. Fuel derived from ancient organic remains; e.g. peat, coal, crude oil, and natural gas.\n\n2. A type of fuel that forms deep within the Earth. Examples of fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are created over millions of years as dead plant and animal material becomes trapped and buried in layers of rock, and heat and pressure transform this material into a fuel. All fossil fuels contain carbon, and when people burn these fuels to produce energy, they create carbon dioxide.\n\n3. A general term for organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.\n\n4. A general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. See coal, petroleum, crude oil, natural gas.\n\n5. General term for any hydrocarbon used as fuel, including coal, oil, natural gas, and oil shale.\n\n6. A general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.\n\n7. Natural gas, petroleum, coal, and any form of solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel derived from such materials for the purpose of creating useful heat.[40 CFR 60.41 (CFR 2013)][40 CFR 60.41a (CFR 2013)][40 CFR 60.41Da (CFR 2013)][40 CFR 60.161 (CFR 2013)] [40 CFR 98.6 (CFR 2013)] [40 CFR 60.5580a (CFR 2024)]",
  "subject": "Climate change",
  "references": [
    "Terms of Environment",
    "Student's Guide to Global Climate Change",
    "Glossary of Climate Change Terms",
    "Greenhouse Gas Emissions",
    "USGS Geology in the Parks Glossary",
    "40 CFR 60.5580b (CFR 2024)"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/fossil-fuel/"
}