How coal is formed ? What is the difference between coal and peat
As living organism like plants and trees died, they form a layer at the bottom of the swampy areas which eventually forming a soggy, thick material. This thick material is called as Peat.
With time sand, clay and other minerals collect on top of the peat and bury it further down into the ground.
Due to high pressure of these rocks, water content of peat comes out that makes hard solid coal. So we can say that coal formation is a long process that takes a very long time.
Peat is the first step of formation of coal which further processed with high pressure for long time to convert to coal. Compare to coal, peat contains large amount of water content and less percentage of coal.